Pep Guardiola praises selfless Fabian Delph as England man adapts to left-back role

The 27-year-old central midfielder has been out of the City team but now is taking his chance in an unfamiliar position

(Getty)

Pep Guardiola has praised the resilience and selflessness of Fabian Delph, expressing admiration for how the 27-year-old midfielder has adapted to left-back for Manchester City despite never having previously played there and having played little football in the last year.

Delph only played seven times in the league under the Catalan last season, and had seemed to be out of favour, only to instantly impress when recalled to fill in for long-term injury absence Benjamin Mendy. Delph was again solid in the 1-0 win over Chelsea, and Guardiola complimented for how his work allowed City to move better as a team.

“He showed us,” the City manager said. He showed us, he showed me, he showed his teammates a lot. It's not easy when, for a long period you don't play and, OK, a manager gives you an opportunity and play one position you never play before, in Champions League and here, so it means a lot, it means a lot for all of us and normally that happens when you are a good guy. Some guys, they only want to play in one position, 'in the other one I am not comfortable', so he's a guy who always tries to help. Last season we didn't play always with his voice in our locker room, so I am so satisfied, so happy for him. Especially for him.”

Guardiola revealed that they had been working on the position with Delph in training.

“Yeah, sometimes when we make a training session or games, always we use him here, yeah. And we go there, close to him, OK, in this situation, some drills, to be comfortable, and afterwards the ball is wide, inside, like his midfield play, has the quality, it's not scary to play but sometimes under pressure, put the ball, he tries always to play, and give us an extra pass, an extra pass, an extra pass; let the opponent run, and help us a lot to have this kind of pace.”

Guardiola was also impressed with the tactical discipline of Raheem Sterling, who he said was similarly important to pinning Chelsea’s wing-backs back. It marked yet another solid performance after the young forward received criticism for his performance for England against Malta at the start of the month. There was even talk he may leave City, having been mentioned as a potential swap in Guardiola’s move for Alexis Sanchez, but the Catalan similarly praised his resolve.

“Rash is a young guy, he has to know that that job is not easy, so he cannot expect it always going well. I want to see him when it's going bad in national team how he react. He mustn't complain. Ideally, he'd say 'OK I'm here, manager, coach', 'Gareth Southgate/Pep, I show you how good I am, and that is the only way to become a better player. We know that is a guy we discover last season, or this season too, he likes to play more in the middle, attack more central defenders, than be wide wide on the line, but today the way we want to play, it was so necessary to be wide, go, make an action, the wingers.

Fabian Delph has impressed at left back (Getty)

"The wingers' influence today Rash was maybe minimum, but helped us from his positions to keep their full-backs in the position for more space when we need to attack, that's why both of them were so generous and of course they have the quality in the last moment for the counter-attacks, both of them they are so so fast, so quick. But he's young. It's the same. He's so young, he have a lot of [space?] to improve, in the last pass, the last assist, to be more clear in the last action. When he's able to get that, he will become a top, top, top, top player.

“These kind of players have to know, when you win, you're happy but then the next day another test, and they play bad, OK, new chance in two-three days again, so football is marvellous for that. So improve in the good things and bad things and, again, and do it again. So he's young, Rash like everybody we try to help them, to try to understand the game, his strength points, to benefit the team.”