Manchester City spent heavily on defenders once again this transfer window. Pep Guardiola shelled out £41 million on Nathan Ake and £65m on Ruben Dias.
Since the departure of Vincent Kompany in the summer of 2019, it has been claimed that Manchester City need a replacement for the ex-centre-back. However, the team’s problems are not at cente-back as it keeps being claimed.
The area Guardiola needs to address is the defensive midfield position. Rodri has poorly shielded the back four since his arrive in 2019 from Atletico Madrid. Just look back at the title success Manchester City had with Fernandinho playing at the base of the midfield three.
That was an impenetrable midfield thanks to the Brazilian. In 2019-20, Rodri played 35 league games or 2,693 minutes. He attempted 3.17 tackles per 90 minutes in the Premier League and averaged 1.76 tackles. His success rate was just 56%.
He also averaged 1.52 fouls per game. Rodri was beaten for pace often and his only defence was – and still is – the classic Spanish move seen every week in La Liga – pull or hack down the attacker.
In comparison, Fernandinho attempted 2.53 tackles per league game and averaged 1.83 tackles per 90 minutes. He had a 72% success rate. He only made 0.95 fouls per game as well. Of course, many of the games Fernandinho played was in defence rather than in midfield.
Okay, so Fernandinho played at centre-back more in 2019-20 than in midfield. But in Manchester City’s title winning 2018-19 campaign, his numbers were still better than Rodri’s. In 29 games that season, Fernandinho averaged 2.94 tackle attempts and 2.15 successful tackles.
He recorded a 73% tackle success rate. His fouls per game tally was 1.51. Still lower than Rodri’s numbers a season later.
Perhaps most damning to Rodri right now, is the fact that Kevin De Bruyne is playing better defensively in 2020-21. De Bruyne averages 7.27 tackle attempts per league game and an average of 4.85 successful tackles. He has a 67% success rate.
Worrying is De Bruyne’s injury history. He played more last season than in previous terms. His importance to the team’s attack is high and losing him to injury could kill off a title challenge this term.
Rodri does have a better success rate than De Bruyne when making tackles this season. But his attempts per game are fewer. Rodri averages 4.85 tackle attempts, 3.39 successful tackles, and a success rate of 70%.
The defensive midfielder also just averages 1.0 interception per game. It shows his positioning has not been good. Of course, onlookers can see that from Manchester City’s four points from nine possible and the beaten down they took at the hands of Leicester City.
Are Manchester City’s problems centre-backs or defensive midfielders? If the back four is no longer shielded by a ball winner, then it is going to make that back line look weaker than it is.
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