‘Underrated performance’, ‘He was everywhere’ – Man City Fans react as Pep Guardiola hails one player’s movement for breakthrough vs Brentford

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Pep Guardiola has praised John Stones’s ‘brilliant’ performance against Brentford on Wednesday, as Manchester City extended their gap at the top of the Premier League table.

The Manchester City manager threw a curveball for the Brentford match by starting Stones ahead of Kyle Walker to the right of Ruben Dias in defence, a position he had also filled in December against Leeds.

Brentford frustrated the Blues in the opening half-hour at the Etihad, defending resolutely, but Raheem Sterling earned a penalty just before half-time that Riyad Mahrez converted to make the evening more comfortable for the champions.

Kevin De Bruyne scored the second goal of the game to secure Manchester City’s win as they opened up a 12-point gap at the top of the Premier League and made it 40 points collected from the last available 42.

It was a dominant evening against Brentford with Mahrez and De Bruyne stealing the show, but it was the performance of Stones that particularly pleased Guardiola after the game, with the defender lining up initially at right-back for the hosts.

Speaking after the game, Guardiola said: “He [Stones] played against Leeds in that position and was brilliant and today he was more than brilliant. Today, he was the most important player that we had to understand what happened

“Of course, in the final third Joao [Cancelo] was brilliant too. But John played really well against Leeds playing in the back four with the build-up and today the build-up was more three and it was perfect. He can play in both positions, he convinced me he knows it.

“He paid attention, is clever, is so smart in the air. The build-up is brilliant how he commits and drives with the ball. He was really really good.”

Stones played a part in City’s first goal, when Raheem Sterling won a penalty thanks to some incisive movement from the former Everton defender.

Asked about the opener, Guardiola said: “Thanks to John Stones reading perfectly the movement we should make to break their lines, and a good action from Raheem for the penalty. Then the second half was much better.”

These Guardiola’s comments on John Stones were shared on Twitter by City Xtra and it attracted plenty of attention from the club’s supporters.

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