Manchester City is not going through its best period at the moment. Already lacking results in recent weeks, even though it had caught up with Arsenal in the standings before Boxing Day, Pep Guardiola’s club sank last weekend in the Manchester derby. The Sky Blues never existed against the Red Devils (2-0) to display a frankly worrying face. Three days later, new disillusionment but this time in the Champions League on the pitch of Bodo/Glimt (3-1), one of the little thumbs of the competition. Once again, the collective broke down before logically bowing.
In failure throughout these last two meetings, Erling Haaland, tired, alone symbolizes City’s dizzying loss of speed. This is not the only setting that is worrying, especially since the Norwegian’s lack of success is undoubtedly temporary. We are talking here about the Rodri case, who also experienced two successive shipwrecks. Faced with the ghost Kobbie Mainoo, he looked his age, even though he is only 29 years old. The midfielder suffered martyrdom trying to avoid the opposing pressure. It was even worse in Norway, where he left his partners at ten at the hour mark, after receiving two warnings in two minutes.
Guardiola: “Give it time»
“Eleven months! Eleven months of injury! Give it time. He remains the bestdefends Pep Guardiola this Friday at a press conference, on the eve of hosting Wolverhamtpon (Saturday, 4 p.m.) in the league, admitting that the manager has not yet regained his good disposition. He wants it (to be at his best). Give it time, it’s been eleven months. He needs time to recover.» It’s quite simple, since his return from injury, the 2024 Ballon d’Or is unrecognizable. He is not at all physically fit, and his technique and vision are not enough to compensate.
The master thinker was never a fast player but his intelligence and his quality of foot managed to make him an indispensable element both in his club as during the treble in 2023, as well as in the selection with whom he won Euro 2024, being crowned best player in the competition. Guarantor of collective balance and game starter in his dominant teams, Rodri has not yet regained his speed of execution before his serious injury. Victim of a cruciate ligament rupture in September 2024, he experienced a blank season last year (missing 53 matches) and his recovery took longer than expected.
Rodri does not find his level
Manchester City hoped to see him again before the end of the year before facing the facts. The Spaniard was not ready. His recovery in August did not go well either, to the point that he had to make an express return to the infirmary. On his return, this time it was a problem with his ischium that kept him away from the field for two months, between November and December (already missed 20 matches this season). This time, it is operational but the lack of rhythm and the successive long stops have diminished it. The results speak for themselves. Since Rodri’s return to the field, the Cityzens have not won a single Premier League match (three draws and one defeat).
However, Guardiola refuses to overwhelm the man who was still considered the best player in the world 18 months ago. Rodri is not the only problem for his team. “I know why we are having trouble right now. I know, 100%, what happened with the team. I know it. (…) When the team does not win, it is not the fault of a single player. It’s everyone’s business», insists the Catalan this Friday. City had 11 absentees in the Arctic Circle. The transfer window with the arrivals of Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi will not solve all the problems either, starting with the dizzying loss of level of Rodri.
