Jamie Carragher criticises Manchester City's 'lazy' defence following Stoke loss

Former Liverpool and England defender says City cannot cope without Vincent Kompany

Jamie Carragher is a pundit for Sky Sports (Getty Images)

Former Liverpool defender and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher has slammed the Manchester City defence, labelling them ‘lazy’, following the 2-0 defeat to Stoke City.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side squandered their spot at the top of the Premier League table as they continue to struggle with life in captain Vincent Kompany’s absence through injury.

Stoke winger Marko Arnautović scored twice in eight minutes as Stoke took control of the match in the early exchanges with a blend of attacking flair and defensive solidity, but Carragher elected to highlight City’s deficiencies on Monday Night Football.

“There was plenty of evidence of lazy defending [against Stoke],' said Carragher. “Lazy defending for me means ‘won't run’. But I saw signs on the weekend of something else: ‘can't run’. That could be a bigger problem for Man City going forward.

“Bacary Sagna is now 32, almost 33, and he's played 26 games this season for club and country and it looks too much for him.

“The centre backs were very poor as well, especially [Martin] Demichelis. A lot has been made of them missing Kompany, but it is nothing to do with that.

Vincent Kompany (GETTY IMAGES)

“[Against Stoke] you think of young, energetic players running in behind them. Liverpool and Tottenham did exactly the same to them, three of the back four: Sagna, [Aleksandar] Kolarov and Demichelis played in all of those games.

“I think they’re going to have a problem again and have to bring in defenders in the summer. The youngest one they have is [Eliaquim] Mangala, and he’s not good enough. He’s been there 18 months, he’s had his time and they tried to move him on to Valencia. [Nicolas] Otamendi is struggling as well.

“In the summer they could be needing one or two players, but you think of what they have spent: £70million on two players and they can’t play without Kompany.”