Manchester City lost one of their most important players to a serious injury earlier this season.
Specifically, during the first half of City’s 2-2 draw against Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium in September, Rodri was forced off the pitch in the first half with a suspect knee issue.
It was then revealed that the Spaniard – who recently won the 2024 Ballon d’Or – had damaged his ACL and required surgery.
With Rodri now out for the season, Pep Guardiola’s side have had to make do with the other options they have in their squad.
Having now lost three consecutive matches for the first time in 2018, one particular figure who has played a prominent role in the team since Rodri’s injury has found himself being put under the microscope and exposed by a pundit for a big problem he’s giving the team.
Graeme Souness exposes ‘major issue’ Mateo Kovacic is giving Man City
In his recent column for the Daily Mail, Graeme Souness gave this assessment on the big problem that Mateo Kovacic is causing for City.
He said: “The major issue is that Mateo Kovacic, though a very good footballer, does not have a defensive thought in his head.
“On the eve of the season, knowing that Rodri was going to miss a few games, Kovacic talked about how he was going to have to take on more responsibility, adjust his game and how Pep had been showing him DVDs of the positions Rodri takes up.
“I’d suggest he does a lot more homework. I played that position and it goes against all your natural instincts because, as a midfielder, you want to be involved all the time.
“Kovacic is drawn to getting on the ball, but that’s not his priority now. My thought was always to protect my two centre-halves.
“My two full-backs, Alan Kennedy and Phil Neal, were invariably ahead of me – as City’s full-backs are. Kovacic is not repeatedly thinking: ‘What if it breaks down? What if it breaks down? Where are we vulnerable?’
“What he should be doing is: support the play but seldom be in front of the ball, and sense where that vulnerability is.
“The problem is Kovacic is replacing a man in Rodri, who is the best in the world at that role and before him they had Fernandinho, who was also the best around.
“For Kovacic to play as the holding-midfield player, he has to sacrifice his natural urge to want to be involved in every bit of forward play. He must learn to delay the play when they lose possession to allow his teammates to get back into their defensive shape.
“At the moment, City’s centre-backs are getting exposed on too many occasions, hence the statistic on shots from fast breaks.”
Kovacic admits he’s found filling in for Rodri difficult
After bagging a brace in City’s narrow 3-2 win over Fulham, Kovacic discussed Rodri’s absence and what he and the other midfielders in the squad have to do as a result of this big injury blow.
He said: “I’m playing at the moment there so I need to cover for Rodri. We miss him a lot, I think any team would miss a player like Rodri.
“We wish him a speedy recovery and that he comes back in good shape as soon as possible. But for now, we have to adapt and for sure the manager has a lot of options so we can rotate.
“We play every three days and every game is a tough one. It is not easy and we have to adapt to the schedule. It is what it is. We have to be in top form every day.”
More recently, speaking to the official Man City website, Kovacic admitted that his “big task” of filling in for Rodri has been “not easy” for him.
With Souness now highlighting how much more aware the Croatian needs to be defensively in terms of being able to stamp out danger and cover his backline better, this will definitely be something he and other players in the team will have on their minds given how many goals they’ve shipped this season.
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