Aymeric Laporte’s quality laden performance vs. Swansea City at the weekend served as another important step in his integration and adaptation to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
Operating as City’s left sided central defender, the Spaniard, who was bought in for an astounding £57.1 million in January from Athletic, hardly put a foot wrong throughout the 5-0 rout.
With City completely dominating possession, it was brilliant to see how Laporte remained so alert and concentrated when called into action to undertake his defensive duties. Using his intelligent ability to read the play and fine anticipation skills, he never allowed himself to switch off and let Swansea bypass him, with him springing into action to stop many an attack dead in its path.
This was certainly well documented by his astute tracking of runners, crisp timing of his interventions and in his sound decision making when to hold his post or step up and apply pressure. This, in combination with his solid pace, strength and body postures, duly saw him undertake his defensive responsibilities in a very accomplished manner.
Moving onto the attacking end, and his wonderful range of distribution, which was highlighted by his penetrative line breaking passes into the feet of the likes of David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne, would’ve delighted his manager. In addition, the way he made the most of the left half space to dribble into to draw a Swansea midfielder out of shape to free up an attacker was also crucial.
By the numbers, his five won aerial duels, two interceptions, three clearances and the fact he completed 122 of his 130 attempted passes aptly illustrated what a outstanding shift he put in.
For the versatile Laporte, who’s desperate to make the French World Cup squad, this outing would have certainly done his chances no harm whatsoever. As the season draws to a close, the 23-year-old will be also hoping to continue gaining vital experience at this level, so he can not only fulfill his aforementioned ambition, but also to use the remaining matches to further familiarise himself with Guardiola’s methods so he can hit the ground running ready for next season.
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