John Stones has been dropped to the bench for Manchester City’s game with Bournemouth this afternoon as Pep Guardiola makes four changes to the side that thumped Borussia Monchengladbach on Wednesday. “We’ll see on the pitch what is the best for that game”, The Telegraph quote the Catalan as saying.
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Past year he was missing for over a month on four occasions prior to the injury that ended his season and meant he was not able to play for Belgium at Euro 2016.
“Defensively, we need to adjust small details, we still need a few things to improve but right now we are happy”, he added.
“That’s the only way to arrive at the end of the season, fighting”.
“I know Vincent’s quality”, said Guardiola. I need him to put pressure on John, Nicolas, [Aleksandar] Kolarov – all of them. The 22-year-old admits that being the captain of the team is among his ambitions. So far this season Pablo Zabaleta, David Silva and Joe Hart have taken the responsibility, based on their seniority.
Guardiola says Kompany’s impending presence on the bench however is crucial to keep Stones and Otamendi on their toes. Every player wants to be captain of their team and to do so for years to come.
He replaced Carlos Tevez as City captain following the 2011 FA Cup final victory over Stoke and in his 298 appearances for the club has led them to two Premier League titles and two League Cup final victories.
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The former Everton player also said, “These are dreams you dream about when you’re a little boy”.
