Kyle Walker has been offered a harsh reminder his career at the top level may be over after a tough game against former employers Tottenham.
Spurs claimed a historic 4-0 win at the Etihad to plunge Pep Guardiola further into crisis as his losing streak was extended to five games.
Walker didn’t enjoy the best of evenings against Spurs[/caption]
The home side’s defence was pulled apart with ease by Ange Postecoglou‘s men.
And Walker in particular had a tough game and was seriously exposed in the game’s dying embers.
Fellow pace merchant Timo Werner ran at the 34-year-old England right-back, but unusually he had no response.
The German slipped behind him and crossed for Brennan Johnson to round off the scoring for Tottenham.
Once able to hit a top speed of 36.5kph his fastest recorded speed this season is 28.9kph, creating a serious issue for the full-back, who may well now lose his place in Guardiola’s first-team.
And former Chelsea star Tony Cascarino believes Walker’s swift decline reminded him of an iconic moment in Champions League history.
He told the Weekend Sports Breakfast: “There’s things that are going to happen now, I believe, and Pep even alluded to it yesterday after the game where he said he would have to break things up.
“The changes are going to come because he’ll protect his players for now because he’ll say the right things because he’s been so successful with them.
“But deep down I believe that when he had the meeting in Dubai, or wherever it was with the owners of the club, there would have been the conversations about where they move forward because this has been a very difficult run for them.
“Yesterday we saw something like that moment in 2010 when I saw Gareth Bale absolutely, over a space of a couple of weeks, run Maicon the great Brazilian full-back [ragged] and that was like the end of his career.
Werner torched Walker for pace at the end of the game and it could mark the beginning of the end for the Englishman at Man City[/caption]
“At that time before Tottenham played Inter Milan. He was one of the greatest full-backs in the world, not only in Europe.
“Kyle Walker’s there now because Kyle Walker’s had a very difficult time.
“Kaoru Mitoma in the previous game at Brighton gave him loads of problems and this has been a bit of a common theme.
“Yesterday watching Kyle Walker against Timo Werner, Kyle Walker’s definitely lost half a yard. He’s definitely lost probably more than that.
“He’s still quick but Timo Werner, it was an embarrassing moment for him because he actually said to him ‘you put the ball in that area I’m going to get there first’ and he didn’t.”
Esteemed journalist Henry Winter agreed and pinpointed who should replace him.
Speaking on the Sunday Edition, he added: “He’s 34 and is an amazingly defiant individual. The point that Cas [Tony Cascarino] was making earlier that he’s lost that yard of pace.
“Timo Werner was fresh, and Walker had played 80 minutes, but I think Rico Lewis has to play there.
“At some point City are going to have to rebuild the next Pep team.”
Cascarino, though, was keen to point out that Walker was not the only one having a tough time in City’s horror run.
“Kyle Walker isn’t the only problem,” he added. “It’s just one that’s quite obvious.”
“At the moment there’s people like Gündogan has not come back the player he was Bernardo Silva‘s playing way below what he’s capable of way below. He’s a terrific footballer.
“Phil Foden – 24 years old. What is Phil’s excuse? You know, the Football Writers’ Player of the Year last season. The player that went with England to the Euros with expectations on him to deliver.
“He’s lost his England place and now I’m watching Phil play nowhere near what we know and he’s got no excuse. He’s 24, unless he’s got an injury we don’t know about or he’s carrying something.
“That’s why I’m giving Phil the benefit of the doubt.
“He’s unrecognisable at the moment from the player that was at the end of last season and you could add others to that list but they are struggling.”
