A Manchester City centre-back needs to find his best form after a stuttering start to the season

At his best, Josko Gvardiol is a key player for Manchester City. The Croatian defender is a Rolls-Royce of a player and when he is on song both sides of the game look to come easy to Gvardiol. So far this season, Josko Gvardiol hasn’t been at his best. His start to the season was delayed by a knee injury. Since that point, it has seemed that Gvardiol has been trying to play catch-up with his form.

The Croatian international hasn’t set the world alight this season and City do need Josko Gvardiol to find his best form as when he is at his best he adds a tremendous amount of quality to Pep Guardiola’s side.

Josko Gvardiol has been battling for form in recent weeks and his error against Leeds showed that he is out of touch.

It has been clear for some weeks that Josko Gvardiol has been struggling with his form. His performances have been just off and he has uncharacteristically made several small errors across his recent appearances for Manchester City. To date, those minor mistakes made by Josko Gvardiol haven’t cost City. But that changed against Leeds United.

Josko Gvardiol made a rash challenge on Dominic Calvert-Lewin that gave Leeds a penalty in the second half of Saturday’s match. Although Gianluigi Donnarumma saved Lukas Nmecha’s spot kick, the rebound fell to Nmecha who tapped the ball into an empty net to make it 2-all in the 68th minute. Josko Gvardiol’s challenge was one of a player who was rattled by the situation of last Saturday’s match and it also highlighted that Josko Gvardiol is a yard short with his form. Typically, Gvardiol reads the game and any danger exceptionally well but as of right now, he is just off in this regard.

Fortunately, Phil Foden’s late winner against Leeds meant that Josko Gvardiol’s error wasn’t too costly. But it could have been and the sooner that Gvardiol rediscovers his best touch the better he, and Manchester City will be.

Josko Gvardiol did help Manchester City beat Leeds on Saturday despite his error.

Despite not being at his best against Leeds, and of late, Josko Gvardiol did score Manchester City’s second goal of their 3-2 win over Leeds. He also played a key role in Manchester City’s winning goal. Gvardiol leapt out of the way of Phil Foden’s strike which was a clever piece of play from the Croatian international. So while he isn’t in optimal form, he still had the awareness to score a goal and play an important role in Manchester City’s winning goal.

Josko Gvardiol is still trying to find his best form at this stage of the season. The Croatian defender is battling away and the hope is that he can quickly get back to his best. If he does City will be a more dangerous team, and defensively they will be a lot stronger with Gvardiol at his dominant best.