Former Manchester City defender, Micah Richards, has shared his insights on the performance of current Manchester City player, Kyle Walker, in the recent Euro 2024 match. Having played a significant number of games as a full-back himself during his career, Richards is well-positioned to assess Walker's performance.
Richards boasts an impressive footballing career with 296 combined senior appearances for Manchester City, Aston Villa and Fiorentina. The majority of these games saw him playing in the right-back position. However, he also made 61 appearances as a centre-back and one as a left-back.
In England’s recent victory over Slovakia (2-1), Richards focused particularly on the left-back situation and how Kyle Walker fared in this role.
A shaky performance by Walker
Walker completed the full 120 minutes against Slovakia during the knockout stage of Euro 2024. Despite having racked up an impressive total of 98 touches throughout this time period, he lost possession fourteen times - only two other players from England starting XI lost possession more frequently than him.
Furthermore, despite making one clearance, interception and tackle each during the game; out of seven duels that he was involved in - he only won three. He was also dribbled past once during this match.
Former Manchester City defender, Micah Richards, said:
“They’re wanting [Kieran] Trippier to go forward and get involved in the play. I would just go and play and Trent [Alexander-Arnold] right-back and go into a three at the back and just say, just do the bare minimum like he does.
“Kyle Walker in the game against Slovakia was in positions in the first 20 minutes that he doesn’t play for Man City. He got caught out of position many times. All you want him to do is just, he’s best when he’s playing three at the back and he can read and go one-v-one in defending, not getting caught up the field.”
The verdict from former Players
Bukayo Saka recently shared how challenging it is to play against Walker which indicates his usual high standard of play. However even considering this endorsement from Saka; it can’t be denied that Walker had a shaky performance in his latest Euro 2024 match.
Richards' assessment of Walker's performance aligns with this view, suggesting that the City star had an off day during the match against Slovakia.
As England prepares for its quarter-final match against Switzerland, it will be interesting to see how Walker responds to this critique and whether he can bounce back from his recent underwhelming performance. Richards' insights provide a valuable perspective on the current defensive setup in Gareth Southgate’s side and highlight areas where improvement is needed.
