Manchester

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We asked for your thoughts after Wednesday's Carabao Cup game between Manchester City and Watford.

Here are some of your comments:

Jay: So glad we won after Sundays game. Good to get back to winning ways so quickly.

Nick: Great to see the youngsters on the pitch. You can already see they buy into Guardiola's playing philosophy. They tire and have concentration lapses later in the game but from their early match performance you can tell we have some more major talent for the future.

Tim: It was good of Guardiola to blood a few academy players along with several fringe squad players into last night's Carabao Cup squad. Braithwaite was confident and assuring. The game was only 51 hours after the game against Arsenal and the team had plenty of possession to have the game sewn up by half-time. Jack Grealish played exceptionally which is good to see.

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

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There are a fair few 'Manchester City with and without Rodri' stat comparisons going around which make it seem that City might be out of the title race. After all, if the side take just 1.9 points from their remaining 33 games, they would finish on 76 points.

However, while losing Rodri is obviously a big blow, the reality is not nearly so bleak once you consider that that comparison counts games where Rodri came on late as a substitute as 'a game with Rodri' - even if he played just a single minute of it.

If you look at Man City's record in Premier League games in which he has started or not started, the situation is not nearly as apocalyptic.

If Guardiola's side take 2.2 points from their remaining 33 games, they would finish with 85 points

Still not great and would leave the door open for Arsenal and Liverpool to claim the title, but not disastrous.

The reason why counting or not counting his substitute appearances as games 'with Rodri' matters so much is because City have won 10 of 12 of them, drawing the other two.

Rodri is obviously a key player for City given that nine of the 12 appearances from the bench were in his first two seasons at the club, but it is unlikely that the team's performances will drop off quite so dramatically as the simple 'with and without Rodri' comparisons suggest.

As the debate around the football calendar and player welfare continues, one of the footballers most vocal on the issue is now set to be out for several months.

Rodri picked up the knee injury against Arsenal in an ill-tempered match between the title rivals on Sunday and has since been in Spain to get his condition assessed.

While this injury came from an innocuous collision, the midfielder recently suggested players were "close" to going on strike in protest at the increase in games following changes to European competitions and the Club World Cup.

Spain international Rodri featured 63 times for club and country last season, on the way to winning the Premier League and European Championship within the space of two months.

According to a recent Fifpro report on player workload, Rodri was included in 72 matchday squads for club and country, including pre-season friendlies, between July 2023 and July 2024 - totalling 6,107 minutes on the pitch.

The graph above shows how the workload was spread across the 12 months for the Ballon d'Or nominee, with just the two rest periods.

Compared to Premier League players across all competitions last season, according to Opta, Rodri's 50 games was four fewer than those who played most.

He was joint second for games started, one behind Andre Onana, and eighth for the number of minutes played.

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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, speaking to BBC Radio Manchester about Matheus Nunes following the midfielder's goal in the Carabao Cup win over Watford:

"He played a good game, I'm happy for him. He's a nice guy, he deserves the best.

"His pace is unbelievable. Sometimes you have to adapt a little bit what you have to do, I'm really pleased for him."

On dealing with the absence of injured Rodri: "We have to do it as a team. Rodri is arguably the best midfield player in the world, he's irreplaceable. Is he a big loss? Absolutely.

"To replace him, we have to do it differently. We have to do it as a team. It's important to support him and have a safe recovery for his future."

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BBC Radio Manchester's Gaz Drinkwater is "pretty confident United will get top four" despite a difficult start to the season for the Red Devils which has left them 11th in the Premier League with seven points from five matches.

Manager Erik ten Hag said after Saturday's 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park that his team "ate alive" Crystal Palace despite the goalless draw.

"Seven points from five games, not inspiring," Drinkwater told the Devils' Advocate podcast.

"But, here's my take on it and here's why I am not worried after five games and why I am pretty confident United will get top four.

"We've played Liverpool at home and I think they'll finish third and I think we'll look back on that [favourably].

"Beat Fulham, deserved to beat Fulham.

"Brighton we lost but we did not deserve to lose that game. We deserved a draw at least out of that game, and I even think we could have won quite easily. For arguments sake say a draw - that result would put us a point less than where we deserve to be based on performances.

"Then we get beat by Liverpool which is fair enough, did not deserve anything.

"Southampton, beat them and deservedly so. 3-0 - convincing.

"Crystal Palace, 0-0, our performance warranted us winning that game. We should have been 2-0 or 3-0 up at half time. We played really well, the amount of chances created we should have had that done.

"So, what I'm saying is United are three points worse off than their performances deserve. They will come round. We will have games where where we don't play too well and get out of there with a win.

"We've had two games in particular - Brighton and Palace - where we've put in performances worthy of meaning we're three points at this stage off where we should be at the end of the season."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

Image source, PA Media

Sometimes it is difficult to follow Pep Guardiola's press conferences.

His answers can be long and detailed, and often go off at tangents, almost as if he is thinking of something else before he has finished with dealing with the matter in hand.

You can have to read through his words, or listen to them, again to see what he actually means or to check in case you have missed something.

It was a bit like that on Tuesday night.

We already knew Rodri was going to be out for quite a while. It is clear he is an influential figure in Manchester City's side.

The really important bit now is what will Guardiola do about it.

He began his answer by talking about opponents not rolling out the red carpet and wearing their best dresses, he finished it by saying he could not play the way Mikel Arteta did at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

But in the middle was the key point.

"Rodri not [being] here [is] a problem," he said. "But complain?

"This is the challenge.

"It is a problem. A big one. But a pity? Absolutely not.

"We go to Newcastle, try to win and do what we have done for many years. It is as simple as that."

Manchester United are closely monitoring manager Eddie Howe’s situation at Newcastle, with doubts over his long-term future. (Football Insider), external

Former England manager Gareth Southgate is prepared to reject other offers and hold out for the Manchester United job, should Erik ten Hag appear in danger of being sacked. (GiveMeSport), external

Manchester United considered a summer move for England striker Ivan Toney before the 28-year-old's move from Brentford to Al-Ahli, but he did not fit the profile desired by manager Erik ten Hag. (ESPN), external

United remain interested in signing 21-year-old Slovenia forward Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig. (GiveMeSport), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column

Following Rodri's injury, Manchester City are looking to sign a defensive midfielder and have put together a four-man shortlist including Real Sociedad's Martin Zubimendi, Nicolo Barella of Inter Milan, Atalanta's Ederson and Crystal Palace's England youngster Adam Wharton. (Teamtalk), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column