Bounding down the steps to leave St James’ Park, Pep Guardiola cheerily blew kisses in acknowledgement of the Newcastle United fans affording him a warm reception. About 40 minutes earlier, looking up at the Milburn Stand on full time, he’d worn a thin smile as the home ends celebrated a draw.
At the start of the season, Newcastle (A) will have had a mark alongside it for Guardiola. A mark denoting potential lost points in a stadium that can swallow opposition whole. A draw on Day One without Rodri appeared fine for him; even with the Spaniard they’ve struggled here in the past.
His players felt slightly differently. Captain Kyle Walker shook his head down the tunnel and animatedly debated the afternoon with friends still in his shinpads right up until Guardiola headed for the coach. Mateo Kovacic talked about how Manchester City always need to win. Rico Lewis discussed ‘taking the positives and negatives’.
Guardiola has openly said in recent days that he needs to find solutions without ‘fundamental’ Rodri and there is already a body of evidence to suggest that they can cope. The guy only played 66 Premier League minutes before the ACL and meniscus tears and the champions remain unbeaten.
So Guardiola will not be panicking. There is part of him that will undoubtedly be relishing how to complete this puzzle because that is just how his curiosity and competitive edge works.
Manchester City boss has to find a long-term solution to plug the midfield hole left by Rodri
Rodri tore his ACL against Arsenal and is highly likely to miss the remainder of City’s season
City secured a 1-1 draw away to Newcastle as the team learns to cope without the Spanish star
There aren’t many players in Europe who function as two on their own. In fact, Rodri might stand alone in that. Guardiola knows this and the logical long-term idea will be what was on show on Tyneside. A two-man midfield and a centre half stepping up to create an overload in the central area attempting to dominate when opposition make games as narrow as possible.
This will not present a problem in most matches. City are too good, too strong – both physically and mentally – for the vast majority. But in an unusual lively early kick-off, Newcastle’s countering prowess and ability to transition quickly caused issues that will resurface for City when the truly big games come around in November and December.
It’s why Guardiola wants the two screeners, while knowing that doubling up will have an impact on their attacking output. The trick is to find a way, in those top matches, of making sure Erling Haaland doesn’t appear isolated. Having Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden back and sharp will only help in that regard.
For now though, City are over the immediate hump in terms of two tough fixtures – Arsenal and then Newcastle – and a 49-hour turnaround for a cup game. They’ve become used to the idea of Rodri not being around and will have to attack games against Fulham, Wolves, Southampton and Bournemouth to lay a marker in the title race.
‘When you look in the grand scheme of things, maybe we’ll be happy in the future with how we did this week,’ Lewis said after playing as a No 6 with Kovacic. ‘It’s been tough. Everyone knows how ridiculous the schedule is.’
Ridiculous came when the diminutive Lewis was marking Joelinton at set pieces and the teenager gave an insight into how Guardiola wants him to impact the game defensively in Rodri’s absence.
Lewis slotted in as a defensive midfielder for Manchester City against Newcastle on Saturday
The 19-year-old was tasked with marking the significantly-larger Joelinton on set pieces
Lewis was paired with Kovacic in defensive midfield in a sign of a likely long-term partnership
‘It was difficult,’ he laughed. ‘He’s probably twice the size of me and probably weighs three times as much as me! When we set up like that, my job is just to slow him down and slow his run down – not to win the header or anything, just to help the guys in the zone to win the header. One thing I can learn from Bernardo [Silva] is he does it all the time, he’s so good at playing against people bigger than him and uses his body when he can do and knows he’s not going to win the aerial battle.’
Guardiola had feared about ‘losing 10 out of 10’ balls in the air against Joelinton – and not just because of Lewis’ height – but City dealt with it fairly well on a day both sides can be pleased. Newcastle made sure to erase last week’s dire 3-1 defeat at Craven Cottage.
‘We’d let ourselves down, we needed a performance,’ Nick Pope said. ‘Performance wise I feel that we have been short of what we are capable of. This is a step in the right direction.’