Man-marking an opponent was a rarity when I played. Now it’s virtually non-existent yet I still think Jurgen Klopp should consider it against Manchester City because of the influence of Rodri.
All the evidence suggests when Rodri is allowed to run the game, City don’t lose. He’s unbeaten in his last 60 games for the club — a mind-blowing statistic.
Given that dominance, it surprises me nobody has worked harder to devise a plan to stop him. The Spaniard has the most touches of anyone in the Premier League and provides the service for Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland to destroy teams.
Stop Rodri and you may stop City. The evidence suggests they are less dominant and more vulnerable when he’s missing. Rodri is the best holding midfield player in the world. Why? Because he’s brilliant at both aspects of the game, defensive and progressive.
He doesn’t have weakness on the destructive side; tackling, heading, reading the game, pressing with intensity — he does it all.
Added to that, he has the technical ability to receive the ball under pressure and keep it. He knows when to pass simple and when to release the creative players.
In the modern era, teams are reluctant to sacrifice the attributes of their own players to stifle an individual and may not have the personnel to do it anyway.
I remember once being asked to man-mark Dietmar Hamann and it was a huge test of discipline, to restrict your own desire to get on the ball in order to follow him all over the pitch.
Nullifying Rodri is a hugely difficult ask and Klopp will point to the firepower in his own team to question why he should adapt for the opposition.
Maybe so, but the stakes are so high, I think it’d be worth it to throw the element of surprise at Pep
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