Rodri is labouring after injury

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; then came the two yellow cards in two minutes that had Rodri sent off.

Haaland hit by scoring struggles

You have to go back a full month for the last time Erling Haaland netted other than from the penalty spot, with two goals against West Ham in Manchester City’s 3-0 win. His sole strike in eight games since was in the 1-1 draw against 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.” Haaland branded the loss “embarrassing” and he and City’s other three members of the captaincy group agreed that the 374 travelling fans should be reimbursed their tickets for the game – a sum of £9,357. 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.

Guardiola grasping for explanations

In the Aspmyra Stadion’s below-freezing conditions City’s manager seemed a man petrified by his side’s tameness, unable to affect their fortunes whatever he tried. Example: at 2-0 down at the start of the second half he briefly switched to a wingback system that had Phil Foden on the left and Rayan Aït-Nouri on the right but this soon vanished, as did any true hope when Hauge made it 3-0. After the final whistle Guardiola was left grasping for an explanation for a run that shows zero league wins in 2026. “When we started New Year’s Day we missed [chances] and after then came injuries and Matheus [Nunes] has flu,” he said. “Many things are against us. Now, because we lost important players we lost a little bit, but in general the tone of the team was much better against Bodø than United.” For the trip to the Arctic Circle the list of absentees ran to 11: Josko Gvardiol, Nunes, Rúben Dias, Nico González, Savinho, Jérémy Doku, Oscar Bobb, Antoine Semenyo, John Stones, Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva. The insipid manner of the defeat – as at United – concerns the manager.

Foden a shadow of himself

The last of City’s Big Four who should be disappointed in a downward trajectory on the performance graph is Foden, who is playing more like the brother of the “Stockport Iniesta” than the player who shone earlier in the season. Substituted at half-time of the derby defeat, he again did not last the full game at Bodø, being removed on 70 minutes. This season Foden has 10 goals in 30 appearances and four assists: not shabby, except he last scored five and a half weeks ago and last created a goal eight days earlier. The hope will be that Foden, Rodri, Haaland and Guardiola are experiencing an unfortunate midwinter slump at the same time, rather than this being part of a deeper, more fundamental malaise. Off the field it is the manager’s problem to understand and solve, but on the pitch Foden and the rest, as City’s main actors, have to take the lead or the team will not “be there” in April and May, as Guardiola likes to say – in the hunt for the title, Champions League and FA Cup.

… some good news: Guéhi is in the building

Signing a 25-year-old first-choice England defender entering his prime years for £20m will prove a coup if Marc Guéhi can perform as slickly as he has for his country and when captaining Crystal Palace – particularly when leading the club to last season’s FA Cup win. Guéhi’s calm head and nimble pace have arrived just when City required a fillip, because a big factor in the faltering form are the injuries to Gvardiol, Dias and Stones, the frontline centre-backs. With Abdukodir Khusanov, 21, improving in the middle of the rearguard via a blend of aggression and speed, Guéhi and the Uzbekistan international could emerge from the team’s torpor as an A-list partnership that will cover for the prolonged absence of Gvardiol and Dias.