~snip
The problem is that they were good for a very long time, and then suddenly they started to be terrible, even at the start of the season for a long time, until like November, they were still a great team, then suddenly something happened and they started to be a terrible team. That doesn't really make sense, I am not saying that we are not looking at anything from a different perspective but I believe Rodri missing can't really be the only reason.
This is going to take a while for them to get back to where they were, but it's clear that they are never going to be as great as they used to be, just doesn't look possible at the moment. In any case, we could just assume that their time was great and fun, and now it looks to be over.
I have always had the believe that Rodri's absence was the reason why they had this long term decline in performance, but after a little while of observation, I concluded that I was wrong. After that Rodri's injury in the Arsenal game, City started struggling with winning games, but it wasn't as obvious like what we see today. As at then, they where winning their games by a one goal margin, but of recent, they just don't know how to win games anymore. So, if they could sustain themselves for a little while without Rodri, then it doesn't make much sense if we say they Rodri's absence is their major problem, though it is clearly a loss to the manager and the team. Look at what they played in their last game against Brentford. They bottled a 2goal lead. Not sure if that's a Rodri effect either.
And as for their game against PSG in their next UCl competition, it is a must win for them. If they lose to PSG, then it is over. And from the factors on ground like psg's home advantage, psg's new signings, etc, this is definitely going to be very tough game for pep.