Manchester City looked as though it would end its losing streak when the team took a 3-0 lead against Feyenoord on Tuesday, but Pep Guardiola’s men are now winless in six heading into Sunday’s showdown at Anfield.
Nobody could have predicted that City would go on to draw against Arne Slot’s former team, and Guardiola looked more than a little bedraggled following the full-time whistle at the Etihad Stadium. City’s recent form has shocked soccer fans around the world, and a lot has been said about the impact that Rodri’s absence is having on the team’s performances.
Rodri has not played since sustaining a potentially season-ending knee injury during a match against Arsenal in September, and the team has lacked control without the Ballon d’Or winner anchoring the midfield.
City’s win percentage with Rodri in the team versus its win percentage when Rodri doesn’t play suggests the team is hugely reliant on the 28-year-old.
Since February 2023, City has played 78 matches in which Rodri has featured, losing just once — a loss percentage of 1.28, while during the same period, City has contested 28 matches in which Rodri hasn’t played, and has suffered nine defeats — a loss percentage of 32.1.
Of course, City will be without Rodri when the team travels to Anfield on Sunday, and it will also be without the player who had been deputizing for him in recent times, Mateo Kovacic, after the Croat sustained an injury during the international break.
City lined up with Ilkay Gundogan, Matheus Nunes and Bernardo Silva in midfield against Feyenoord, while Rico Lewis also started in midfield for last weekend’s defeat by Tottenham, which gives Slot a good idea of the players his midfield is likely to be up against on Sunday.
Guardiola, who claimed after the defeat by Spurs that a loss to Liverpool would spell the end of City’s title challenge, outlined how he and his players will prepare for the trip to Anfield. “That is my job [to lift them],” Guardiola said on Tuesday night. “Everybody knows the situation, I don’t have to add absolutely anything. We are going to train tomorrow, recover and prepare for the next game. Day off and we have two or three days to prepare for that and go for it. We will learn for the future and what has been has been.”
