'Not as good' - Pep Guardiola defends two under fire Man City stars
Pep Guardiola said that nobody at Manchester City looks as good as normal in their losing run as he picked out two players for their efforts.
The Blues were second best at Villa Park and a 2-1 scoreline against them was harsh on the hosts, who scythed the defence open on numerous occasions and could have won by more. It meant a ninth defeat in 12 games for City in all competitions as their worst ever run under the manager got even worse.
A first-half injury to John Stones on his first start since Spurs in October - when he was also forced off at half-time - made life more difficult for Guardiola and he continues to insist that things will improve when his players come back. While that will surely be the case, the fact that their injury situation has not improved in the two months the team has struggled suggests that there could be plenty more pain coming for City.
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City are not expecting to sign Martin Zubimendi or Bruno Guimaraes in the January transfer window and Guardiola spoke on Friday about how difficult it is to sign the right players at this time of year, leaving doubts over what business the club will actually do. Asked what will happen if he doesn't get the players back, Guardiola praised two of the four players that have pushed through 2,000 minutes for him playing in a range of different positions to help the team.
"We play with 11, Jahmai will play if we cannot play the central defenders," said Guardiola. "The players that we have is what it is.
"We are lucky that we have many players like Bernardo. I know Bernardo is a special player like me but how he runs in this situation and puts his heart in those positions.
"He's an incredible winger and he's an incredible example for all of us in how he behaves and all the minutes he plays in different positions, always trying to help and read what happens in certain situations whether playing attacking midfielder, holding midfielder, always defensively making an incredible effort.
"Rico - what can I say? He can play right-back and left-back to make more control when we are struggling. All of us look not as good as normal. When the team is coming back to winning games or the players come back, we will be better."
