Pep Guardiola has already learned two things about his Man City team without Rodri

At this stage, it’s fine if you’re fed up reading about Rodri’s injury and the impact it could have on Manchester City’s season.

Even Pep Guardiola is a little tired of answering questions about the subject. He chuckled to himself when asked again about the Spaniard’s absence following the draw at Newcastle United on Saturday and responded by saying: “I know you are going to ask every week.”

Rodri was also mentioned in Monday’s pre-match press conference ahead of the Slovan Bratislava game, with John Stones revealing he has spoken to his injured team-mate.

The 28-year-old’s stretch on the sidelines will be a recurring theme of this season and if City don’t win the title it will almost certainly be credited to Rodri’s injury. But his absence is already leading to a new phenomenon ahead of City matches, with observers keenly studying each line-up and trying to work out what Guardiola’s solution is this time. It could feel like trial and error for a few weeks.

That’s because Rodri was almost always selected - he missed just four league games last season (three through suspension), and two the campaign before. There are plenty of solutions, even if no like-for-like replacement exists.

At St James’ Park, Guardiola’s answer was to deploy a double pivot of Rico Lewis and Mateo Kovacic behind Ilkay Gundogan, with Manuel Akanji pushing into midfield from defence. The City boss also selected Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish in the wide areas in a team designed primarily around retaining possession.

It couldn’t have been more different in Slovakia as the rapid Jeremy Doku and Savinho played either side of Erling Haaland. Against significantly weaker opposition there was a sense that City could commit more players into the attacking areas, with Gundogan named at the base of midfield and Phil Foden and Matheus Nunes pushing forward as advanced no.8s.

That seemed relatively obvious when the teams were announced 75 minutes before kick-off, but it was less clear how City’s defence would operate. Guardiola tends to nominate one defender as the progressive option, but with a back four of Rico Lewis, John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Josko Gvardiol, any of the quartet could provide an attacking threat.

All four have been tasked with that duty in the past, while Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake - City’s other three defenders - tend to almost exclusively concentrate on issues at the back.

That he named Lewis, Stones, Akanji and Gvardiol even gave rise to the possibility of a fluid defence where each player would choose when to spring forward. If one goes, another sits.

That’s not how it panned out though, and it was Lewis who was tasked with the role of habitually pushing into midfield while the others formed a makeshift back three in possession. It worked and Lewis put in another exceptional display in the 4-0 win.

“He does everything,” was the succinct assessment from Guardiola when asked about Lewis after the game, and it’s already clear that at 19 he’s seen as the defender most equipped to operate as a faux midfielder in this fluid system.

There was another telling post-match verdict from Guardiola, who praised the impact of Gundogan in the no.6 position. “Today he played at a level we know he can do it,” the City boss told TNT Sports.

“The game in Newcastle was not good, maybe one of the worst I have seen of him in the last eight or nine years. But it happens. In his position as a holding midfielder, is so intelligent and he played a fantastic game today.”

That he struggled in an advanced role and excelled at the base of midfield in the two games since Rodri’s injury is an indication of where we can expect him to play over the coming months, especially with Kevin De Bruyne set to return after the international break and Foden finally finding his stride.

Gundogan turns 34 this month and it seems almost natural that a less physically demanding role shielding the back four is a more natural fit for a distinguished player in the autumn years of his career.

The full picture will emerge over time and will look much clearer after a run of upcoming games that includes Fulham, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Sparta Prague and Southampton.

But, nine days after Rodri’s injury, Guardiola is already beginning to untangle certain aspects of this season-defining puzzle.