Inside the week that shook Man City - JACK GAUGHAN

The dust was still settling on the evening before as Pep Guardiola’s players drove through the City Football Academy barriered gates, just off Alan Turing Way, before 11am. Gates that Ederson’s supercar can slide right under.

Erling Haaland’s frank exchange with Mikel Arteta was just emerging on the internet and there remained chatter about the fallout of the draw as the group assembled for an unusual hybrid session — the sort that might normally be reserved for Christmas.

The likes of Ruben Dias, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva reported for their recovery sessions an hour or two earlier than might ordinarily be expected given the quick turnaround to a Carabao Cup tie with Watford on Tuesday night. Others who hadn’t featured against Arsenal — Rico Lewis, James McAtee, Matheus Nunes — went over a light walkthrough of the plan for Tom Cleverley’s Hornets.

Haaland was not part of either group as the Norwegian made his way back home for the week, attending the funeral of family friend Ivar Eggja — someone who had considerable influence over the 24-year-old’s career. City had offered Haaland compassionate leave ahead of victory over Brentford, in which he scored twice, and now was the time to accept that.

While the preparation for Watford took precedence among Guardiola’s staff, the ramifications of the pulsating 2-2 draw were still being felt as the City boss showed McAtee what his role entailed — slightly more attacking — for the night after out on the pristine grass.

It emerged that in carrying out instructions from others, Arsenal substitute Myles Lewis-Skelly was booked for unsporting behaviour before even entering the field for his senior debut, further adding weight to the idea that Arteta’s side had pushed the limits of acceptable time-wasting. City’s ground staff were joking with each other that the Etihad required major work given the marks Arsenal’s parked bus had made on the surface.

Sources present at the Etihad on Sunday, and whom are unconnected to City, were labelling the Arsenal hierarchy ‘graceless’ — alongside an unprintable noun.

Inside City, there was disappointment at executive vice-chair Tim Lewis leaving his seat without shaking hands with his counterparts sat across the aisle. City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak was seen motioning up to Lewis as he hastily headed for the exit following the John Stones equaliser.

While that unfolded, Rodri was being dragged away from Arteta’s bench during a furious row. Tensions heightened at full time on the pitch but, much to the surprise of sources, didn’t spill over inside the tunnel. Words continued to be exchanged, voices loud, but the situation calmed.

Arsenal fans in the ‘Tunnel Club’ — the Etihad’s corporate enclosure — provoked potentially nasty scenes when celebrating their goals but were allowed to stay, shouting at the press box that the Gunners had been ‘cheated’ as they later staggered out.

Rodri had bigger worries. He was off with a serious knee injury — so obviously serious when club doctor Max Sala tended to him that he forgot to relay the message to Guardiola, who frantically asked if a substitution was required. That moment could impact the title race far more than the result.

TUESDAY

Rodri had one set of tests on the knee and was now in Barcelona for a second. News was filtering through of suspected anterior cruciate ligament damage — effectively ending his season — but City’s medical staff were waiting on a second opinion.

Guardiola confirmed with certainty later on, after beating Watford 2-1, that Rodri faced months out. Given the additional European games this season, the Catalan said they won’t ‘waste energy’ on the Carabao. He’s straight in his mind that a second-string will be going to Tottenham for their fourth-round tie in late October.

The name Kaden Braithwaite hadn’t meant much to supporters before Watford but the 16-year-old was thrown in from the start given an injury to Josh Wilson-Esbrand. The Under 18 vice-captain had never trained with the first team until that quick run-through session on Monday. There had been some surprise within the club at his ascent to a full debut — he did not even have a profile on the official website — but he’d impressed sporting director Txiki Begiristain.

Guardiola gave him 76 minutes and wanted to take Kyle Walker off, too. Walker played 78 minutes of the Arsenal fixture but told his manager towards the end of Watford that he could manage the full 90. Walker, who had built his fitness over the international break by playing for the Under 21s at National League North Buxton, believed the minutes were good for him.

Walker was re-confirmed as captain, with De Bruyne his vice, after the players and staff voted on the leadership group — which has now extended to six. The returning Gundogan re-joins Ruben Dias, Silva and the stricken Rodri. It stretched to six because the voting numbers were tight.

WEDNESDAY

Finally, official news on Rodri by way of a statement just as the players reported for a post-Watford recovery session. But no timescale or specifics beyond a ‘ligament injury’. There had been suspicions earlier in the week that it might take as long as five days to ascertain the full extent of the damage.

With a recall for Ipswich Town loanee Kalvin Phillips ruled out, decisions over whether they dip into the January transfer market will be made in the coming weeks. It’s not a window City like to do business in and there are options available to Guardiola: namely Mateo Kovacic, Lewis, Gundogan, Silva, Stones.

