Man City unstable: Without Rodri, Pep Guardiola runs out of magic

The defeat to Tottenham once again showed Man City's dependence on Rodri, and pushed Pep Guardiola into a spiral of mistakes.

Looking back at the loss to Tottenham

At Etihad, Rodri is the untouchable “pivot” to Pep Guardiola’s tactical system. Not just a holding midfielder, he represents balance, rhythm and shield for the entire pressing and ball control system of Man City .

The 2025/26 season has just begun, but it is enough to prove one clear fact: without Rodri, Guardiola immediately flounders and falls into a spiral of tactical errors.

Pep Guardiola was disoriented when Rodri was not on the field. Photo: MCFC

City's squad this season has changed a lot compared to the summer of 2024. Many key players have left, including Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker and before that, Julian Alvarez.

Pep has rebuilt by bringing in several new faces since the start of the year: Tijjani Reijnders to strengthen the midfield, after having brought in Nico Gonzalez; Omar Marmoush for the front line; Rayan Ait-Nouri to bolster the defence; and James Trafford – the English goalkeeper returning after shining at Burnley.

This structure brings youth and speed, but at the same time leaves a huge gap in midfield: no one can replace Rodri.

The 0-2 loss to Tottenham in the second round of the 2025/26 Premier League is proof. Spurs under new coach Thomas Frank are still in the process of being assembled, with new signing Joao Palhinha in midfield.

However, Pep left both Bernardo Silva and Jeremy Doku on the bench for most of the time.

These are two players with the ability to unbalance and stretch the opposition defence – something City desperately need when they lack a midfield navigator like Rodri.

Nico could only watch the ball go into the net when he replaced Rodri. Photo: PL

Instead, he deployed Nico Gonzalez as Rodri, pushing Reijnders higher up the 'number 8' position where he played so well in the 4-0 win over Wolves.

As a result, the game became deadlocked: Haaland was isolated, the central coordination had no support, mainly because Nico Gonzalez was too slow in moving, reading the situation and deploying the ball; the wing attacks lacked the sharpness to unlock Tottenham's system.

Pep lost direction

The mistake here is not only in the selection of personnel but also in the philosophy. Rodri's serious injury happened almost a year ago.

During this time, Pep Guardiola used Kovacic, or central defenders like John Stones and Manuel Akanji as replacements for the Spanish midfielder.

These solutions sometimes work for a certain period of time. However, in terms of stability, no one is able to control the “zone 14” area (a term used to refer to the area in front of the penalty area, the bottleneck in central or direct attacks) in front of the penalty area.

It's puzzling that Bernardo was benched for the crucial match against Tottenham. Photo: MCFC

Without Rodri, Man City lost their "state switch": every time they lost the ball, the opponent could easily organize a direct counter-attack - like Tottenham's opening goal.

Last season's stats warned Pep: When Rodri was present, Man City had an expected goal differential of +0.8 goals per 90 minutes. Without him, that figure plummeted.

No other player has such a comprehensive tactical influence – both collecting, orchestrating and contributing goals in important games.

With him, the attacking players are also more secure. It is this dependence that makes Pep, every time he loses Rodri, immediately lose his way.

The Tottenham game was all the more telling because Pep could have turned things around by bringing in Bernardo and Doku earlier. One had the cunning and attacking rhythm, the other had the pace and ability to win 1v1s, enough to break Spurs' compactness.

Rodri came on and made his mark late in the Spurs match, but there wasn't enough time. Photo: MCFC

When Pep made the adjustment, it was too late to turn things around. Man City lost – their 8th defeat in the last 28 matches (6 of which conceded 2 goals or more). The big question is back: does Guardiola have a real plan for the scenario, Rodri?

The irony is that Pep is known for his ability to create players, turning Lahm into a midfielder, Mascherano into a centre-back, and David Alaba into both a centre-back and a holding midfielder. But now, he has not found a reliable “Plan B” for Rodri.

It has been 8 months since Pep's restructuring, since the historic winter transfer window. The more changes, the more the truth is revealed: Rodri is an irreplaceable pillar.

The season has only just begun, but Man City's title ambitions are in doubt. More than ever, Pep is looking forward to Pedri's return for the fierce September: the derby with MU, the big match against Arsenal and the start of the Champions League group stage.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/man-city-bat-on-vang-rodri-pep-guardiola-het-phep-2436601.html