It's the moment all City fans hoped would never come - Rodri is out for the season. Having been seemingly the sole reason City never lost games with him playing last season; Pep Guardiola has to now think of a plan B having not signed a direct backup to the Spaniard in the summer. Adam Monk takes a look at what that plan might be...
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00:00Oh, hello everybody, Adam Monk here from 442. If you're wondering why does Adam look like
00:11he's got a face like a slapped arse and sounds very solemn, well, I'm a Manchester City fan
00:16and the worst thing happened this week. Well, not the worst thing, that'd be relegation.
00:20No, but seriously, on Sunday, every City fan's worst fear happened as Rodri did his ACL.
00:29Yeah, I mean, do you know what, just play the clip.
00:37Now can I just say before we get into the actual video, the fallout from that injury
00:41on Twitter, or X now, has been like nothing I've ever seen from Arsenal fans. The fact
00:48that a centre defensive mid has got the whole of football Twitter this shook, people celebrating
00:52his injury, making jokes about it, etc, etc. Don't get me wrong, some of them have been
00:58quite funny but distasteful, but all I'm saying is, has a central defensive midfielder
01:03ever had a fan base as shook or relieved as that when they've got injured? I've not seen
01:09something bad that's happened to a person celebrated like that since maybe Margaret
01:14Thatcher. And I really don't know what that says about Rodri, either that he's the best
01:17in his position in the world or he steals Erling Haaland's milk. That was very good
01:23satire. And look, it's exemplified by this here. I mean, this is every game that City
01:27have played since Rodri signed for the club, 21 without and 174 with. And the win rate
01:32plummets, the loss rate increases, points per match goes down and the goal difference
01:37per match goes down. And that's quite a significant drop as well. So overall, Manchester City
01:41Football Club are a worse team when he's not on the pitch. So this is a really, really
01:46bad injury for City. Anyway, this is a real crisis, so I'm going to try and tackle it
01:50with two possible solutions with all the expertise of Boris Johnson in March 2020. Stop going
01:56on about politics. OK, so disclaimer, both of these solutions are things that he's actually
02:00already done. But it's literally all I can think of because Pep's the man who's got to
02:04think outside the box. But system number one is actually what he's already done this season.
02:09Of course, Pep give Rodri a massive holiday because he played about 175 games last season
02:15and then the Euros all the way to the final and winning it. So Pep rightfully thought
02:19Rodri needed a break. So he sent him off to Disneyland or wherever he wanted to go. And
02:24he played Kovacic at number six, starting away at Stamford Bridge. This was a line up
02:28from that game. And you may well remember, if any of you watched it and Adam Cleary did
02:31a very good video on the certain individual Rico Lewis, who inverted from right back in
02:36this game to sort of create that box midfield and give City a bit of a stranglehold on the
02:40game in possession. Now, you might also remember from that game at points it was rather frenetic
02:45and Chelsea did get him behind on instances. It wasn't the most defensively assured Manchester
02:50City performance ever. But of course, we were fine with it because we thought Rodri
02:54was going to return. Now, what Matteo Kovacic, the man that I want to talk about in this
02:58instance, does give you from that position is a very good ability to drive with the ball,
03:02something that Rodri I don't think has in his locker or even really Ilkay Gundogan.
03:06He can really carry it across 20 yards better than any City midfielder, Barneby De Bruyne.
03:11And that was exemplified in this game because you'll remember this goal here. He drove from
03:15deep, went past Enzo and Caicedo, see you later, and wellied it in. To be fair, Sanchez
03:20should have saved it, but he still scored a goal nonetheless. So it does sometimes bear
03:23fruit for City, but he's a number six who likes to carry the ball into those advanced
03:27positions and that can sometimes leave City susceptible. So I'm going to show you an example
03:33of that. This is a goal City conceded last season at Molineux in a game they lost 2-1,
03:38a game in which Rodri was suspended. And right there, Matteo Kovacic is City's lone number
03:42six. Now, City lost the ball with a wayward pass. That can happen. That happens in any
03:46game of football, even Pep City. But the problem is here, Kovacic as City's lone six
03:51isn't really positionally set for that turnover of possession that Wolves provide. Pedro Neto
03:56is the player that picks up the ball here and players with running power, I'm going
03:59to show you a clip from this season as well shortly, but players with running power are
04:03really City's Achilles heel in transition and have been now for a good 18 months. So
04:07Pedro Neto bombs it down the byline and let's just cut to this part now where the cutback
04:12is delivered. Look at Kovacic trying to track his man. He's not positionally set for that
04:16turnover. So he's caught napping and legging it back doing a bleak test. And that's something
04:21that doesn't really happen with Rodri. You never see Rodri stretched, legging it back
04:26to track someone from a counter attack that City have conceded. He's always better positionally
04:30set and that's why he can play that lone six role so well. And you even, the standards
04:34Rodri has set, you even look at Arsenal, for instance, right? They always have to play
04:37a double pivot. Declan Rice likes to drive with the ball. Arteta would never play Rice
04:42as a lone six because he knows in doing so, Arsenal will get caught on the counter attack.
