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'Man City can still be best without Rodri – Pep must learn from Liverpool misfortune'
MAC OF THE NET: Rodri will miss the rest of the season wi
When Liverpool lost Virgil van Dijk to an ACL injury in October 2020, that was pinpointed as the start of their loss of the defence of their Premier League title.
But they were actually unbeaten in their next 11 domestic games without their star defender and top of the league at the turn of the year. Of course the loss of Van Dijk was deadly for their defence of their first title in 30 years.
But often top teams can survive by losing one of their best players. What they cannot afford to happen is then losing the back ups. That’s what happened to the Reds.
First it was Joe Gomez who followed Van Dijk to the treatment room and then Joel Matip to leave Jurgen Klopp without a proper central pairing. By the time the Reds lost to Leicester in February, it looked like they might not even finish in the Champions League places.
Of course, without Van Dijk it was going be much more difficult for Liverpool to keep City off but they didn’t immediately drop off the cliff without him. It was when the other injuries followed which caused them to.
The point we are getting to is this. Manchester City can still be the best team in the land without Rodri.
But now Pep Guardiola has the job of managing the minutes of the back ups to the Spanish midfielder. Or maybe buying another defensive midfielder in January. City are obviously not the same force without Rodri. They’ve only lost once in over 70 games with him and that was the FA Cup final defeat by Manchester United.
OK, it doesn’t look great without Rodri. They lost seven of their 21 Premier League games he hasn’t featured in. For City that’s an awful record but they have back ups. It’s just managing them now.
Mateo Kovacic will be the obvious answer while Matheus Nunes also believes he can step in. Yet if either of those start suffering injuries then that’s when the real problems may start for City.
They are set for their first of many tests without their star midfielder away at Newcastle this lunchtime. It is not the easiest one of course and will need Guardiola to tinker with his set up to ensure his team continues to click in the absence of Rodri.
But this is where a manager of Guardiola’s class has to earn his wages. It’s not like they haven’t managed without the likes of Kevin de Bruyne before. And City were pretty decent before Rodri arrived, too.
The defending champions now have to prove they are not reliant on the fitness of the Spanish star. But they can only do that if they manage to keep the back up players fit. If they don’t then the door may really be open for Arsenal and Liverpool to strike.
Daily Star Sunday
MAC OF THE NET: Rodri will miss the rest of the season wi
When Liverpool lost Virgil van Dijk to an ACL injury in October 2020, that was pinpointed as the start of their loss of the defence of their Premier League title.
But they were actually unbeaten in their next 11 domestic games without their star defender and top of the league at the turn of the year. Of course the loss of Van Dijk was deadly for their defence of their first title in 30 years.
But often top teams can survive by losing one of their best players. What they cannot afford to happen is then losing the back ups. That’s what happened to the Reds.
First it was Joe Gomez who followed Van Dijk to the treatment room and then Joel Matip to leave Jurgen Klopp without a proper central pairing. By the time the Reds lost to Leicester in February, it looked like they might not even finish in the Champions League places.
Of course, without Van Dijk it was going be much more difficult for Liverpool to keep City off but they didn’t immediately drop off the cliff without him. It was when the other injuries followed which caused them to.
The point we are getting to is this. Manchester City can still be the best team in the land without Rodri.
But now Pep Guardiola has the job of managing the minutes of the back ups to the Spanish midfielder. Or maybe buying another defensive midfielder in January. City are obviously not the same force without Rodri. They’ve only lost once in over 70 games with him and that was the FA Cup final defeat by Manchester United.
OK, it doesn’t look great without Rodri. They lost seven of their 21 Premier League games he hasn’t featured in. For City that’s an awful record but they have back ups. It’s just managing them now.
Mateo Kovacic will be the obvious answer while Matheus Nunes also believes he can step in. Yet if either of those start suffering injuries then that’s when the real problems may start for City.
They are set for their first of many tests without their star midfielder away at Newcastle this lunchtime. It is not the easiest one of course and will need Guardiola to tinker with his set up to ensure his team continues to click in the absence of Rodri.
But this is where a manager of Guardiola’s class has to earn his wages. It’s not like they haven’t managed without the likes of Kevin de Bruyne before. And City were pretty decent before Rodri arrived, too.
The defending champions now have to prove they are not reliant on the fitness of the Spanish star. But they can only do that if they manage to keep the back up players fit. If they don’t then the door may really be open for Arsenal and Liverpool to strike.
Daily Star Sunday