Man City can get boost for Barcelona and Chelsea with simple tweak

Three defeats in a row for Pep Guardiola means Manchester City must be in crisis mode.

Having finished last season by losing the FA Cup final, City are winless in their first two pre-season friendlies after a 4-3 defeat to Celtic and a 3-2 defeat to AC Milan. Pep Guardiola's side have had no problems going forward this summer but plenty trying to keep their opponents out.

Nobody really cares about the results of friendlies of course, and they are easily explainable. While City have plenty of senior talent in attack in their United States squad, the backline is much more youthful and inexperienced; it was hardly a surprise to see academy midfielder Mahamadou Susoho struggle positionally at right-back against AC Milan.

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City aren't likely to welcome any more stars back before the end of their US tour, but two that returned in New York can make a major change. Mateo Kovacic is expected to play in Orlando against Barcelona and he is the most obvious replacement for Rodri in holding midfield - a key position for the balance of the team.

Fellow Croatian Josko Gvardiol spent most of his debut season at left-back for the Blues but this seems like an ideal time to get him into his preferred position of centre-back. Using him in the middle will strengthen the spine of the team and allow him to lead everyone else alongside him, bringing more organisation and hopefully cutting out some of the mistakes.

Nathan Ake, Manu Akanji, and Ruben Dias should all return to training in the week before the Community Shield to tighten up the defence, and Kyle Walker, John Stones and