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There are different ways of deducting points from Manchester City. Since Rodri limped off against Arsenal, with a season-ending cruciate ligament injury, they have dropped four. A 100 per cent start to the defence of their title has given way to back-to-back draws. Rodri famously never loses but the most pertinent part of his record may be how often he wins.
And City normally beat Newcastle United, just as Pep Guardiola invariably triumphs against Eddie Howe. Not this time. Just Howe’s second point against his City counterpart was secured by Anthony Gordon’s penalty.
It is impossible to prove that the Spaniard would have stopped Bruno Guimaraes from supplying the defence-splitting pass that led to it, but tempting to wonder anyway. Rodri can appear omnipotent when present; the loss of the man Guardiola deems the world’s best in his position means many a shortcoming could be attributed to his absence.
Certainly, when Mateo Kovacic was booked for a desperate challenge as Gordon led a 90th-minute break, it was a reminder that Rodri is far superior at protecting a defence. But as, for the first time in 15 league games, City failed to score at least twice, they missed his incision in possession as well.
Newcastle often had plenty of players behind the ball, replicating Arsenal’s second-half approach last week. But City were limited by their lack of fluency at times, passing without pace and purpose. Rodri can add a snap to their distribution, moving the ball forward. Without him, City often looked ponderous. And if it is pertinent they also lacked the creativity of Kevin de Bruyne, last season’s rescuer at St James’ Park, there was a prosaic feel to a team without either.
Guardiola’s selection indicated that Rodri’s workload was so sizeable that he could not replace him with one man alone: Rico Lewis and Kovacic were twinned in front of the defence, Guardiola persisting with the partnership for 23 minutes after Gordon’s equaliser. The knock-on effect of Rodri’s absence may have been that Savinho began on the bench, that the balance of the side was shifted to containment.
This was a team sheet that left City with a shortage of likely scorers, beyond the obvious exception of Erling Haaland. After the Norwegian and Ilkay Gundogan, Josko Gvardiol may be the most potent member of this side and the left-back delivered a sixth goal in 18 games from City’s lone piece of slick, quick class.
The recalled Kieran Trippier played well overall but he was beaten by Jack Grealish, who picked out the Croatian charging into the inside-left channel. He turned Dan Burn inside out and angled a shot into the far corner of Nick Pope’s goal.
Grealish was much the best of City’s attacking quartet, with each of the others muted. Bernardo Silva had an injury-time volley tipped over by Pope, but after he had moved into midfield. Gundogan was subdued. For the most part, Haaland was as inconspicuous as a man of his size, hair and goalscoring record can be. He avoided bouncing the ball off any Newcastle defenders’ heads. For the first time in a league game this season, he also failed to score. He had two headed chances, one going wide, the other at Pope, but was well policed by Fabian Schar and Burn.
And if neither Guardiola nor Howe has found his finest formula so far this season, despite procuring a combined 25 points, the Newcastle manager tinkered, giving Sandro Tonali a first league start in 11 months. His side had an obduracy but were threatened with back-to-back defeats until Gordon, who had a nuisance value throughout, again showed his capacity to score against top teams.
He won and converted the spot-kick, racing on to Guimaraes’s pass, taking the ball past Ederson and going down over him before slotting beyond him from 12 yards. Without the injured Alexander Isak, perhaps the best penalty-taker in the Premier League, Gordon stood in as both striker and spot-kick specialist. He was a threat on the counterattack; Kyle Walker, after two costly mishaps last week, played him onside for the equaliser.
Newcastle had less of the ball but other opportunities. Ederson parried Joelinton’s ferocious shot on the stroke of half time. The substitute Sean Longstaff came close to a winner, angling a shot wide.
City ended the stronger but without the finale John Stones supplied against Arsenal six days earlier. They extended their unbeaten run to 29 league games. But draws can cost a team a title and if the three defeats they suffered without Rodri did not prove decisive last season, now they have made a false start to life without their talisman. In a week, four points have slipped from their grasp. They could prove the first of many.
