Rodri channels Fernandinho but wasteful Man City blow their chance

Manchester City had 13 shots in the first half but could not find a goal. It is a rarity, an aberration, yet there is no denying that it happened and contributed to them dropping two crucial points in the Premier League title race.

Bernardo Silva was uncharacteristically wasteful, caught in two minds when Vicente Guaita spilled a simple Kevin De Bruyne effort before miskicking as he ran onto a cutback. Aymeric Laporte could do little as the ball cannoned off the post from Joao Cancelo's effort and back over the goal from his foot, but it still went down as a big chance missed.

It is too easy to say that summer priority Erling Haaland would have snaffled up at least one of those, because City play a different way now than they would with an actual No.9. It was another reminder though of the key component in the squad that City are lacking.

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Rodri was signed to take over from Fernandinho but it can't be said enough that the two are very different players. Where Fernandinho was mostly about breaking up opposition attacks to ensure City control of the game, Rodri is more about making sure they don't lose it in the first place.

There are similarities between the two though, and one area where Rodri has grown in the City team has been as an enforcer when he feels things aren't going their way. When Cheikhou Kouyate went rolling on the ground in the second half after an innocuous challenge from Kevin De Bruyne, City's Spanish midfielder was aggressively into the situation to make the point that he thought Kouyate was wasting time.

It wasn't quite up there with his goal celebration at the Emirates on New Year's Day, but