Richard Dunne talks Rodri-less Man City & Aston Villa’s key advantage over Champions League rivals | OneFootball

This week former Aston Villa, Manchester City and Everton defender Richard Dunne spoke to Squawka about the Villans’ Champions League hopes, how the Premier League champions should replace Rodri and the Toffees’ chances of staying up.

The former Ireland international also spoke about the upcoming Uefa Nations League matches, and Champions League nights at Villa Park.

Manchester City are going to be without Rodri for the remainder of the season. Do you think Man City have the midfielders capable of replacing what he brings to the team?

I think as a unit, yes. I don’t think individually there’s anybody there that can do the same job as him. But you look around the players that they have, it certainly looks like great business now bringing [Ilkay] Gundogan back when he came in. I think [Mateo] Kovacic is a very experienced player, Rico Lewis has done really well this season. [Pep Guardiola] might change it a little bit, and if [Kevin] De Bruyne is fit, he might play a little bit deeper.

I do think that they’ve got enough quality there to be able to replace him. I just fear in the bigger games that it might be a problem. I think the manager’s always spoke about not wanting transitional games where they go box to box, head to head against the opposition. And I think even more so now without a big, dominating central midfielder, you need to keep even more control of the ball. And that’s the one major quality that all those players have in there. I think with Kovacic and Bernardo Silva, or whoever it may be, they can all keep the ball. So I do think over the course of the season, they’ll be able to cover up his absence.

Defensively, Man City have only kept one clean sheet in the league so far this season. Are there any obvious reasons to you as to why?

There’s nothing that really stands out that’s obvious. They play such a high line that it’s difficult for defenders to get back in all the time. The defenders spent most of the game 30 or 40 yards from the opposition goal, so when they are asked to defend, it’s a long way back for them a lot of the time. Other than that, I can’t really see it.

I’ve heard people say that City are boring because they just keep the ball all the time, but they just attack all the time, so it’s difficult when they have to defend. It’s a long way back to the goal, and it’s normally defenders running back facing their own goal, that sort of situation. So it is tough. But I can only think that it is being early in the season, or the team has been changing around a bit because the manager’s compensating for what happened in the Euros during the summer. And maybe that’s had a bit to play in it, and once they start playing consistently, they same players getting game time, I think that will sort of even itself out. And it’ll just be a normal season in terms of defending goals.

I enjoyed the first week, I thought it was interesting. I think there’s going to be some big results like we saw with Bayern Munich, where teams are going to get hammered. But I think there’s going to be some interesting games because a lot of the time in the four-team groups I felt that the result between the two top seeds didn’t matter, because they were both going to qualify anyway. I think with this there’s the jeopardy that a couple of number one seeds may or may not make the direct route through.

So I think each game between the bigger sides is going to be really, really good. I know there was criticism of the Inter Milan and Man City match, but I really enjoyed it. I thought Inter Milan were outstanding, the way they played was brilliant and they really made it difficult for City to break down. So I’ve enjoyed it, I think it will be really interesting. I just hope on the final day that there’s still a little bit of jeopardy in it, and it’s not just a flat thud.

It’s amazing. I think, when they got back into the Champions League, the obvious thing is they want to play Real Madrid, they want to play Bayern Munich, they want to get Barcelona, all the big games, and they want to try and get them at Villa Park. So to have the opportunity to face Bayern Munich at Villa Park is amazing.

I think the fans will love it. The players will realise then what competition they’re in and how far they’ve come. Bayern Munich and [Vincent] Kompany have been brilliant this season. They were unfortunate not to beat Bayer Leverkusen at the weekend, but they’re really set off like a train and they’re scoring goals, so it will be a real test for Villa.

But I do think the one difference, and the one sort of plus point that Villa have over everyone else is that stadium, and the fans. Once they get going, I feel like it’s as loud as anywhere. I’m really looking forward to it, I think it’ll be a brilliant match.

Everton finally got their first league win of the season at the weekend, and it coincided with Jarrad Branthwaite’s return from injury. How important is he to Sean Dyche’s team?

He’s hugely important to them. I think everyone had said it all along. Man United had tried to buy him for £70-odd million, other clubs were really interested in him, so he’s obviously one of the top defenders in the league and any side would miss him. And obviously with the situation Everton have been in they need every good player they can get. And it’s great that he’s come back, and it’s great that he’s got the game time into his legs because that’s what he needed.

And it’ll just give everyone around the place a boost of confidence that they’ve won, and secondly that he’s back on the pitch and playing. I think Everton are going to be one of those teams that will go through the season and they might lose four games in a row, two or three times. And so they just have to be patient and take their time. And when they have a full-strength XI out, I think they’re more than good enough to stay up.

Next week the Uefa Nations League returns. Do you think Ireland can get up and running in their next two games? What have you made of Heimir Hallgrimsson’s brief time in charge so far?

They have to, is the honest answer. They have to get something out of these games. The England match was difficult because England played really well and it was just a tough game. We didn’t offer too much, but England were outstanding. And I think with the second game, you could see exactly where we’re at, we should be able to compete with Greece and at times we looked like we were really struggling. So I think the Finland game is huge. I think the manager has to stamp his authority on the team and show us all what he’s expecting and what he wants of them.

I think there’s a bit of disappointment that he’s not been to watch a lot of games in England so far. I think it’s important to see the players live, to understand where they’re at. But yeah, it’s a big couple of games. The FAI have put their trust in him after a long, long process to try and find the manager, so we need to start seeing that there are improvements coming, that the team’s looking more gelled together, players seem to understand what they’re doing. Getting points on the board is the number one priority, and these are games coming up where we have to do our best to get something.