Guardiola names three John Stones replacements amid Manchester City crises

Pep Guardiola has announced the three players in the line-up to replace John Stones, including teenager Taylor Harwood-Bellis. John Stones was injured during Tuesday training on the back of Aymeric Laporte’s injury. Guardiola is now supposed to use defensive midfielder Fernandinho alongside Nicolas Otamendi in defence, but also relies on teenagers Eric Garcia and Harwood-Bellis as the latter has already blown away his teammates. Ahead of the game, Guardiola revealed: “John got injured making a pass. [Now] it’s a big challenge. For me as a manager, it is an incredible challenge. We’ve got just one central defender in Nico but I believe a lot in something people don’t know, which is the spirit and commitment. We will go with them (Garcia and Harwood-Bellis) for the next few months. It is what it is; sometimes these situations happen. It has happened and what we are not going to do is complain.” And when asked if he is serious about Fernandinho playing in defence, like how he converted Javier Mascherano at Barcelona, Pep revealed: “We don’t have many other options.”

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