The perfect balance of Aston Villa’s midfield trio screamed and pointed at the alchemy lost by Pep Guardiola.
Youri Tielemans, Amadou Onana and Boubacar Kamara moving in harmony, thinking with one mind. Picking passes, clocking miles and averting dangers as Guardiola tinkered in desperation.
Manchester City’s balance has escaped with Rodri, and it took me back to a moment in the company of Mauricio Pochettino, back in the days when he was manager of Tottenham.
Pochettino was performing a mime to embellish his broken English, pouring from little bottles of potion to find exactly the right formula as he tried to make clear why it was never as straightforward as replacing one player with another.
Losing Rodri is to lose the best player in the world. For City, more than the man who anchors midfield. He reads the game, moves the ball, sets the tempo, powers the waves. He weighs in with important goals. All while protecting them against the counterattack.
For Guardiola, he was the tactical keystone and replacing him was always going to mean mixing up a new formula, something made harder by the fact that some of his favourite potions are losing their magic.
Pep Guardiola has to come up with a different midfield formula in the absence of Rodri
Rodri’s injury has been a major issue for City and a key factor behind their recent struggles
Guardiola’s side have enjoyed incredible success but he has to find a solution to City’s woes
Kevin de Bruyne’s brilliance can no longer be relied upon. Kyle Walker is a fading force. Bernardo Silva is subdued. Ilkay Gundogan is a yard short of the Premier League pace since his return from Barcelona.
There are injuries, crucially to Ederson, another vital element of City’s blend, and others wearing down the energy and confidence of those available.
Welcome to our hell, those managers down the league might be thinking but beyond all this is the fact that Guardiola and most of his players have been in relentless pursuit of one prize after another.
Manchester City, this time last year, were in Saudi Arabia winning the Club World Cup.
They can be forgiven if subconsciously one or two have paused for breath after completing the set and adding the historic fourth Premier League title in a row.
The trouble with pausing for breath is that it can be difficult to recapture the same momentum and the same extreme levels of everything: quality, desire, cohesion as it was. All while under the stress of elite competition.
There was a reason why four in a row is unique, and three so very rare. Think back to various Chelsea meltdowns in defence of their last four titles. Antonio Conte furious to find some footballers did not have the same unquenchable desire to grind on like those in Marcelo Lippi’s Juventus.
The true genius of Guardiola’s work at City has been to regenerate imperceptibly and sustain a collective appetite to keep bringing more trophies home. To stick them up on a shelf and go back out for more whatever the weather.
Youri Tielemans, Amadou Onana and Boubacar Kamara, caused problems for City on Saturday
Phil Foden has been stifled recently, although he did score his first league goal of the season
There are other issues for City – Kevin De Bruyne’s brilliance can no longer be relied upon
In addition, 34-year-old Kyle Walker has shown some signs of decline this season
He seems to have sold and released players with this in mind. As if he recognises the attitude and dedication required for the technical brilliance to function in this scenario.
An adage of the managerial world is to change the players before they change you.
Yet mistakes are inevitable even with the backing of a sovereign wealth fund. Rodri was primed, ready to succeed Fernandinho when required but Kalvin Phillips was on loan at Ipswich when needed.
Phillips is discarded like Romeo Lavia and Douglas Luiz, former City midfielders who might have come in handy but what’s the point in lamenting that.
It is like seizing this moment of crisis to bemoan Cole Palmer, Jamie Gittens and Morgan Rogers flourishing post City while Phil Foden is stifled like the Foden of England.
Clubs cannot harvest teenage talent from around the world like City and expect to keep them all, play them all, develop them all to the standard required to hold a place in one of the best teams in the world.
Besides, why wouldn’t you trust Guardiola’s judgment as he selects those to let go?
Foden was voted Footballer of the Year in May. His glittering career is an absolute triumph even if he is among those suffering now because City’s balance is lost in the way Arsenal’s was lost without Martin Odegaard and Liverpool’s vanished amid a midfield injury crisis in 2022/23, rippling problems into other parts of the team.
All eyes are on Guardiola because this is entirely his creation. He perhaps more than anyone else is behind the rise of the cult of the coach and so it falls to him to solve it.
Back to the alchemy set he goes, a drop of potion from this bottle and a drop from that one and buy more bottles until he happens once more upon a golden formula. Others must make the most of the time it takes.
