When Pep Guardiola landed a karate kick into his bucket seat’s midriff, the main source of his anger was not immediately obvious. It might have been that the Arsenal free-kick that led to the equaliser had been taken some way from where the offence was committed. Or that Michael Oliver had allowed it to be taken quickly, even though he had called Kyle Walker over for a chat.
Just as likely was that Guardiola was annoyed with his defenders for switching off a little. But if only subconsciously, what might have really been at the root of this particular Pep tantrum was that he had, moments earlier, seen his most important player limp from the field in tears . The length of Rodri’s absence will clearly have a hugely significant bearing on City’s prospects of making it five Premier League titles in a row - and Guardiola knows it.
But what Guardiola will also know is that after Rodri’s unfortunate departure, his City team produced one of their most unimaginative and uninspiring performances for some time . Don’t get carried away by the drama of it all, don’t get distracted by the edginess, by the usual nonsensical hysterics in the technical area, by the snide time-wasting, by the standards fuss over the refereeing, don’t get carried away by Erling Haaland throwing the ball at Gabriel’s head. City were lucky to collect that last-minute John Stones leveller and, deep down, Pep will know it.
He won’t admit it, but he will know it. Yes, until they switched off in tho.