Pep Guardiola has unusual Rodri dilemma ahead of Man City vs RB Leipzig

When Rodri is available he starts, duh, and what a relief it is that he's available once more for Manchester City on Wednesday. Yet, for the first time in years, it might make more sense for the midfielder to sit a match out.

Like a middle jenga block all on its own, if you take Rodri out of the City side the whole structure could crumble. Which is exactly what has happened this week.

The Spaniard's stupidity by raising his hands to the throat of Morgan Gibbs-White earned him a three-match suspension, two of which have now been played and both of them lost. Now, Rodri likely wouldn't have played in the Carabao Cup defeat to Newcastle anyway but he certainly would have at Wolves, where his absence was glaring.

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Pep Guardiola laughed off the significance of missing him ahead of the match, saying he would still have XI players on the pitch, but none of the others can do what he does. Nearly all of City's problems at Molineux stemmed from the loss of their lynchpin.

The defence was not as protected and as a result, was repeatedly stretched and exposed by the rapid counter-attacks of Wolves and City could not get control of the game. They weren't able to keep hold of possession for the lengthy periods they are used to without Rodri's cool and calm distribution in the centre. This made for a frantic game of transitions and turnovers which City were unable to contend with.

It's hard to blame someone for not being able to replicate the best defensive midfielder in the game but Mateo Kovacic didn't come close. The Croatian has looked promising as a marauding No.8 since moving to the Etihad but was tasked