Manchester City’s nine-match unbeaten run is over, with familiar issues coming to the fore.
On Sunday, Pep Guardiola’s team were beaten 1-0 by Aston Villa, Matty Cash the afternoon’s only scorer, condemning the Sky Blues to a third successive defeat at Villa Park for the first time since 1966.
Midfield was certainly the biggest problem position for the Citizens.
With Rodri still sidelined, and his natural deputy Nico González picking up a knock against Villarreal in the Champions League on Tuesday, Tijjani Reijnders was deployed as a one-man midfield in the Midlands, but struggled both in and out of possession.
So, with crucial and challenging fixtures right around the corner, should Guardiola recall an experienced member of his squad who has been compared to, arguably, the club’s greatest midfielder of the Abu Dhabi-era?
Rodri’s importance to Manchester City in numbers
Manchester City’s downturn in results last season was primarily put down to Rodri’s absence, seeing a miserly 73 minutes of action in the Premier League, rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament against Arsenal.
Well, after starting only three Premier League matches to commence this campaign, the Ballon d’Or suffered a hamstring injury at Brentford earlier this month, a major blow for both the team and the player, and the date of his return is not yet known.
Since his debut at West Ham in August 2019, Manchester City have lost only 38 of 237 Premier League matches, with the Spaniard sitting out 17 of these defeats (45%), including 16 of 18 since 5 February 2023 at Tottenham.
In fact, August’s 2-1 reverse at Brighton was the first time Rodri had started a Premier League match and lost for 938 days.
In summary, to reiterate the obvious, he is very important to Guardiola’s team, who are simply not the same without their midfield fulcrum, so with both Reijnders and Nico struggling to fill his void, do Man City have the ideal candidate for this role in their squad?
Manchester City’s ideal Rodri deputy
Having spent over £380m across the January and summer transfer windows, many of Manchester City’s existing players have rather been forgotten about.
Well, Mateo Kovačić certainly fits into that category, but he could certainly still be a useful contributor.
After requiring achilles surgery in June, thereby sitting out the Club World Cup, the Croatian international had not been seen in sky blue this season, before coming off the bench against both Everton and Villarreal in the last week or so.
Nevertheless, as the table below documented, Kovačić was a massively important figure in Guardiola’s team last season.
Kovačić 2024/25 stats
Stats
Kovačić
Man City rank
Goals
7
4th
Shots
51
7th
Goals – xG
+4.8
1st
Completed passes
2,020
4th
Key passes
35th
7th
Big chances created
6
8th
Passes into final 3rd
240
4th
Progressive passes
193
3rd
Tackles
74
1st
Interceptions
30
2nd
Touches per 90
87.8
3rd
Average rating
7.31
4th
As the table emphasises, Kovačić was one of Man City’s best performers last season.
Only Erling Braut Håland, Omar Marmoush and Phil Foden scored more goals across all competitions, while he also ranked very highly for chance creation, passing, touches and defensive metrics such as tackles and interceptions, which is a long-winded way of saying he was an all-action midfielder.
During his time at Chelsea, then manager Frank Lampard labelled him “intelligent” while, following a 3-2 win over Fulham 12 months ago, Guardiola described him as a “copy and paste” Rodri.
Meantime, former Man City defender Micah Richards described Kovačić as being “like Yaya [Touré]”, arguably the club’s best-ever midfielder, noting that the Croatian “can beat three players with his skill”, concluding that he is a vitally important player.
In his pomp, especially in the 2013/14 campaign, Touré was untouchable, both literally and metaphorically, possibly the best all round midfielder the Premier League has ever seen and, while he may not be that good, Kovačić certainly shares those same well-rounded characteristics.
Thus, with key games against high-flying Bournemouth, Borussia Dortmund and then beleaguered champions Liverpool all to come in the next fortnight, Kovačić’s return could be the Sky Blues’ under-the-radar secret weapon.
The Citizens travel to Swansea City in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, and it would probably be sensible for Guardiola to give the Croatian a run out, helping to rebuild his fitness, although who knows, those in South Wales may get a glimpse of the lesser-spotted Kalvin Phillips, after his cameo in round three.
