Manchester City began without one of the outstanding individuals of last season. No, not that one. Or not just that one, anyway. Rodri was the most conspicuous absentee at St James’ Park on Saturday as, barring an injury to Erling Haaland, he will be for the rest of the campaign. But Phil Foden started on the bench. His bit-part role has been camouflaged by the sudden realisation Rodri will have no part to play in the next nine months but it is less than six weeks since Foden was anointed PFA Player of the Year.
It is an understatement to say his candidature for a second successive award has had a slow start. City have played six league games this season. Foden has begun none. Euro 2024 was why he was an opening-day replacement against Chelsea. He missed two matches through illness, spent the next as an unused substitute and came on in the last two. Perhaps it is a fact that points to potential improvement for City: Foden, scorer of 27 goals last time around, could provide an injection of excellence for a Rodri-less side.
If, that is, Pep Guardiola is willing to unleash him. He seems in no great rush to do so. He sounded vague in his reasoning. “Phil is playing but Phil doesn’t need time when he’s clever and fine,” he said. “It’s not a problem. I know how important he is. It doesn’t matter to start or come from the bench.” Recently, Foden has been a deluxe impact substitute, showing the ability to sniff an opening that has produced late shots against Internazionale, Arsenal and Newcastle. City drew all three games, though.
Foden forms part of a broader issue. There is a sense Guardiola is searching for his finest formula. He has an imbalanced squad, with a lone specialist striker, a solitary – now injured – out-and-out defensive midfielder, and arguably too many options for the four spots that were supposed to separate Haaland from Rodri.
So far, though, perhaps only Jack Grealish and Savinho have been near their best. That the Englishman began among the back-ups against Arsenal and the Brazilian did at Newcastle illustrates Guardiola’s quest for the right combination: the stalemate with Inter was a night when he seemed to pick the wrong wingers.
The congestion and competition for places was caused in part by Ilkay Gundogan’s return; an opportunistic deal for City, but one with potential knock-on effects for players such as Bernardo Silva and Foden. Gundogan was in box-crashing mode when he almost scored a winner against Inter. He started superbly against Arsenal but faded. He was ineffectual at St James’ Park. Guardiola accepts that City have not seen him at his finest since his comeback. “It will take time,” he said. “He didn’t make a pre-season, he needs to do the rhythm. But he gives you something special.”
Or he will, anyway. Silva, meanwhile, probably had his best game of the season in his first, his dramatic cameo in the Community Shield. Kevin De Bruyne was in good form before being injured.
Yet the presence of each means City have four high-class players whose preference is to occupy two central roles, even if much of Silva’s gametime this season has been on the right and perhaps Foden will end up returning to the flanks. Or is that reduced to one role in the middle? Because Guardiola replaced the irreplaceable Rodri with two players on Saturday, Mateo Kovacic and Rico Lewis in a double pivot. It does not automatically mean it will be his strategy for the season, but hinted at a conservatism in the tougher fixtures.
It is notable, too, that while Gundogan often occupied a deeper role during his first spell in England, his initial outings now have all come further forward. Does Guardiola see him as part of the solution to the problem of Rodri’s knee injury?
Issues with individual form are a reason why City have been stodgy for much of the matches against Inter, Arsenal and Newcastle; except, really, the first 20 minutes against the Gunners when Rodri was in situ (the Spaniard had been below par against the Serie A champions). Another, though, is the question of chemistry.
The blueprint Guardiola found at the end of the treble-winning season entailed Gundogan and De Bruyne ahead of Rodri, flanked by Grealish and Silva, with Foden and Riyad Mahrez in reserve and John Stones sashaying into midfield from the back. Now Foden is back among the replacements, Stones alongside him. And the sidelining of the latter may be a factor in City’s lack of fluency.
If it underlines the way Haaland has carried City so far, it also indicates the scope for the side to look more formidable when they have the Foden of last season or the Gundogan of the previous three or when they have a combination who gel. And yet for attacking midfielders to excel, it can require the platform defensive midfielders provide. And City have lost the premier one.