The last time Manchester City played their weekend opponents Wolves at the Etihad Stadium with a crowd present it was one of the most dispiriting afternoons of the Pep Guardiola era.
Cracks in the Blues 2019/20 title defence were ripped open as Adama Traore’s brace secured a shock 2-0 win for the visitors.
City were frequently carved apart on the break, with Nicolas Otamendi spending significant chunks of the contest splayed out on the turf.
In fairness to El General he and his defensive colleagues were left exposed time and again as recent recruit Rodri looked entirely ill-suited to the demands of the Premier League.
At that time, it was impossible to imagine the Spain international being an adequate replacement for club great Fernandinho.
Now, it is hard to envisage City winning a game of major consequence without Rodri in the team, due in large part to Fernandiho’s advancing years and dwindling form.
Captain fantastic
We should make something very clear at this point. Fernandinho is one of the finest players ever to wear a Manchester City shirt and his legacy at the club is beyond secure.
Going all the way back to his giddy enthusiasm and social media posts over joining the club in 2013, the Brazilian marked himself out as different to many of the other global stars joining City at the time.
Fernandinho clearly wanted to be a part of something, the sort of attitude fans adore, especially as this was a stage when some of the other arrivals could be considered men picking up a paycheck and passing through at a Champions League club.
Yaya Toure’s phenomenal 20-goal Premier League season would have been impossible without Ferna’s relentless industry behind him and, although Brazil’s humiliating 7-1 semi-final loss on home soil against Germany at the 2014 World Cup knocked the stuffing out of him for a while, he remained one of the few dependable performers during the final two years of Manuel Pellegrini’s reign.
As Pep Guardiola tried in vain to find the successful formula during his maiden 2016/17 campaign, Fernandinho shone, both in familiar midfield roles and then in defence as City’s full-back options were not up to standard for the manager’s demands.
He was a lynchpin of the 100-point season of 2017/18 and there every step of the way as City went on a run of winning six out of seven domestic trophies on offer between the 2018 and 2020 Carabao Cup finals.
In the latter match, he filled in at centre-back as he did for much of a season where City were hamstrung by Vincent Kompany’s departure and Aymeric Laporte’s cruciate knee ligament injury.
He took the captain’s armband for 2020/21 and was the perfect, inspirational figurehead for all the horribleness and uncertainty of pandemic football. Without Fernandinho’s steady leadership and mid-season home truths, the title challenge might have disintegrated mid-season.
When the spectre of the European Super League lurked, he stood tall with Guardiola against it - again aligning himself with supporters at a time when such common ground was badly needed.
On his 36th birthday, Guardiola selected Fernandinho for the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain. He was superb and fans delighted in an evergreen love story that no one wanted to end.
Zeroing in on a problem
Memories of him deliciously needling Angel Di Maria into a red card during that game were one of the reasons City fans were baffled by Fernandinho’s absence from the Champions League final XI against Chelsea.
However, a look at his performances this season might show why Guardiola thought he was ill-equipped for the task.
Fernandinho helped City to a 2-1 win at Aston Villa last week as he featured alongside Rodri in an injury-hit midfield.
But of the five games he has started instead of the Spaniard - including the season-opening Community Shield - City have failed to win any. Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at RB Leipzig was the only time in that group of fixtures where City have found the net.
Rodri is the sort of player always likely to out-perform Fernandinho in terms of smooth passing, but the difference in those terms is stark in 2021/22
Fernandinho averages 56.8 completed passes per 90 minutes at a completion rate of 84.8%, with Rodri up at 77.9 and 93.5%.
This, along with the results highlighted above, suggests Fernandinho is unable to give City the control of contests that Guardiola craves while, according to FBref, Rodri is making almost five more passes per game on average when under pressure from an opponent - another vital facet of the Premier League leaders’ game.
The nitty-gritty is where Fernandinho has always excelled, and he averages 3.4 tackles per 90 compared to Rodri’s 2.4, although this could be a necessity borne out of the team being less secure in possession when he is the sole midfield pivot.
An almost telepathic capacity to snuff out danger has been another of his hallmarks, but Rodri has 1.57 interceptions per 90 compared to Fernandinho’s 0.57.
Scratch teams and a winter wish
There is, of course, some significant mitigation here.
Since the 1-0 defeat at Tottenham on the opening day of the Premier League season, Fernandinho has featured as the lone holding player in matches where Guardiola has rotated fairly heavily.
He lined up with Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne in Leipzig, a trio that many would have considered City’s first choice at various points over the past couple of years.
But Bernardo Silva is currently the best midfielder in Europe and City’s undisputed number one. Fernandinho’s only start behind Bernardo and Gundogan in the five games mentioned was September’s 0-0 draw against Southampton when the lack of Laporte or John Stones at centre-back hindered City's build-up play
As Guardiola shuffles his pack to deal with the festive workload, it would be nice to see Fernandinho selected within what might otherwise be considered a first-choice XI.
Firstly, Rodri would probably welcome the time to put his feet up and Guardiola needs evidence that Ferna can still step in and do a job if, for whatever reason, City’s main man in that position is unavailable for a crunch clash.
Bernardo looks close to irreplaceable right now, but the Blues are stacked with hard-working creative midfield options. Joao Cancelo is another player-of-the-season contender but has an able deputy in Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Right now, Fernandinho replacing Rodri is a downgrade like no other in the City squad. It is a horrible way to think of a cherished figure in what are probably the final months of his playing career with the club. Hopefully we get to see the magic of old a few more times over the coming weeks and months.
Do you think Fernandinho can get back to his best for what could be the final months of his City career? Follow our City Is Ours editor Dom Farrell on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
