Pep Guardiola said he is "not a nice guy" for the way he has used Eric Garcia in the Manchester City team.
Garcia, 19, has been an increasingly regular presence in the Blues backline over the last month, starting four of the last seven games including the last two Premier League games. With Nicolas Otamendi still out, the youngster could continue against Port Vale.
In case it hadn't been difficult enough for the former Barcelona starlet to settle in the unsettled defence of the Premier League champions, the absence of Aymeric Laporte has left a void for a ball-playing defender on the left. Guardiola places a lot of importance on the balance of his centre-back pairings, hence why he moved Aleks Kolarov inside in his first season at the club.
Garcia has been asked to fill in on that left side in the last two games, tasked with moving play forward as well as keeping things tight at the back. His manager praised the teenager for how he has helped the team come through a difficult period with so many fixtures in a short space of time.
"Last season he played in the Carabao Cup and did really well and this season as well," said Guardiola.
"He doesn’t make mistakes and is so intelligent with his movements. It's not easy for him playing on the left side because of his right footed. I’m not a nice guy for that because if I'm giving him an opportunity he should be comfortable playing with his right foot not playing on the left.
"It's not easy but he solves things so well, he doesn't make mistakes and is so intelligent. He’s helped us in this period with a lot of problems as Nico had a few problems and John is only coming back, so we just had Fernandinho and he’s helped us in these games.”
