Manchester City have kept changing their defence, and it shows. Enzo Maresca has made 11 changes at half-time alone this season, and when City lost 3-1 at Nottingham Forest before the break, two of his centre-backs went off at the interval and a third later pulled out of international duty.
City are back in action against Fulham on 21 November. Before then, Maresca has a decision to make about his back line, and the evidence of the first three months points one way.
Who has played most in Man City’s defence?
Ruben Dias has played more outfield minutes than anyone in the squad, and he is the one fixed point. Marc Guehi has been his usual partner, but of their last four starts together, one of them has been taken off at half-time in three. At the City Ground it was Guehi, who asked to come off injured, and Josko Gvardiol, who had a small issue in the week before the game and was robbed for Forest’s opening goal after six minutes.
Abdukodir Khusanov has quietly climbed past Gvardiol for minutes this season. He has been used across the back line, including at right-back, because City decided not to sign a new right-back in the summer and trusted him to cover Matheus Nunes.
Why Khusanov should play in the middle
Khusanov’s best football has come at centre-back. At right-back he has looked uncomfortable going forward and being trusted with the ball in the final third. Moved inside at Forest, he looked far more at home. His passing numbers back it up: early in the season he was fourth in the whole Premier League for pass accuracy at 94.4%, just behind Guehi.
He also brings the pace City badly need when teams sit deep and break, which is exactly how Forest, Brighton and others have hurt them. Oliver Glasner said after Forest’s win that running and quick breaks are the only way to beat City. A quick centre-back is the best answer to that plan.
The fitness question
Khusanov played the full 90 minutes at Forest but then withdrew from the Uzbekistan squad, and the extent of the problem is not known. Guehi stayed in Manchester after leaving the England camp, and Gvardiol joined up with Croatia. All three are expected to be in the frame for Fulham, but none can be taken for granted.
What should Maresca do?
Our view: settle on Dias and Khusanov in the middle, and stop changing it at half-time unless there is an injury. A back four that plays together every week will make fewer mistakes than one that is reshuffled every 45 minutes.
That leaves Guehi and Gvardiol fighting for one spot, with Gvardiol also an option at left-back, and gives young Vitor Reis, who has only 201 minutes this season, the role of first reserve. Right-back is the knock-on problem: if Khusanov moves inside, Nunes has to stay fit, or City need to look at the market, where Maresca is reported to want Chelsea’s Malo Gusto.
City have conceded too many soft goals and lost three league games in a row. The fix does not need a new signing; it needs a settled line. Khusanov in the middle is the obvious place to start.
