When does a growing injury list become an injury crisis?

“You have the problem this season,” Pep Guardiola said after a second consecutive Premier League draw. “We have long, long injuries with Oscar, with Rodri for a long long time and that is completely different to the past. But the schedule is the same.”

Guardiola isn’t in the mood for making excuses after a gruelling fortnight. But it’s clear there are a few things not quite right at Manchester City at the moment.

It all just felt a bit flat at St James’ Park on Saturday

Maybe it was the early kick-off. Maybe it was because Newcastle had seen their midweek fixture postponed. Maybe it was because this was City’s fifth game in 14 days. Maybe the Arsenal game and week-long fallout was still having an impact. The loss of Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne certainly will have been felt, but maybe it takes longer than 90 minutes for City players to adapt without two thirds of their strongest midfield.

Rodri hadn’t been out for a week yet Guardiola already seems frustrated with the fixation on the Spaniard. The first question after Newcastle was whether the performance had shown how important Rodri’s absence will be.

He even pre-empted a question that hadn’t been asked. “I am going to tell you, I know you are going to ask me all the time,” he said. “Of course we are going to miss Rodri, the physicality, the presence. But he is not there.”

He knows he will be asked about Rodri more now that he’s injured than when he was fit.

He says it is up to him to find a solution for playing without Rodri and Newcastle was the first chance to see what those plans were. It has been a question all summer but with the expectation that his chosen system would only ever have to be a ‘Plan B’. Now Plan B is suddenly Plan A, with the ‘brilliant’ Mateo Kovacic and Rico Lewis given the first choice to replace Rodri as a double pivot.

Lewis was promoted to midfield outright for the first time this season, but despite asking for that chance in the summer he now insists he ‘has no position.’

“There’s a long way in my career to go. I don’t know how things will go in the future,” he said after the draw in the North East. “I like playing in the pockets, I like playing as a midfielder on the ball but I also like playing full-back. It’s not always a bad thing to have options but maybe in the future I’ll have more of a clear position.

“It [finding a system without Rodri] will take time, like with anything. If anyone is injured, it’s the same. We know how important Rodri is but we can’t do anything about it and we have to crack on and sort it out ourselves. That will come with time.

“You can’t stop and think about it. It’s obviously difficult but every one of the players has a key role in the team and it’s difficult when they’re not playing and not around the squad.”

Lewis speaks like he plays – with a maturity and intelligence beyond his 19 years. Back in the press conference room at St James’ Park, Guardiola had praised him, and was soon talking about some more difficult issues he has to contend with than where to play Lewis.

Guardiola is currently missing his Ballon d’Or favourite, his talisman, his ever-reliable defender, and his best player from the summer tour. Goalscoring machine Erling Haaland picked up a knock at Newcastle (but finished the game), while Phil Foden is yet to start in the league this season to add another mystery to the growing injury crisis.

Foden is the reigning Premier League player of the year, but was a late returnee from the Euros, and then he missed four games for club and country with a mystery illness. Guardiola said on Saturday he has missed ‘two, three months’ of football and wouldn’t explicitly say why Foden is yet to start in the league this term.

Guardiola offered a little more on the mysterious Foden situation but not much. “Phil doesn’t need time when he’s clever and fine,” he said. “It’s not a problem. I know how important he is. There’s no doubt about that.

“It doesn’t matter to start or come from the bench. With this amount of games he will have minutes that’s for sure.”

That’s cleared that up, then…

Guardiola parted with an admission that Ilkay Gundogan is yet to reach his best since returning to the Etihad. It felt like the rest of the trip to Newcastle – nothing quite clicked and a lot of parts are still to fall into place. City had to rely on some fight and a few ‘Dark Arts’ to survive St James’ with a point.

The trip to Slovan Bratislava won’t help with the schedule that is frustrating the manager, but it may help with rotation. This is a side who lost 5-1 to Celtic a fortnight ago.

So does Guardiola rest some of his tired legs or persist with trying to find a system that needs settling on soon?

Maybe he should listen to Lewis – “we have to crack on and sort it out ourselves.”