‘They were very secure’ – Rio Ferdinand praises Man City’s new centre back duo

Manchester City made it two wins from two in their latest bid for Champions League glory in a straightforward win at Marseille on Tuesday.

Ferran Torres, Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling all netted to give City a boost and first place in Group C after last week’s 3-1 home victory against Porto.

One of the talking points in City’s win over Marseille is the new centre back duo of Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte.

For only the second time, Dias and Laporte were partnered together in central defence appear to have the makings of a fine pairing. The pair were largely untroubled and both players even had 100% pass completion in the first half.

Rio Ferdinand believe the defensive partnership of Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte will give a huge boost to Pep Guardiola after securing a clean sheet in their win at Marseille. 

‘I think they were very secure in the way they performed from a defensive point of view,’ he said on BT Sport. ‘If you look at City over the last few seasons they always give you a chance, no matter who they’ve got in the team. 

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‘But [tonight] they were still solid, whenever they got into dangerous areas, they got back into the rhythm of playing attacking football, controlling the game.’

‘Pep name checked the back four which is a key part of that,’ he added. ‘He wants to instill confidence, he wants the continuous ability to select players, he’s not been able to select the same partnership at the back since Vincent Kompany left.’   

‘You want to be playing regularly with someone, when you’re chopping and changing it can be difficult. The partnership [Dias and Laporte] was so important, to keep a clean sheet will give them confidence going forward.

‘You need to know almost without looking where your partner’s going to be, that comes with playing games. To get partnerships going you need time with injuries. You hope they can stay fit and build confidence, because it affects the keeper and someone like Rodri in front of them.’