Manchester City fans are intrigued to see how Pep Guardiola will manage the loss of Rodri injury – and Jamie Carragher has suggested one slightly left-field thing the Spaniard could do.
City fans were left gutted earlier this week when reports surfaced that Rodri has suffered a torn ACL.
City put out an official statement on Wednesday, but stopped short of saying that the ACL was ‘torn’ and also did not provide a timeframe for his return.
But the expectation is that Manchester City will be without their star midfielder for the foreseeable future.
As such, Pep must now work out how best to cover his absence.
Mateo Kovacic seems like the most obvious replacement, given he has already played well this season in Rodri’s absence.
But Jamie Carragher believes Pep may consider an alternative approach – and it would be bad news for Kyle Walker.
Jamie Carragher shares possible John Stones and Manuel Akanji idea Pep Guardiola may be considering for Man City
In recent times, Pep has had people performing hybrid roles for City.
We first saw it with Rico Lewis and John Stones during the 2022/23 season, with Stones really excelling towards the end of the campaign.
We have also seen Manuel Akanji doing it a few times.
Kovacic might be trusted by Pep to operate as a single pivot. He has done well so far this season and the Croatian does have the capability to play on his own in there like Rodri.
But there could be games Pep doesn’t want to do that.
Jamie Carragher has been speaking about the situation on the latest Stick To Football episode, and feels City fans could now see the return of Stones pushing into midfield from centre-back.
He said: “John Stones has never really played there (as an out-and-out holding midfielder). He has played there and drifted in, so he might go back to that.
“But John Stones isn’t in the City team now and hasn’t been for a period of time.
“Akanji and Dias are the two centre-backs and Akanji might then go to full-back and then Stones goes central and it’s that thing of stepping into midfield, so he’s in there with Kovacic or a Gundogan.”
Bad news for Kyle Walker
Pep’s plans to replace Rodri will be fascinating, but if this suggestion from Carragher comes to pass then it will be bad news for £50 million man Kyle Walker, who has not started the new season well.
The captain has made a couple of appearances now after coming back late after the Euros, but he has drawn criticism for his performances. He was especially poor against Arsenal in the eyes of some fans.
Following the injury to Rodri, it may well be that Pep goes back to using Stones at centre-back and pushing into midfield.
We have seen Akanji look very comfortable at right-back, so this could certainly be something he considers.
You’ve then got Lewis as someone who could also play on the right, so the current situation is far from ideal for Walker.
