**Man City**crumbled at the end of 2024 without the newly crowned Ballon d'Or winner, but this crisis was much bigger than one player. The club responded in the summer with swift activity at the start of the transfer window, leaving **Pep Guardiola**happy with his team for the new European campaign.
‘The defining moment was November, December’
Last season, City went trophyless for the first time since 2017, failed to retain the Premier League after four successful title charges, and lost the **FA Cup**final 1-0 to Crystal Palace. It was one of the worst years in the managerial career of Guardiola, who was again quizzed about that experience.
*“It was massive blow for us not to have him, but it was not the only one. With Rodri, we would have been better last season. But I had the feeling that it was much better than the moment the feeling.”*
**Rodri**was absent for much of the campaign with an ACL injury, but City recovered in the spring after crashing out of the Champions League playoff 6-3 against Real Madrid.
*“We finished third in the Premier League and reached FA Cup final. Champions League I think was even worse than the Premier League.”*
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Across November and December, City only won one game across 13 fixtures. The squad suffered a string of absences aside from the midfielder that were too much to bear during the wintry months.
“But I would say that the defining moment was November, December. It was our worst period.
We had 15 16 injuries. When you have 15 16 injuries, no team can sustain. So of course Rodri was an incredibly massive absence but not just was the reason the only reason why.”
The board backed Guardiola with the £34 million signing of Rayan Cherki from **Lyon**and the arrival of £46 million man, **Serie A**Midfielder of the Year, Tijjani Reijnders from AC Milan. Both men are more forward thinking players in midfield, but the manager made clear he is happy with his options.
“*Mateo Kovacic**is coming back soon. The team, the squad is really good. Coming back, we have Rayan Ait-Nouri, **Rayan Cherki*and John Stones and when everybody's coming back we rotate and the people in the bench can also make a good impact during the game when the fatigue is coming.”