Vincent Kompany Says Manchester City Do Not Need to Sign a New Defender

Former Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany does not think his old club need to sign a new defender in January. 

The Sky Blues have been left short at centre-back this season after Kompany's summer departure to Anderlecht and Aymeric Laporte's knee injury, which has kept him out since August.

John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi have been left as City's only available senior central defenders, while midfielders Rodrigo and Fernandinho have had to play out of position occasionally.

The Brazilian started at centre-back alongside Stones in City's 3-1 defeat at Liverpool on Sunday. The defending champions' third loss of the season that left them nine points off the top of the table:

Despite their current predicament, though, Kompany does not believe manager Pep Guardiola needs to add new defenders to his squad in the winter transfer window, per Sky Sports:

"I don't think they need to sign another defender. We always struggle at Anfield. I said that on [Sky Sports'] Super Sunday, you're fighting 25 years of not winning at Anfield and that's difficult. It's two games in one game—you're playing a great team and you're fighting history.

"Flip it around and the same will happen for Liverpool—they will fight the history of not winning the league for 30 years. That should be to City's advantage I still think. As to the defence, the best way for City to defend in the past has been to attack. They have no reason to change that. As soon as they start reconnecting with the best performances, I'm convinced that we can see a sustainable amount of wins."

City's back line against Liverpool was embarrassingly makeshift for a club of their resources.

Claudio Bravo started his first Premier League game in over a year in goal after Ederson picked up an injury in the UEFA Champions League:

Meanwhile, Angelino started at left-back because Benjamin Mendy and Oleksandr Zinchenko both had fitness concerns, an issue that could potentially have been avoided by not playing the former against Atalanta in midweek, per Sam Lee of The Athletic.

The sight of Fernandinho starting at centre-back has become so familiar as to be unremarkable, but it is not a situation a club like City should find themselves in.

And if the 34-year-old is playing in defence, it means he is absent from the midfield, where his influence is most keenly felt.

City and Guardiola will have the opportunity to resolve their current defensive issues in January, and the return to fitness of some of their key players will help in the coming weeks and months.

But there is a chance the Sky Blues' title prospects could be gone by the start of 2020.

The loss to Liverpool was a huge blow, but not terminal to City's prospects of a third successive Premier League triumph given there is still a long time left in the season:

However, after the international break, there is a chance the gap between City and Liverpool could stretch even wider.

In the next round of Premier League fixtures on November 23, Liverpool will have the chance to go 12 points clear of City when they meet Crystal Palace before the Manchester club face Frank Lampard's Chelsea side, who have won their last six games in a row in the English top flight.