“You don’t need to be blind” – Pep Guardiola dissects Manchester City’s second-half misery of late | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has attempted to explain his side’s struggles to see out leads in the second-halves of games in recent weeks.

City scored their first set of goals after the interval in the Premier League at Anfield on Sunday evening as strikes from Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland helped the Blues record a monumental 2-1 win over Liverpool.

By doing so, the Blues stayed six points adrift of Premier League leaders Arsenal as they sealed a first league double over Liverpool since 1937, with the result handing a new-look Manchester City dressing room a huge psychological boost ahead of the run-in.

Guardiola’s side can win a third game on the bounce in all competitions when Fulham visit the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night, with three points a must to keep up the pressure on Arsenal, who face a tricky test away at Brentford on Thursday evening.

Much has been made of City’s drop-off in games after the interval in 2026, with City letting leads slip and drawing in league meetings with Chelsea, Brighton and Tottenham in the last five weeks.

Guardiola was asked whether Ballon d’Or winner Rodri – who is slowly but surely finding his feet after returning from a series of injuries that have kept the Spaniard on the sidelines for the best part of the last 18 months – can help alleviate City’s struggles in the second-half as the season progresses.

Speaking in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Guardiola said: “No. (Rodri at the top of his form at the moment?) No. 18 months behind. Rodri will be (top) at the end of the season, next season, he will be top. He is much better.

“But not just belong to him, we have to improve a few things to help us to not suffer what we suffer. But of course with Rodri, come on; Rodri breaks 40, I think, 40, 50, 60 passes, with his passes (he) breaks the lines. He’s the only one who can do that.

“Rodri, if it would not happen what happened last season, this season when being fit, we know that, everybody knows it. You don’t need to be blind. But not just belong (to him). I don’t want to put responsibility on Rodri for the fight, for the fact that he will not drop or drop.

“No, no, no, no. I see football for many, many (things). Still, I believe one good action, the keeper, central defender, you create a chance. People don’t believe in that at all anymore. I still believe one good process, the keeper with the central defender, central defender, good pass, these two actions create a chance.

“And then you don’t concede a chance. And I will fight until the last day as a manager for that concept. Even now (when) it’s man-marking, even now (when) it’s more direct, there are more transitions. But good passes meet a good pass.

“So in the right tempo, in the right moment, in the right foot to make a good second action; still I believe truly that the biggest success in a team depends on that simple action. On whether that is one thing Manchester City are missing in second-halves, Guardiola added: “And all the season, yeah.”

Rodri could be handed a rest against Fulham on Wednesday night after the 29-year-old put in a commendable shift in the win at Anfield, with Guardiola expected to make wholesale changes to the starting XI to face the west Londoners.