Pep Guardiola looked pretty frustrated.

It was minute 79 and Phil Foden had just placed a cross from Manchester City’s right onto the top of Sunderland’s goal. Guardiola reacted, as he does, with extravagant hand gestures suggesting how the cross could have been better. But not long after, with the whistle blown on an absorbing 0-0 draw, Guardiola insisted he was not frustrated. He said he was “old enough not to be”. Maybe we mis-read the signals.

City’s 54-year-old manager had just remarked how “proud and delighted” he was with his players’ efforts, particularly in the second half. That coincided with the return to midfield action of Rodri after two months out, after a season out.

The good news for Rodri, Guardiola and City was that Rodri resembled Rodri. Possibly the moment of the night — and there were a few from which to choose — came when the announcement of his half-time introduction for Nico Gonzalez was heard by the Stadium of Light. City’s fans roared; Sunderland fans murmured with a volume that revealed the esteem in which Rodri is held beyond his club.

“He changed the game. He proved in 45 minutes that in his position he is the best,” Guardiola said of Rodri, 29. “We were more fluid, broke the lines better; one and a half years without him, we miss him a lot, but hopefully he can stay (fit), because he makes us a better team.”

Rodri made his first Manchester City appearance since early November (George Wood/Getty Images)

Passing with customary crispness and control, Rodri made an immediate impact on a fluctuating contest that occasionally had the feel of a playground five-a-side, swaying from one end to the other and back again. That does not disconcert players of the ability City possess; nonetheless, it is not Guardiola’s preference. He wants control and domination and the sense of inevitability associated with the best of his teams.

That sense hung in the cold air on Wearside for quite some time, and four minutes into added time hints of it were still there as substitute Tijjani Reijnders ran onto a clever pass from Rayan Cherki. Reijnders received the ball in the Sunderland box — one of 53 touches City players had in the hosts’ penalty area — but his effort could not beat keeper Robin Roefs.

The ‘53’ statistic was why Guardiola could be simultaneously dissatisfied and satisfied. As he said, City had played “miles better” at Sunderland than in their previous match at Nottingham Forest last Saturday. But City won at Forest 2-1 having had 33 touches in the opposition box and there is always a temptation to review a display from the result backwards. Guardiola doesn’t do that.

The victory at Forest was City’s sixth in a row in the league and losing the sequence with a draw at ‘newly-promoted Sunderland’ may sound unimpressive in title terms, but gaining 19 points from a possible 21 is hardly poor form. At the Premier League’s halfway stage, it leaves City second in the table, four points off leaders Arsenal.