There have often been players who have stood out as the best of a bad bunch.
For many years, Steven Gerrard kept Liverpool involved in conversations around trophies seemingly by sheer force of will, whilst Wayne Rooney was easily Everton’s best player even though he was a teenager when he broke through at Goodison Park.
In London, Harry Kane stood out as being the man who helped Tottenham Hotspur remain relevant, although he never won any silverware with them.
In the case of Manchester City, what makes Rodri’s importance to the team so baffling is the fact that the club has so much money to spend, yet can’t cope without him.
A Crucial Cog in the City Juggernaut
Rodrigo Hernández Cascante, better-known to most simply as ‘Rodri’, was signed by Manchester City from Atlético Madrid in 2019. It was soon clear that the Spaniard was a crucial player for what Pep Guardiola was looking to do at the Etihad, establishing himself as a vital member of the team over the years that followed.
Fans of City’s rivals would likely point to the fact that Rodri never seems to get a booking from referees as a key part of his importance, meaning that he can foul opposition players as he breaks up play and yet rarely receives a caution for the act. That is an ideal trait for someone considered to be the best holding midfielder in the world.
Hiya can we see that potential red from a different angle please do he gets away with everything that Rodri
— Chloe bloxam (@ChloeBloxam) February 20, 2024
In the eyes of Guardiola, it isn’t just that he’s top-class when it comes to breaking up player, but also that he ‘reads the play and spaces and knows exactly where men are free’. He can dribble the ball well and has the ability to arrive late into the box, which is why he also scores a lot of goals for someone that ostensibly plays in the defensive third.
As if to emphasise how important he is, Rodri won the Ballon d’Or for 2024 on the 28th of October 2024, having won the fourth Premier League title in a row with Manchester City in the same year as he also won the European Championship with Spain during the summer.
Is He Really That Important?
If you’re someone who doesn’t support Manchester City or tends not to watch them that often, you might well find yourself wondering whether or not the Spaniard is really all that important to Pep Guardiola’s side. In the 2023-2024 season, City lost just three times and Rodri was suspended for all of them.
His own unbeaten run leading up to his injury in the September of 2024 stood at 52 matches. When he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury, the Cityzens went on a losing streak like Guardiola had never experienced before. Any previous time he’d missed had been much shorter, so Guardiola had been able to adapt.
Watched Pep Guardiola teams regularly since Barcelona 2008. Mindbending to witness his recent run of losing form.
Not sure it’s solely down to losing Rodri, but a lot of it must be to do with his absence. He really is that good. #mcfc
— Frankie Maguire (@frankiemaguire.bsky.social) 23 November 2024 at 19:32
In the 2023-2024 campaign, Rodri played 4,325 minutes, starting 50 games, both of which were more than any of his teammates. His presence in the City midfield allowed Guardiola to paper over cracks that were exposed as soon as he was absent.
Prior to his injury, Rodri missed 21 Premier League games and City lost seven of them, which is 33%. The club won 74.1% of the games that he played in in the top-flight, but that figure dropped to 61.9% when he wasn’t available, equating to 2.37 points per game versus 1.90 ppg. Things become significantly worse when you look at the 2024-2025 season, when the wheels came off.
@mancity Rodri brilliance 🇪🇸🩵 #Rodri #ManCity #Football #Euro2024 ♬ Idea 10 – Gibran Alcocer
Rodri went off injured in City’s game against Arsenal on the 22nd of September. They drew the following match, won three in succession but then lost their next four Premier League games, including a 4-0 home defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.
A win against Nottingham Forest and a draw with Crystal Palace might suggest a return to form, but they then lost two more games in a row, including a home derby against Manchester United. To rub salt into the wound, they were winning that game until the 88th minute but ending up on the end of a 2-1 loss. In other words, without Rodri, Manchester City really struggle for form.
Why Can’t City Cope Without Him?
Given the sheer amount of money that has been spent on Manchester City’s squad since the takeover by the Abu Dhabi Group, with Pep Guardiola alone spending more than £1 billion, it is remarkable that they are so reliant on just on player. Even so, that is absolutely the case. Part of the problem is that the club hasn’t looked to refresh its midfield options as regularly as it should.
In the summer of 2024, for example, the club brought back İlkay Gündoğan to play in midfield even though he was older and hadn’t exactly torn things up at Barcelona, as well as signed Mattheus Nunes from Wolverhampton Wanderers, both in midfield.
Although they also brought in both Claudio Echeverri from River Plate and Savinho from Troyes, they are two more attacking talents and also not ones with a wealth of top-flight experience. On top of that, the rest of the midfield is either growing older or, as in the case of Jack Grealish, appear to not have the trust of the manager.
With the club having the 130 charges for financial impropriety hanging over its head, it is fair to say that the season has proven to be far from ideal for Guardiola. It is the absence of Rodri that has been most keenly felt, with the Spaniard being almost the equivalent of the manager on the pitch for matches.
