Manchester City made it six wins out of six in the Premier League yesterday, but will now not have Rodri for the next three games – meaning a potential major opportunity for Kalvin Phillips.
Rodri received a red card from referee Anthony Taylor, after getting into a scuffle with Morgan Gibbs-White shortly after half-time.
The midfielder placed his hands at the base of Gibbs-White’s neck, which you cannot do.
As that counts as violent conduct, Rodri will now serve a three-game suspension.
He’ll miss games against Newcastle United (Carabao Cup), Wolves and Arsenal.
That is a major blow for City – but also a potential window of opportunity for rarely seen midfielder Phillips…
Kalvin Phillips has potential chance to save his Man City career
It will now be very interesting to see what Guardiola does in the wake of Rodri’s red card.
Guardiola uses Rodri at every turn, and is a massive admirer of his fellow countryman.
He is without doubt the best holding midfielder in the word.
But he’s out for three games now and someone will need to step up to the plate.
And one man who’ll be hoping for the chance to play is Phillips.
Phillips has had a chronic lack of game time since coming to the club from Leeds United in the summer of 2021.
Guardiola just hasn’t seemed to trust the England midfielder.
But this is now a golden chance for him to play.
Aside from Rodri, he is the only other out-and-out holding midfielder at the club.
New signings Matheus Nunes and Mateo Kovacic can play as deep-lying midfielders. But they are arguably better as number eights.
Both can play holding, but perhaps not as single pivots like Rodri can.
So the situation potentially calls for Phillips to finally come into the side.
It is surely his time to step up and prove himself. There was some speculation in the summer that he could leave, but he ultimately wanted to stay and fight for his place.
That was admirable, but so far chances have been limited.
But with Rodri out now, it’s an opportunity to make a statement.
Arguably, his City career may well hinge on these coming games.
The ‘talented’ 27-year-old actually may have the chance to save his City career here, because at the moment he still just isn’t playing enough.
If he barely features in Rodri’s absence though, you would imagine that he will surely be considering leaving in January.
That is something that was claimed recently, and he could not really be blamed if he sought an exit.
