Manchester City have issues with injury and form, and need their big players to step up and turn the ship around
At Bodø/Glimt, in a first Champions League outing since 1 October, the 29-year-old appeared what he is: a player still recovering after 18 months out with a serious knee injury and several related setbacks. This was only a third start since his latest return began with the second 45 minutes of the goalless draw at Sunderland on New Year’s Day. Last week Rodri declared he was “ready to go” and said: “I’m really happy to be on the pitch every single day.” Yet in Saturday’s 2-0 loss at Manchester United he was a one-paced, non-factor unable to do what he did with ease pre-anterior cruciate ligament rupture: run midfield and so the contest. In Tuesday’s 3-1 humbling in Norway the Spaniard was the same, and two moments tell the tale of his form. First Jens Petter Hauge left him a statue before registering a memorable long-range strike for Bodø’s third goal; thencame the two yellow cards in two minutes that had Rodri sent off.
You have to go back a full month for the last time Erling Haaland netted other than from the penalty spot, with two goals at West Ham in Manchester City’s 3-0 win. His sole strike in eight games since was in the 1-1 draw at Brighton on 7 January, the goal-glutton somehow failing to register even when Exeter were given a 10-1 beating in the FA Cup third round. After the Bodø defeat, a sour return for Haaland to his native country, he was asked about the fallow run. “I don’t have the answers,” he said. “I take full responsibility for not being able to score the goals I should do.” The 25-year-old has 20 goals in the Premier League (in 22 games) and six in seven Champions League appearances, part of a phenomenal 26 in 31 matches in all competitions. So maybe it is time merely for a breather and for Omar Marmoush to have a game or two as the City spearhead.
