Clubs eye opportunity to exploit as Man City adapt to life without Rodri

Pep Guardiola's side have enjoyed Rodri's midfield dominance since he arrived in 2019 but for the first time in his six seasons at the club, City will have to cope without the Spaniard for a prolonged period of time.

After suffering a serious knee injury against Arsenal in September, there are fears the midfielder will miss the rest of the campaign.

This means City will have to show they can adapt to life without one of their best players as up until now they had only missed him for fleeting periods be that through injury or suspension.

Guardiola's side famously lost all three fixtures that Rodri missed through suspension last season which brings the question - what will they do when facing a long-term absence this time around?

Tricky fixture schedule

City will play seven times in the next three weeks leading up to the final international break of the year, including Champions League ties against Sparta Prague and Sporting Lisbon; meaning the longest rest players will get between any fixture for the entire period is just four days.

This is part of an issue highlighted by Rodri himself just days before picking up a likely season-ending injury, suggesting players were close to going on strike.

"I think we are close to that (a player strike)," said Rodri.

"If it keeps this way, it will be a moment that we have no other option, but let's see."

Now the Citizens are without one of their key performers for another packed run of fixtures which results in an even greater reliance on others to stay fit and perform to keep their campaign on track, both domestically and in Europe.

Rodri's importance to City is no secret and clubs will have renewed hope that they can get a result off of the former treble winners when their key man isn't on the pitch.

Replacing the irreplaceable

Guardiola has no shortage of top talents at his disposal but if there was one area at the end of the transfer window that you might point to for improvement in City's squad, it would have been a deputy for Rodri.

His injury leaves the likes of Bernardo Silva, Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gundogan and Matheus Nunes as the main options in the middle for the Premier League champions.

On paper that sounds excellent, with four incredible talents capable of stepping in, but the reality is that none of them offer anything close to what Rodri can bring.

How can Guardiola replace such a crucial member of the team, who contributes both offensively with vital goals, defensively with imperious dominance and very rarely drops below his exceptional standard?

In short, he can't - not directly, anyway, and not until the January transfer window opens.

That means City will need to find a new way of dominating games and it seems like Guardiola's new preferred partnership is a combination of Gundogan, Kovacic and sometimes Rico Lewis.

A variation of those three has been used in both Premier League fixtures since Rodri's injury, a 1-1 draw against Newcastle and an unconvincing 3-2 win over Fulham; suggesting it isn't quite a perfect solution just yet.

Against Fulham in particular Guardiola's side were wide open to counterattacks and on another day the Cottagers could have scored another three or four goals.

The same combination was used again in their narrow 2-1 win over bottom-of-the-table Wolves last weekend.

That highlights an area for opposition sides to exploit and is something that must be addressed quickly to avoid any shocking results.

The answer to their problem could be John Stones, who possesses excellent defensive abilities and often joins the midfield during matches where City dominate (more or less every match), but there are some question marks over his fitness.

While it's possible to point to the start of the season where City won four games despite the Spaniard not featuring, the psychological impact such a serious injury can have on the squad cannot be underestimated.

As mentioned, it remains to be seen just how Guardiola and his players will handle losing their star midfielder for such a long period rather than a handful of games and it will be interesting to see what changes are made in the future.

It's a bit of a teething period for the Mancunians now as they try to adapt to long-term life without Rodri, meaning the opportunities are there for other clubs to snatch points from the English champions if they can exploit the absence of one of the world's best players.