Manchester City FC 2017/2018 Player Preview-Claudio Bravo
By Duncan Kwok
Claudio Bravo was brought in from Barcelona after Joe Hart’s exile from the team. He was meant to be a good shot stopper, however, his true asset was his distribution. As Guardiola tried to make his side a replica of Barcelona. However, after one season at Manchester City cracks have been exposed in his shot-stopping. This season will see the Chilean fight for his spot in the starting line-up with Ederson having taken the Number 1 goalkeeping spot.
The English leagues have exposed some big players in the past from Chelsea’s Andriy Shevchenko, Manchester United’s Angel Di Maria and Manchester City’s Robinho. All were billed as having the potential and quality to make their respective sides dominate domestically and continentally, all failed to deliver for their sides. Claudio Bravo based on his last season certainly belongs on that list, he made 22 appearances with 5 clean sheets, made 33 saves and had an error leading to a goal. He looked out of confidence and unable to cope with the pressure, every time someone had a shot, Manchester City fans were clutching their hearts. The signing of Bravo was to allow Manchester City fans to feel relaxed because they had a reliable custodian instead it inspired misery in their hearts. However, whenever he played for Chile he looked relaxed and confident, made good saves and also made a high percentage of his passes.
Related Story: Manchester City 2017/2018 Player Preview – Ederson
Tactically, Claudio Bravo is the perfect goalkeeper for Guardiola, good on the ball, he made an average of 30 passes a game. He knows what Pep’s tactical ideology is, after all, he played at Barcelona for 3 seasons and he’s a winner, he has won 2 La Liga titles, a Champions League and 2 Copa Americas. The only thing that he’s lacking is confidence and self-belief, that is the major contributing factor to his poor shot-stopping. One doesn’t go from being one of the most raved about goalkeepers in the world to a joke in the football community without a reason.
In the 17/18 season, I expect Claudio Bravo to be second fiddle to Ederson, mainly playing in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup. We should see a considerable improvement in his performances when he plays if he can summon his Confederations Cup form, he will certainly challenge Ederson for the starting goalkeeper spot. There have been rumours about him leaving but it would be unwise to ditch him after a single season. Manchester City needs a backup keeper that can challenge Ederson and not allow the young Brazilian to become complacent, Bravo also offers experience to this young team.