Two-goal Kovacic’s ‘copy and paste’ Rodri job

Mateo Kovacic found his scoring boots to get Manchester City back to winning ways, as boss Pep Guardiola joked it was a “copy and paste” job of Rodri.

Rodri, City’s key defensive midfielder, is basically irreplaceable. But since his season-ending ACL injury, Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan are playing as a double pivot.

Such is City’s style of play that both ended up playing the majority of Saturday’s 3-2 win in Fulham’s half.

It ended a run of two Premier League draws since Rodri’s injury against Arsenal. Failure to win on Saturday would have meant their worst league run in 2024.

Kovacic, 30, is not a goalscoring midfielder. That has never been his job at Dinamo Zagreb, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Chelsea or Manchester City.

But you do not end up with a list of clubs like that without being a top-quality midfielder.

“He is not a top goalscorer but he maybe saw how many goals Rodri has scored in that position and did copy and paste. He scored two fantastic goals,” Guardiola told BBC Match of the Day afterwards.

Kovacic’s first was a deflected shot from a half-cleared corner and his second was a clean strike from the edge of the area early in the second half.

In his post-match news conference, Guardiola added: “They went four to five [defenders]. When they defended with five there is one man free on the edge of the box – Kovacic.

“The two goals were because in that position they can’t defend it. Kovacic was really important. Now opponents know they can’t leave him alone or he can score a goal.”

Kovacic’s double takes him up to three league goals for the season – having also netted against former club Chelsea – his best campaign already since 2014-15 for Inter Milan.

This marked only the second time he has ever scored more than once in a game – after a 2014 Europa League qualifying hat-trick for Inter against Icelandic side Stjarnan.

He celebrated a goal by sucking a thumb and told BBC Radio 5 Live: “It means a lot because my wife is pregnant so it was great to get some goals for the little one.”

Defensive midfielder Kovacic gets more involved in opposition half

Mateo Kovacic touch map

Kovacic, who is at home in the heart of midfield, is in his second season with City having moved from Chelsea.

Last season he started fewer than half their matches in the league but was a regular starter in Europe and the domestic cups.

But this season he has started six of their seven Premier League games – with Rodri having missed the start of the season with a hamstring problem, before his current knee injury.

And only five players have made more successful passes than Kovacic’s 453 this season.

Despite supposedly being in that defensive role, he does not even rank in the top 50 for successful passes in his own half…

But he ranks second for successful passes in the opposition half – and into the final third. In both cases team-mate Manuel Akanji is top.

Kesh Awefada

Kesh Awefada

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