04:46So it's always a Thomas Partey, a Jorginho playing alongside Rice. There's very, very
04:50few players now, and this is testament to Rodri, that can play that lone six. Yeah.
04:54And this is just before the ball goes in and let's just say that man there has not been
04:58tracked very well. Ball goes in the net, 1-0 Wolves. So yeah, that's what City have got
05:02to stop now in Rodri's absence because when Rodri has been absent, City just concede that
05:06kind of goal time and time again. Now let me take you to this season. City won this
05:10game 3-1 at the London Stadium. Now City here for context, I couldn't find the clip beforehand,
05:15but they've put in a wayward cross. West Ham have turned over the ball and passed it
05:19to Kudas. Now I know that the picture here is blurry, so let me just skip forward a second.
05:23Still a little bit blurry, but nonetheless, the ball's gone into Kudas and looking at
05:26all these City players here, I want you to guess how many City players you think are
05:30in the defensive positions out of the picture here. The answer's coming in a sec. So Kudas
05:35here is about to spin De Bruyne. Now that is Matteo Kovacic in what you would think
05:38is a pretty normal central defensive midfield position. That man there is Manu Akanji, City's
05:44centre-half. Now I don't know what Pep was cooking in this game, but he had Akanji playing
05:48almost an eight position when City were in the ball. It was absolutely ludicrous. And
05:51you remember how I mentioned Pedro Neto being a powerful runner. Well, Mohamed Kudas, you
05:55know this as well, is just that too. So City are going to continue to concede these kind
06:00of chances if something is not tweaked. But anyway, here comes the answer. City had one
06:04man back and that man wasn't even a man. He was a child. It's Rico Lewis. This is a 3v1
06:10from a City cross. And again, look at the man who's doing the bleep test. Matteo Kovacic
06:14trying to get back and Mohamed Kudas should have scored this chance. He hit the upright
06:19and City got away with absolute murder. It was shocking defending and I don't know how
06:23City in this game left themselves so open and susceptible. But that was playing a similar
06:27system. Kovacic on paper in that lone six, Rico Lewis, or in this instance, Manu Akanji
06:32inverting from defensive positions. And sometimes City just weren't defensively prepared for
06:37the counter attack when there's a player like Kudas who can carry the ball 60, 70 yards.
06:42Maybe that's an exaggeration. 40, 50 yards. So yeah, I said system number one as a solution
06:46because City actually did win all these games, but it wasn't without a few scares. So what
06:50is system number two without Roger, you ask? Well, I think he's going to have to revert
06:54to something he did two seasons ago when fortunately City won the treble. Now you could say that
06:59this team on paper is quite similar to the one I just showed you because Rico Lewis is
07:04I want to really focus on the wingers in this system, Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva,
07:09because of course, City have signed Savino, who's a lot more direct, two-footed. We know
07:12what Jeremy Doku can do as well. These are wingers. The reliance of their whole game
07:17is on beating a man, getting to the byline and putting a ball across. It's very individualistic.
07:21And in that treble winning season, City were an 11-man unit that were deaf by a thousand
07:25passes. They'd always recycle the ball and consequently force teams back and have a bit
07:31more of a stranglehold on the game. And then of course, they'd have that double pivot
07:35always maintained. It used to be John Stones and Rodri, but it might now have to be, I've
07:39gone for Ilkay Gundogan and Rico Lewis as well. I think those two have probably got
07:44the most temperament and positional awareness should City be caught on the break. And of
07:48course, Vardyol's now in this side as well, who's a very pacey defender. So that bodes
07:52well, but mainly Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva need to be in this team now for me to
07:56stop City conceding so many counterattacks. Now, let me take you to the best Manchester
08:01City game I have ever witnessed. And that was Manchester City for Real Madrid nil in
08:06the 22-23 treble winning season. The best performance I've ever seen from a pep side
08:10at City. Now we're just going to ignore the fact that Rodri played in this game because
08:13he's pretty much played in every game for the last three years. And I really want to
08:16focus on how the wingers pressed in this system to make it work. And it didn't really involve
08:21Rodri because City was so front footed in this game. So usually what City are doing
08:25against ordinary opposition is press with Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne, but they didn't
08:28do this in this game because it would have created a three man midfield for Los Blancos.