Nunes actually put his hand up too. ‘At Wolves I played more as a winger and last year here I played more as a 10 but when I played for Sporting I always played in the double pivot,’ the Portugal international said after scoring his first goal for City on Tuesday.

‘We’re going to have to fill the void because it’s a massive loss. We have shown that if any player is out we have another one that is ready and has top quality to play. Last year it happened with Erling and Kevin (De Bruyne) and we still managed to win. This year, I know we will be the same.’

It presents a challenge for Guardiola. But so did Sergio Aguero’s lengthy injuries, and winning the title with false nines. Or De Bruyne missing huge parts of title wins. Or when they won the title with Fernandinho operating at centre half. Or when Gundogan filled in as a defensive midfielder when holding off the Liverpool charge in 2019. Perhaps a new puzzle to solve is what Guardiola needs, although admittedly he’d rather not have to.

THURSDAY

A day off for the players as attention turned to Newcastle — but with plenty going on off the pitch. The ongoing legal challenge surrounding Associated Party Transactions appeared to come to some sort of a head when a Premier League vote on specifics of the rules was scrubbed from the agenda at a divisional-wide meeting in London. City have claimed that the APT rules, which thwart over-inflation of sponsorship deals, aren’t lawful and their battle with the League will have a far-reaching impact.

There had been an expectation that a conclusion from the June hearing would become clear this week but that has not come to pass. The cancelling of votes can be construed as something of a victory for City, although that is contested by their opposition.

How this plays out will have some bearing on the other case with the league over financial impropriety spanning nine seasons that is currently ongoing.

So Lord Pannick KC and the wealth of lawyers behind City have their hands full with that while the club pressed ahead with the impressive £300million expansion of the Etihad. The North Stand is growing and capacity will increase to more than 60,000 — pushing them over the threshold required for European finals. A minimum of 3,300 rail seats are being installed at that end of the stadium; more could be added after fan consultation and the building work is due for completion next season.

The place is a construction site at the moment and there was a hole to plug after torrential rain last weekend. Water leaked through the second-tier flooring down to those below during the Arsenal game and provisions were made before Watford — with noticeably more panels on the roof to fix the leak to ensure it didn’t become a consistent problem.

As for consistent problems, Arsenal have the potential to pose that in the months to come. They were still the talk of football towards the end of the week and sources were talking up a new swagger about them. They were apparently more boisterous in the tunnel before warming up, much quieter before last season’s goalless draw, and some pointed to William Saliba’s roaring ‘let’s go’ as a pointer of that.

Trying to understand the bubbling rivalry between the two — and one that has all the hallmarks of City’s tempestuous relationship with Liverpool on the grass and in the posh seats — one source asked: ‘Isn’t all this just because Arsenal are good now?’

FRIDAY

Rodri had seen Guardiola’s preferred specialist, Dr Ramon Cugat, for further scans and then travelled to Madrid for surgery after a full diagnosis.

Dr Manuel Leyes — who has worked on a number of Real Madrid stars in the recent past —undertook the operation on the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus damage in the Spanish capital, with Guardiola confirming that his metronome will miss the remainder of the season.

‘It’s a pity because it’s a long injury — eight, nine months — but after, it’s not like in one month you will be ready,’ Guardiola warned.

‘After that come the muscular injuries so you have to be careful. Everybody knows how happy our opponents are because they have the mindset that Rodri is fundamental to our process. But what can we do? Complain?

‘We don’t expect everything will be smooth and comfortable and easy. We feel and smell that people say, “Oh again (it’s going to be) City” and they don’t like it at all. So let’s go.’ 

But De Bruyne’s issue has persisted, with Nathan Ake and Oscar Bobb still out of a squad that met up for training at 11am before travelling to the North East.

Guardiola will use Rodri as part of his pre-match messaging at St James’ Park and is now deliberating how to play two-man midfields without curbing the team’s attacking prowess.

The Arsenal feud amazingly kept going. Guardiola was pent up about his friend, Arteta, after vaguely accusatory remarks made earlier in the week.

‘I know what went on there,’ was Arteta’s general message in response to time-wasting complaints — nudging at City’s perceived use of the ‘dark arts’ — and Guardiola was left extremely agitated. There is a feeling of burnt bridges after Guardiola told his employers not to stand in Arteta’s way when the Gunners came calling in December 2019 — even after a clandestine midnight meeting at Arteta’s home in the Manchester suburb of Didsbury.

His feeling that Arteta, who maintains their relationship hasn’t altered, had willingly added fuel to speculation around City and that became clear in his response, which included him sarcastically musing: ‘Maybe it’s about the 115 charges, maybe he has information on that or maybe he has something, I don’t know?’