Manchester City’s Josko Gvardiol was considered a sub-par replacement for Kim Min-jae. He has been a key contributor to City’s lead at the top of the table.
Manchester City defeated home team Fulham 4-0 in the 36th round of the 2023-2024 English Premier League (EPL) regular season at Craven Cottage in London, England, on Wednesday (KST).
With 26 wins, seven draws, and three losses, City returned to the top of the league with 85 points, two points clear of first-place Arsenal. With two games remaining, City can clinch another league title with two straight wins.
Gvardiol, who started at left back, scored two goals. He scored in the 13th minute off an assist from Kevin De Bruyne and added a second in the 26th minute off an assist from Bernardo Silva for a 2-0 lead.
He was named Player of the Match, the best player for both teams on the day.
‘Josko Gvardiol scored twice as Man City turned on Fulham to go top of the Premier League and keep the pressure on Arsenal,’ said the BBC, ‘Gvardiol broke down the Fulham defense with a fine move.
The BBC gave Gvardiol an 8.23 rating and named him man of the match.
Football stats site WhoScored.com also gave him a high rating of 8.1. However, they gave Bernardo Silva an 8.6 rating. That was the highest score. He had two assists. De Bruyne also scored 8,2 points.
Gvardiol joined City this season. He was City”s first option last summer. Pep Guardiola, who was in need of a defender, praised Gervinho”s defense.
However, the international media had a different opinion: at the time, the best defender available was Kim Min-jae. 카지노사이트 Manchester United sent scouts to Serie A for eight months to analyze his every move. Eventually, Kim became one of the best defenders in Serie A, a league with one of the strongest defenses in the world, as Napoli won the Scudetto. He was a top target for Man United. However, Bayern Munich managed to hijack the deal.
Man City also considered signing Kim Min-jae.
At the time, local media reported that City wanted to sign Gvardiol, but Kim was better. When the season actually started, Gvardiol wasn’t considered a first-choice center back. He started 24 league games. However, in this match, he showed his versatility by playing as a side-back instead of a center-back.
Kim Min-Jae, on the other hand, has quickly established himself as a first-choice center back at Bayern Munich. There was even a controversy at the beginning of the season. He formed a center-back duo with Dayo Upamecano in place of Matthijs de Ligt, who was sidelined with an injury, and anchored Bayern’s defense at the start of the season. At the time, it was said that Bayern’s defense was more stable than last season.
However, with the arrival of Eric Dier in the winter transfer window, Kim Min-Jae, who had been on the bench for the A-Match, lost his place in the starting lineup. He was the subject of intense criticism in the first and second legs of the Champions League quarterfinals against Real Madrid.
In the first leg, he made two defensive mistakes that cost Real Madrid two goals. There were real, obvious mistakes, and they could be criticized. However, Bayern Munich coach Thomas Tuchel publicly criticized Kim Min-jae as a “greedy defender,” and local media went overboard in their criticism. He didn’t make any defensive mistakes in the second leg, but when Real Madrid scored two goals in quick succession after Kim came on, he was once again the target of the local media.
Last summer, Kim Min-jae was certainly rated higher than Gvardiol. However, the tide turned at the end of the season.