Man City's Rodri truth now even more clear after Manchester derby capitulation
Manchester City are badly missing their star midfielder
Amid a run of one win in 11 matches, Manchester City are missing their star midfielder more than ever.
Rodri is out for the season and at the moment every game without him in the team is showing how essential he is to the side. The Blues are in the middle of a woeful streak across all competitions. The loss of the star player has exposed the area of the pitch that he commanded, leaving Pep Guardiola’s side vulnerable.
The first three league games of this season were played without Rodri in the starting XI and saw City secure three wins, showing that they can win without Rodri on the field - so why aren’t they now?
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City’s world class players should be more than capable of coping with the absence of one player, but morale is low for the current Premier League champions and their performance is seemingly lacking the drive that they had last season.
Despite the ability of the players on the team, finding a replacement for Rodri is proving to not be an easy job for Guardiola. Ilkay Gundogan and Mateo Kovacic have been able to combine in the past to fill some of the space that Rodri’s absence has left, but the two are better suited to manoeuvre the small spaces rather than dominating the bigger picture.
No one in the current squad is able to fill his boots and with the January transfer window approaching Guardiola will need to make an educated purchase.
Rodri became the first City player to win the Ballon d’Or earlier this year for his stan out performances for club and country and he is shortlisted for the Reach Fans’ Footballer of the Year award, as well as the City edition.
The 2023/24 campaign proved to be his most successful, scoring a total of nine goals for the club and contributing 14 assists. The Blues are now being outplayed, with the same results in their last five games as 17th-placed Leicester City.