Manchester City’s medical staff have been kept on their toes this season due to the number of injuries the club have had to deal with.
Arguably their biggest injury blow saw Rodri suffer a season-ending injury during City’s 2-2 draw against Arsenal in the Premier League back in September.
Having made it to late October without losing a match, Pep Guardiola has since seen his side get knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Tottenham Hotspur, suffer their first Premier League defeat to Bournemouth and lose to Sporting CP in the Champions League.
After blowing their early 1-0 lead against Ruben Amorim’s side and conceding four goals in midweek, one pundit has shared his thoughts on why the injured Spaniard’s absence is now being felt.
- Man City injury list 2024/25: Latest updates and potential return dates for sidelined stars
Stephen Warnock explains why Rodri’s absence is now a problem
While assessing City’s defeat to Sporting in BBC Sport’s Champions League highlights show, Stephen Warnock highlighted Rodri’s absence as being a particularly big blow for the Blues.
He said: “I just feel that Rodri’s going to be a huge loss for them.
“I think you can deal with it for four or five games knowing that he’s going to come back eventually within the changing room, but I think there’s a feeling amongst the team and amongst the fans at the moment, which is how do we balance this midfield better.
“You lose a player like that, especially in away games, against Sporting Lisbon, you need that powerhouse, you need that player who’s going to take the ball under pressure but also sense danger.
“We saw there from [Mateo] Kovacic, he doesn’t see danger. Great with the ball, but not out of possession.”
Guardiola admitted City are ‘less strong’ without Rodri
Prior to City’s defeat to Spurs, Guardiola admitted City’s weakness without Rodri, saying this on the matter before then seeing his side lose their three most recent matches – something which they haven’t done since 2018.
He said: “We are less strong. With him, we are better and with Kevin [De Bruyne], we are better and with Kyle Walker, we are better and with Oscar [Bobb] and all the people now with long injuries, we are better.
“But what I said, now he has to recover well in the next season and we have to handle the team game by game and try to win games.”
| 2024/25 | Matches Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals Scored | Goals Conceded | Clean Sheets |
| Premier League | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 11 | 2 |
| Champions League | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 3 |
| Carabao Cup | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
Looking back over the defeat against Sporting, the Blues only had two big chances compared to the home side’s six, even though City had 73% possession in total.
With Warnock now having highlighted how City’s available midfielders have struggled to sense and stamp out danger, which has led to them conceding goals over the past week, Guardiola will have to deal with this issue sooner rather than later.
Moving forward, with the Blues turning their attention back to the Premier League this weekend with an away trip against Brighton & Hove Albion, the ideal scenario for City would be to walk away with three points and a clean sheet.
