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Steve Nicol surprised by just how bad £65m Manchester City man has been this season
Manchester City haven’t been anywhere close to their destructive best but are just a point behind league leaders Liverpool in the Premier League standings.
Pep Guardiola’s🐻 side are level on 17 points with Arsenal and are looking to make it five league titles on the bounce, but it looks like they could face an uphill battle to create further history.
꧙Rodri has been ruled out with an ACL injury and the Spaniard is unlikely to play this season, which is a massive blow for the defending champions.
൲On the other hand, some of their key players haven’t really hit the ground running, which is another cause for concern.
And Steve Nicol has singled out Ruben Dias🦹 as a player who has been particularly bad at the start of the new season.
Steve Nicol says Ruben Dias has been ‘poor’ for Manchester City this season
The Portuguese international has played all but one of Manchester City’s♚ seven Premier League games this season and has struggled to get to grips with opposition attackers.
♉Dias particularly had a bad time against Fulham last weekend, although the Cityzens somehow managed to secure all three points as Adama Traore was wasteful in front of goal for the Cottagers.
🥃Nicol believes Dias looks like a shadow of his real self and pinpointed his susceptibility to get caught out on counter-attacks as a massive weakness.
🌊“This is a guy who won the Sports Writer’s Player of the Year award not long ago and quite frankly on the counterattack, he has been sadly wanting,” said Nicol on ESPN UK’s YouTube channel.
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ꦜ“Not just against Fulham but in any of the games he’s played – he hasn’t been able to counter or defend against pace.
🔴“In general, his all-round play has been pretty average. A surprise that Dias has been as poor as he has.”
Dias going through a bad period
𒈔Signed for in the summer of 2020, Dias has been exceptional for Manchester City over the years and is part of the leadership group at the club.
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𝄹He has won nine major trophies at the Etihad Stadium and was also named FWA Footballer of the Year in 2021, while he is also a regular for the Portuguese national team.
ﷺDias has been well below par at the start of the season, but he’s got enough credit in the bank to brush it aside as a bad run.
🐽However, if Man City are to take the next step and retain their Premier League crown in the absence of Rodri, their defence needs to be absolutely watertight, which means Dias has to return to his best quickly in the coming weeks.