Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has explained why Kyle Walker hasn’t been starting for Manchester City in recent games.

“He cannot do it. He will always have pace, he will be the fastest in this room at 60. To play inside you have to make some movements, he has other characteristics,” Guardiola said.

“He has played as a full-back coming inside with four in the back with Joao [Cancelo] or Alex [Zinchenko] in that position and Kyle has done it really well, but with this shape of three in the back and two in the middle he cannot do it.”

“He can play coming inside and he has done it many times but like in the position of Liverpool with Rodri and John, he will maybe need time to do it and we don’t have time. It’s just a question of skills,” he added.

“The quality sometimes you need some specific things, there are players that have his qualities. You would not ask Riyad [Mahrez] to play as a full-back because he cannot play as a full-back. The reason why is tactical. It’s not because we lost faith in Kyle.”