Chile Coach Backs Claudio Bravo despite Harsh Criticism at Manchester City

Chile national team coach Juan Antonio Pizzi claims that he has full confidence that Manchester City and the Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo will return back to his best.

The summer signing has come under intense heat over the last few weeks. He has been cited as a major reason behind Manchester City having the worst defensive record amongst all the title contenders. City have let in an astonishing 28 goals in the 22 games. More importantly,Bravo has among the poorest saves to goals conceded ratio. Manager Pep Guardiola placed a lot of faith in the former Barcelona goalkeeper so much so that he allowed Joe Hart to join Torino on loan until the end of the season.

Bravo was brought in from Barcelona for a transfer fee of £ 17 million, making him one of the expensive signings in this position. A major positive for the Chilean goalkeeper has been his ability with his feet. It has allowed Manchester City to retain possession more often than not.

However, Bravo has let down City in an aspect that he should be excellent – keeping out shots. Opposition have found it extremely easy to score against the City goalkeeper, who has not received much of his shots. Manager Guardiola has reiterated that he retains his full confidence in the 33-year-old and Pizzi is also the same opinion. Chile have kept only two clean sheets in the last five matches of all competitions.

“There are footballers whose presence only gives me peace of mind, Bravo is one of them.I do not have any comment on that subject (his City form), apart from whether he has a good or bad match, what he brings is superlative,” said Pizzi. Appointed as the national team manager just under a year ago, Pizzi has already had enormous success in his 18 games in charge of the manager.