After a brilliant first season and one legendary goal in the Premier League, it hasn’t been quite the same for Sergio Aguero in 2012-2013. The Manchester City striker is having an on/off relationship with his fitness this season, adding another knock (along with a more serious injury to Jack Rodwell) to his long list of hurts this year.
The season started with a bad injury on the opening match, and it seems that Aguero hasn’t really made it back from that one just yet. He has appeared in 23 league matches, five of them coming off the bench, scoring 9 goals. Last season, he scored 23 in 34 matches. Quite a difference in production, and quite a difference in Aguero’s finishing ability, looking a lot less focused when he does find himself within reach of a comfortable chance.
According to Roberto Mancini, Sergio Aguero will be out of the FA Cup match against Barnsley this weekend, and it’ll be interesting to see if he opts to start in the same way he did against Villa – with only Carlos Tevez as a striker, while Yaya Toure playes a more forward role than usual. Of course, all that changed when Jack Rodwell hurt his hamstring again, a problem that has been chasing him for quite some time, forcing Edin Dzeko, the team’s top Premier League scorer this season, to enter the match.
We are very sorry for Jack, because he is a good guy, a good player, but he is unlucky. It is his hamstring. I think it is impossible to resolve his problem after six or seven months because he’s had this problem for five or six years and we need maybe more time. How long will he be out? Maybe he will be back after the international break, three or four weeks. It is the same injury. I am very sorry because he is a young player. He needs to improve but he has played very well against Chelsea and was playing very well tonight.
There was a lot of criticism against Manchester City for making the Rodwell signing, and for most of the season, it certainly looked like a right way of approaching that deal. But Rodwell has improved since the early days of the season, when he looked a bit out of his depth, playing in a position he isn’t equipped to handle. Rodwell hasn’t been playing much, but his 53 minutes against Chelsea were certainly encouraging. I guess his further development will simply have to wait, again.