Manchester City have entered the second international break of the season without losing a game.
With seven Premier League matches played, City have drawn two and won five, putting them in second place on 17 points, just one behind Liverpool.
Beyond that, Pep Guardiola has seen his side pick up a draw and a win in the Champions League and secure their place in the last 16 of the Carabao Cup.
Their latest match saw the Blues beat Fulham 3-2 at the Etihad Stadium, with Mateo Kovacic and Jeremy Doku bagging the goals.
Despite the victory, one pundit and former Premier League star has pinpointed one particular problem the Manchester club have which became apparent in the victory over the Cottagers.
Ian Wright highlight’s Rodri absence as big Man City issue
While reflecting on City’s win over Fulham, Ian Wright said this in a recent episode of Wrighty’s House about the main problem he thinks the champions have.
He said: “Fulham should have beat them, right? It would have been amazing because we’re not talking about, again, we mentioned Adama Traore earlier on, but we’re talking about the kind of team in Fulham that they broke on them, they broke quickly, and City were fragile in the moment.
“And like you said, Moose, they had to get an absolute stonker from Doku to finish this game. But there is something at City, obviously, I don’t care, it’s Rodri.
“You’re missing Rodri, it’s going to be a massive problem.”
What has Guardiola said about Rodri’s absence at City?
During the first half of City’s 2-2 draw against Arsenal, the midfielder was forced off the pitch with a suspected knee injury.
Guardiola then revealed Rodri will be out injured for the season after damaging his ACL, which required surgery to fix.
After that, Guardiola said this on if Rodri’s absence has made City defensively weaker.
He said: “I think it’s too easy to say this analysis. With Rodri, we drew two games, without him, we won all the games this season.
“If it’s one player who makes all the time, a mistake, a mistake, a mistake, next game, he’s not going to play, it’s simple. We have a business, we have to perform well. But it is not the case.
“Maybe we have to reflect on the goals, how is it, normally, it’s in transition, in set-pieces, because without Rodri, we lose this power because he’s another guy, he’s so strong in this position.”
“But we have to live without him and see what we can do with the ball. So yeah, we’ll talk, we’ll see, we’ll reflect on what we miss to be more consistent.”
Moving forward, with Wright now highlighting how much of a problem he thinks Rodri not being in the team is for City, it’ll be interesting to see if the club decide to bring in a replacement during the upcoming January transfer window.
