Newcastle coaches' frustration proves who Man City's most dangerous player is

Newcastle assistant Graeme Jones was sat among their analysts at Manchester City in the first half, who are tasked with monitoring the game from an elevated position and relaying any useful patterns down to the bench. From the opening stages on Saturday, the analysts were frequently highlighting City's use of Rodri, and how one simple tactic continued to drag the visitors out of shape from every Ederson goal kick.

City have been dropping Rodri deep to get the ball for some time now, but that very tactic to spread the defence and bring the ball out was concerning the Newcastle staff, who repeatedly noticed how Bruno Guimaraes was following Rodri and was then leaving his midfield colleagues and defence more exposed.

The Blues had plenty of joy on the transitions, and focussed their attacks through the middle before spreading it wide. And the straightforward Rodri tactic was helpful in achieving that. Even in the second half, Rodri continued to influence proceedings even without an inverted full-back beside him, and both of City's goals came from similar moves started by Rodri's positioning.

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After missing two games through illness, Pep Guardiola admitted that Kevin De Bruyne was a little off the pace in midweek at Bristol City, before a half-time reminder prompted the Belgian being 'back to his best' and the scorer of a lovely goal. Retaining his place against Newcastle, De Bruyne's radar was off again and his performance resembled the first half in Bristol rather than the second.

There was no second-half pick-up this time, and as City were finding themselves under increased pressure it was De Bruyne who was substituted first for Bernardo Silva on