Why Kovacic's performance shows Man City may not need Rodri understudy

There was not much between Manchester City and Chelsea on Sunday, especially in the second half, but a little bit of wisdom made a big difference in the end.

The defending champions had much more nous and know-how than Chelsea's young team, and Mateo Kovacic epitomised that experience with his performance in their 2-0 win.

It was even more impressive when you consider he had such huge shoes to fill at the base of City's midfield.

It has become very obvious that City's momentary lapses in their run of four consecutive Premier League titles are generally when Rodri is not playing - they lost three of the four games where he was absent last season.

So, with Rodri missing, on top of Chelsea's youth, energy and especially the fact they were playing at Stamford Bridge, I did think this game could be a banana skin for them. Kovacic helped ensure that was not the case, however.

The 30-year-old rounded off an excellent display with the goal that sealed City's victory, which must have given him great satisfaction on his return to Chelsea.

The fact they moved him on last year to bring in the younger players who he faced here - Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia - will have given him a wonderful feeling of contentment at leaving the pitch having shown everyone what they are missing.

'Mistakes did not affect him'

You are never going to get any other player to do everything as well as Rodri. He is the best holding midfielder in the world, so you are always going to see a few mistakes when someone else plays in that role and gets on the ball as often as he does for City.

Kovacic was not totally flawless but, especially in the first half, he controlled the game really well.

He was comfortable in possession, knew when to keep the ball and when to play it forward through the lines. The level of his performance meant City were not missing Rodri at all.

It was only after half-time, when Chelsea came into the game, that he had more defensive work to do, but even then he got back into good positions, made a few vital interceptions and did that side of the game really well too.

Yes, Kovacic gave the ball away on occasion, or got caught in possession now and again, but it never really affected him because he has been there and done it so many times.

He did not really let Chelsea affect the tempo of the game, either. When you really want to get after City and chase them, it is so difficult to rattle them because of how comfortable and confident players like him are on the ball.

Do City need to sign Rodri's understudy?

Kovacic had Bernardo Silva and Kevin de Bruyne around him against Chelsea, and of course that would help anyone because they are two such magnificent footballers.

But he was being asked to play deeper and be more disciplined than usual and the way he did it was key for me, especially being a former midfielder myself.

I know how difficult it is sometimes to change your role a little bit, because if you are attack-minded you have to think a lot more about what you are doing during the game.

Your instinct is always to go on a little run or get yourself forward. Ironically, that is what Kovacic did for his goal - but maybe the space was just there and he thought 'go for it'.

Overall, though, he adjusted really well and I would not be surprised if we see him there again the next time Rodri is not available.

If City decide they want to go out and sign out an understudy for Rodri instead, then for starters he has got to be better than Kovacic. Otherwise, what's the point?

Then, you are doing well to find someone who is better than Kovacic and is also going to be happy to sit on the bench and wait for Rodri to miss the odd game in 30, because he seems to get injured so rarely.

So, unless they find a super young talent somewhere – and they have a few players like that already - I am not sure I see City signing a holding midfielder before the transfer window closes on 30 August.

They have already got Rico Lewis, for example, who filled in for Kyle Walker on Sunday and is an outstanding talent.

Lewis looked very comfortable whenever he came into midfield against Chelsea and is good enough on the ball to play that holding role.

He is tenacious and although he has not got the physical presence of Rodri, that will not matter against most of the teams City face, when they will dominate possession.

So, I think it is more likely they bring in a younger player who can maybe fill in for Haaland instead, a bit like when they found Julian Alvarez. They unearthed a diamond there, and then sold him for more than £80m.

Haaland does what Haaland does

As well as Kovacic there were lots of other pluses for City boss Pep Guardiola too.

Their two centre-halves, Manuel Akanji and Ruben Dias, were terrific and Savinho’s first-half performance was excellent.

City fans must be absolutely ecstatic to see how he has slotted into the team, so let's hope he is not too badly injured after coming off at half-time.

Erling Haaland, meanwhile, just kept doing what he does. He only had a couple of chances but he took probably the hardest one after having the patience and strength to hold off a couple of challenges and just dink the ball over the goalkeeper.

The worrying thing for everyone else who was watching this game is that City notoriously start seasons quite slowly and poorly.

They were not at 100% against Chelsea, but like they do so often, they got the job done - and we know there is a lot more to come from them.

Danny Murphy was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.