Mark Ogden
NEWCASTLE — No Rodri, no party. But plenty of questions. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola can’t escape the shadow of his injured midfielder — arguably the best in the world in his position — and his exasperated reaction to being asked about the 28-year-old after Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Newcastle United gave away just how big a loss he is going to be to the Premier League champions.
“Guys, I know you are going to ask me all the time,” Guardiola said after the game. “But [Rodri] is not there. “Kova [Mateo Kovacic], Bernardo [Silva]. Rico [Lewis] did well, but I have to find solutions. I would love Rodri to be here.”
This was the first game that City had played since confirmation came this week that Rodri, shortlisted for the Ballon d’Or, will miss the rest of this season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during last Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Arsenal.
When Rodri left the field against Mikel Arteta’s side in the 20th minute as a result of his injury, City were 1-0 ahead and comfortable. In the previous 51 Premier League games that Rodri had played, dating to February 2023, City hadn’t lost any of them.
But with Rodri off the pitch, Arsenal quickly overturned their deficit to lead 2-1 and missed out on winning the game only by conceding an equaliser in the eighth minute of stoppage time.
At Newcastle, City once again took the lead, with defender Josko Gvardiol scoring in the 35th minute following good work by Jack Grealish, but could not hold onto their advantage and Anthony Gordon‘s 58th-minute penalty ultimately earned Newcastle a point and left City wondering when they will win again without Rodri.
City will, of course, find a way to win without the former Atlético Madrid player. Let’s not forget that Guardiola’s team won their first three league games this season without Rodri in the squad due to him being given an extended break following his exertions in helping Spain to Euro 2024 glory in Germany.
But the reality of his absence for the remainder of the season has delivered both a selection problem and a psychological blow to the champions. Their record with and without Rodri — they have failed to win their last five games (L4, D1) without him and Kevin De Bruyne in the starting XI — points to his importance and the squad now know that they are going to have to find a way to cope without him. Even Guardiola, a coaching genius, admits he is still searching for a solution.
Rodri is perhaps even more important to City than prolific centre-forward Erling Haaland. City have so many attacking options that they can usually find a way to score when Haaland isn’t on the scoresheet, but Arsenal were able to overrun City’s midfield in the period between Rodri’s departure and Leandro Trossard‘s red card on 45 minutes last week, and Newcastle also enjoyed long periods of dominance in the middle of the pitch at St James’ Park.
Guardiola deployed a 4-1-2-3 formation with Kovacic in the Rodri role, and Lewis and Ilkay Gündogan offering a further layer of protection in between Kovacic and the front three.
Kovacic is a top-class player, a Champions League winner with Real Madrid and Chelsea, but he is not Rodri. If Rodri is an A+ midfielder, Kovacic might be B+, which is still not bad. But everything about City is their levels of excellence and, despite Kovacic’s pedigree, he does not give City the assuredness on the ball or the vision of Rodri.
As for Lewis, the 19-year-old is still learning the game and not ready to be one of Guardiola’s main solutions. Gündogan has all the pedigree and he has done it before, but the former Germany international is 34 next month and looks a shadow of his former self after returning to the Etihad this summer following a season at Barcelona.
Gündogan was substituted early in the second-half after a poor performance in which he looked well off the pace. He might improve once his fitness levels get better, but his age suggests that might be an optimistic suggestion.
Tellingly, perhaps, Guardiola referenced Bernardo Silva rather than Gündogan when talking of his midfield options against Newcastle, but the Portugal international is more an attacking player than a potential Rodri solution. Defender John Stones is another, but spent the game on the substitutes’ bench, while the injured De Bruyne failed to make the squad.
Like Gündogan, De Bruyne has all the credentials to fill the Rodri void, but he is also 33 and becoming affected by regular injury problems.
So how does Guardiola replace the irreplaceable?
At Newcastle, City had good periods in the first half, but lost control of the midfield as the home side built up momentum in the second period.
The midfield of Joelinton, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimarães had more energy and tenacity than City’s, while the height and strength of Joelinton was a problem that Guardiola’s team couldn’t deal with in Rodri’s absence.
City now have a comfortable run of league games in October against Fulham, Wolves, Southampton and Bournemouth, so they have the opportunity to prove to the world, and themselves, that can cope without their best midfielder.
The likelihood is that City will win all four of those games and do just that, but there is no doubt that they are not the same force without Rodri and the acid test will come against their title rivals.
Newcastle didn’t do that Saturday, but they exposed City’s frailties and better teams than Eddie Howe’s side will be much more ruthless.