Manchester City failed to shrug off the absence of Rodri in a 1-1 draw at Newcastle on Saturday as they dropped Premier League points for the second consecutive game.
The Spaniard has been ruled out for the rest of the season due to a serious knee injury picked up in last weekend's fiery 2-2 draw with title rivals Arsenal.
Josko Gvardiol put the visitors in front at St James' Park, but Newcastle were well worthy of the point given to them by Anthony Gordon's second-half penalty.
A point edges City two points clear at the top of the table, but they could be overtaken by Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal by the end of the weekend.
Guardiola described Rodri, who is unbeaten in his past 52 Premier League appearances stretching back to February 2023, as "irreplaceable" but vowed to find a collective solution.
Teenager Rico Lewis was thrust forward into a central midfield role alongside Mateo Kovacic.
But City lacked the control and poise so often provided by Rodri on and off the ball.
"It is always difficult here with their physicality and they defend so deep. We had chances but (Nick) Pope (the goalkeeper) was brilliant so we take the point," said Guardiola.
"We made bad decisions (with the chances) to make it 2-0."
Newcastle have lost only one of their six Premier League games this season but until now results have been better than the performances from Eddie Howe's men.
"That was a good display, that was us playing our way, brave," said Howe.
"It was two teams going right at each other for probably 70 minutes. Last 20 minutes they were stronger than us and we had to defend really well to maintain the point."
Neither side had seriously threatened until Gvardiol collected Jack Grealish's pass inside the box and produced a finish Erling Haaland would be proud of by curling a low shot into the far corner on 35 minutes.
City should have quickly doubled their lead when Pope's clearance fell to Ilkay Gundogan, who mishit his attempted lob of the England goalkeeper rather than picking out Haaland.
Newcastle had to wait till first-half stoppage time to test Ederson.
Joelinton brilliantly took down a Kieran Trippier free-kick and fired goalwards only to be denied by his Brazil team-mate.
However, Newcastle -- looking a vastly better side than the one who slumped to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Fulham last weekend -- were rewarded for a bright start to the second half.
Gordon got in behind and was brought down by Ederson as he tried to round the goalkeeper.
The England international picked himself up to confidently slot home the penalty.
Roared on by the vociferous home crowd, Newcastle had the champions clinging on.
Referee Jarred Gillett turned down appeals for a second penalty when Kyle Walker challenged Joelinton before Ederson flew off his line to deny Gordon.
Guardiola responded with the introduction of last season's Premier League player of the year in Phil Foden and City turned the momentum around to finish strongly.
Foden had City's best chance to snatch all three points when he fired too close to Pope.
And Pope was required to produce a stunning save from Bernardo Silva's volley.
Haaland also headed at the goalkeeper in stoppage time as the Norwegian failed to score for the first time in the Premier League this term.
City could still have suffered their first defeat of the season had Sean Longstaff not pulled a great chance wide in the final 10 minutes.
But the dropped points offer more encouragement to City's title rivals that their grip on the title is beginning to loosen. AFP
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