Pep Guardiola made clear just how angry he was with Rodri after the midfielder was sent off in Manchester City’s 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest.
“Hopefully Rodri will learn,” he said. “The game was perfect [for] 35 minutes and after that it became a little bit chaos. That wasn’t our responsibility, that’s for sure. But Rodri had to control himself and his emotions.”
Rodri was given his marching orders after getting into an altercation with Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White a minute after half-time. While City were able to see out the 2-0 victory, Rodri’s three-match suspension could have serious repercussions for the rest of their season. It could be seriously damaging to his team’s PremierPINC -1.7% League title challenge.
After the trip to the Emirates Stadium to face last season’s Premier League runners-up, Manchester City will host Brighton in another challenging match. Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton have won five of the six league fixtures they have played so far this season with many now predicting the Seagulls will compete for a place in the top four.
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Rodri will return to the City lineup for the away match against Manchester United on October 10th, but the Spaniard will have missed a lot of action by then. He’ll be available to play in the Champions League games against RB Leipzig and Young Boys, but this disrupted run of matches might knock the consistency Rodri had built up before his red card.
Manchester City have already had injuries to contend with this season. Kevin de Bruyne is expected to miss at least another two months of action while Bernardo Silva is also out for a period. Guardiola at least has a variety of options in this area of the pitch, though. The same can’t be said of Rodri’s position.
Kalvin Phillips was signed from Leeds United in the summer of 2022 to provide depth in central midfield, but he has been a peripheral figure at the Etihad Stadium. Phillips started the Carabao Cup match against Newcastle United yet struggled to perform at the level Guardiola surely expected of him.
Rico Lewis also played in central midfield against Newcastle, but he is a full back by trade. It might be the case that John Stones is shifted into the middle once more, as happened last season. Guardiola, however, may have to get creative to compensate for the loss of Rodri. This problem could have been avoided.
