Carragher blasts Manchester City´s defence

Jamie Carragher believes Manchester City will need to splash more cash in the off-season after blasting the club’s two newest defensive players.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side went down 2-0 to Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday with Marko Arnautovic scoring two early goals, costing them top spot in the Premier League table. 

Skipper Vincent Kompany missed his third straight Premier League game through injury, with Nicolas Otamendi and Martin Demichelis playing in the heart of defence.

Otamendi cost the club over £30 million in August, while Eliaquim Mangala cost them almost £40m last season.

But despite the duo costing the club a combined £70m, Carragher thinks neither of them can perform without Kompany. 

“Of course they miss Kompany, but all those players are in their thirties,” Carragher said in his role as a pundit for Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.

“And in terms of City and the bigger problem going forward, they have spent big money in the attacking areas in [Raheem] Sterling and [Kevin] De Bruyne, because they felt they lacked pace.

“And I think they have both done OK, they have both done well.

“I think they may have this problem again in the summer because of the age of those players and the youngest one they have got is Mangala, who is not good enough.

“He has been here 18 months and had his time and I think City know that as well; they tried to move him on to Valencia.

“And Otamendi has come in as well, another one in his twenties, who is still yet to show us what we think he may be capable of. But he is struggling as well.

“So it looks like in the summer they could be needing one or two players, but you think of the money they have spent, £70m on two centre-backs, and they can’t play without Kompany.”