Every Manchester City match, we are reminded by the commentators, “Erling Haaland has had only four touches of the ball so far in this match.” What we should be focusing on is how few through balls he has been receiving, not touches.

If you can count on one hand the amount of times Haaland receives a through ball in a match, with all the pace and power he brings in space behind a defensive line, then something is seriously wrong. And he hasn’t been receiving enough through balls.

Haaland is useful in helping open space for the midfielders by dragging them out of position. They follow him because of that threat of a run in-behind, and it is up to the defenders and midfielders to play him through. Haaland can touch the ball all he wants, wherever he wants, he isn’t going to dribble past four players. All strikers need to be played through, in on goal.

At a certain point, as Haaland loses energy, he will stop making those runs. That certain point was several matches ago. He is slowly winding down. Why make the run if the rest of the players aren’t looking up? Here is why he is not making the run.

As we know from the past, the outside center-backs are the first ones to look to play Haaland through, normally the defenders on the left-hand side of the defense. Nathan Ake is the most active creative passer of the defenders in the wider areas of the pitch, as seen in this example. He is currently injured.

The second group of players that will look to play that pass through are the midfielders, in the pockets. Recently that has been Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, and Jack Grealish.

The outside center-backs play the ball over the top, in the air, and the midfielders in the pockets look to play the ball through, on the ground.

Without someone that thinks like Rodri in that holding midfield position, the outside center-backs and midfielders in the pockets become preoccupied with looking for ways to help control the game. With Rodri, he takes care of focusing on maintaining control and tempo, which allows the other defenders and midfielders to always look forward.

Without Rodri, that responsibility of maintaining control and tempo is being shared between the outside center-backs, holding midfielders, and the midfielders in the pockets because the holding midfielders, İlkay Gündoğan and frequently Rico Lewis, aren’t accustomed to taking on this much responsibility in a match, and they are making a lot of unforced errors due to being unfamiliar with this specific role and fatigue.

Manchester City have always been passive when they defend in transition. The difference is the frequency of the transitions, due to the mistakes, and they are losing the ball in the wrong areas of the pitch.

Most of the Manchester City players don’t know how to lose the ball. That is another secret of Rodri, someone like him is key to their strategy of defending with the ball. Knowing when and how to lose the ball to mitigate the chance of a successful transition for the opposition is a skill that requires a different mindset. Losing the ball in certain areas gives City’s midfielders and forwards a chance to get back to help. Losing the ball in an area of the pitch where those midfielders and forwards can’t get back leaves them vulnerable. That is one of the main reasons why they are getting punished more frequently this season.

Every team will lose the ball, but this set of players don’t know how to lose the ball yet. They are capable with time. İlkay Gündoğan is capable mentally, maybe not physically, but definitely mentally. It is a mentality shift from what they are used to. John Stones and Manuel Akanji are more than capable. That will likely be the answer. They will need to wait for both Stones and Akanji to come back fit to replicate what Rodri provided in that holding midfield position because they have the experience playing alongside him.

İlkay Gündoğan said something similar when he spoke with TNT Sports after their 2-0 loss to Juventus in the Champions League:

We had chances to score a few goals but at the moment it feels like every attack we concede is so dangerous. Sometimes we are a bit careless in the duels and instead of playing simple we overcomplicate things.

We miss the right timing to release the ball and lose balls in transition every time and give them counter-attacks and have to chase every time 50 or 60 metres backwards. That’s not what we’re built for, we’re built for possession to keep the ball, be strong and even if you cannot do anything with the ball don’t lose it. At the moment, it’s just not working out for us.

That’s a mental issue as well. You can see that we are sometimes one action we miss the ball or lose a duel and you see that we drop immediately and lose the rhythm.

They don’t even need to do much but it has such a big effect on us right now. Even more you have to do the simple things as good as possible and create and fluidly and then it’s going to work hard again.

This is how you get confidence back even in a game. Do the small and simple things to get your confidence back. In crucial moments at the moment we are always doing the wrong things.

The midfielders and defenders are preoccupied with maintaining control and not looking in Haaland’s direction, Haaland is making fewer runs, they are getting more tired, and they are conceding more, which means they are now losing games.

Manchester City are an incredibly tired, overworked, injury ridden, slow team, that lack physicality, who are not looking to take on more risk, like the risk of playing Haaland through, because they are too focused on maintaining control and tempo. They are looking side to side and back, not forward. They are making a ton of unforced errors in risky parts of the pitch due to fatigue, and they aren’t effectively moving the ball up the pitch as a group.

If I were Erling Haaland, I would keep making those runs, even if the pass doesn’t come. It eventually will. They can’t afford to lose that threat through the middle of the pitch because sooner or later, teams will begin to squeeze those midfielders in the pockets, out. Defenses don’t have to worry about Haaland if no one is looking up and forward to play him through, and they definitely don’t need to worry if he stops making the run.

Manchester City’s best chance against Juventus came from a through ball to Erling Haaland. After that chance, for the most part, crickets for the rest of the match. At minimum, look to play him through more often.