08:33Instead they pulled Grealish out from a wide position to press from the front. Then De
08:37Bruyne would drop into that number six, which was Tony Cruz on the day. So what would happen
08:41then is Gundogan would pin Valverde and Rodri would deal with the 58-year-old Luka Modric
08:45forcing Real Madrid to really go wide, which was a good thing in this game. City played
08:49a very high risk, high reward strategy, but it worked. What would happen in this game
08:53if Real Madrid were trying to force the ball out wide is if it went out to say Dani Carvajal
08:57and a Kanji who was left back on the day would press really, really high against Dani
09:01Carvajal. And of course, in this instance, it'd be Josco Vardial, which I think bodes
09:05even better for City because he's a lot more quicker, younger and aggressive as well. So
09:09I think this whole system of smothering opposition is really the best way for City to go. It's
09:14very high octane, risky, but I think it actually exerts the most control both off the ball
09:20and on it with the wingers. Now let's talk about on the ball. Like I mentioned earlier,
09:23the profile of Bernardo Silva and Grealish is very different to that of Savino and Jeremy
09:27Doku. Now Real Madrid lose the ball here with a wayward pass. Bernardo Silva nicks it off
09:31Tony Cruz. And then what does he like to do here, Bernardo? Well, he's not the quickest,
09:35so he takes it to the byline and then he instantly looks to recycle it. And you can see here,
09:40I know that this is a touchline image, but Kyle Walker's about to receive the ball and
09:44Vinicius Junior's pressing high behind him. That three-man press and attempted smothering
09:48of both Bernardo Silva and Kyle Walker is instantly bypassed because Rodri, and in this
09:52case it could easily be Rico Lewis or Gundogan or Matteo Kovacic, is free on the edge of
09:57the penalty area. And then another sequence of play as well here, Bernardo Silva on the
10:01ball again on the right-hand side. And like I said, these wingers, Grealish and Bernardo,
10:05they love to recycle the ball. In the space of three seconds, it's passed to Ikanji and
10:08then switched all the way over to Jack Grealish. And the resulting cross and Haaland header
10:12somehow didn't end up in the net. But the point is when you go in left to right, left
10:16to right, or one side of the pitch to the other and vice versa, vice versa, you're constantly
10:20moving that back line. And then you're just looking for that little pocket. And the reason,
10:24let's go back to the proposed lineup that I've put De Bruyne and Foden in the eight
10:28is simply that these are the difference makers, the players with that X factor. Foden's great
10:32in tight spaces. De Bruyne only needs a bit of space to get a shot or a cross off as well.
10:36So they're the difference makers in that pocket that if found when we're going one side to
10:40the other, we can pick apart opposition and beat them that way. But I really just think
10:45without Rodri, like, look, you know how good he is. I know how good he is. It's very, very
10:50hard to find a system where City are going to be defensively better or more sound without
10:54Rodri. It's just not going to be the case. I think Pep's going to have to look at this
10:56team this season now, especially with how good Haaland's playing. We've not even touched
11:00on him and really think that they're going to have to outscore opponents. City have conceded
11:05against Ipswich, West Ham, Brentford, and of course twice against Arsenal this season.
11:09So already they've not been great defensively, but they are top of the league. So I think
11:14Pep's going to have to look at this and think more of the same. Yeah, because, I mean, how
11:20do you shore up a defensive system that doesn't include Rodri?
11:23Anyway, guys, yes, that was a very, very desperate video for me to make. I'm still grieving,
11:29to be honest. And just, you know, from a fan's perspective, listen, if you're watching this
11:32and you're an Arsenal fan or even a Liverpool fan who've been doing very well so far, I'd
11:36secretly be very, not celebratory of Rodri's misfortune, but I'd be relieved because it's
11:43a blessing for your football clubs that this man is out because it makes things a lot more
11:47interesting in terms of the title race. And I think it gives both Liverpool and Arsenal
11:52a lot more of a chance. Let's not beat around the bush because, like, City are going to be
11:56worse for this injury. Yeah, so guys, don't forget to subscribe. I've been Adam Monk.
12:02Have a lovely evening or day or morning whenever you decide to watch this video.
12:07And yes, Premier League is back this weekend. So we'll see what happens and see what Pep
12:12cucks up. Of course, the man is ill and he'll already have a solution.
12:14But until then, guys, take care. I'll see you soon. Goodbye.