Aston Villa 2-1 Man City: Crisis worsens as Tielemans, Rogers and Co. expose Guardiola’s frail stars
Manchester City’s ongoing crisis worsened at Aston Villa as Unai Emery’s side earned a deserved 2-1 win at Villa Park to compound Pep Guardiola’s misery.
Guardiola’s side headed into their trip at Villa Park on a dire run as they had only won one of their last eleven matches in all competitions. This form leaves them 18th in the Premier League form table.
Aston Villa have also been struggling lately, but Man City were no match for Emery’s team as they were deservedly beaten on the road.
Youri Tielemans was brilliant for Aston Villa as his defence-splitting pass led to Jhon Duran’s opener inside the opening 20 minutes after the striker came close to scoring less than 60 seconds after kick-off.
Aston Villa were also in control after the interval and Morgan Rogers finished off a sublime move to double his side’s lead with 25 minutes remaining.
READ: Guardiola sack now a kindness as Tielemans and Rogers embarrass The Old Men Of Man City
Man City rarely threatened Aston Villa, but they scored a consolation in stoppage time as England international Phil Foden ended his prolonged goal drought.
This result moves Aston Villa up to fifth in the Premier League as they are a point and a place above Man City. Guardiola’s team are nine points adrift of table-toppers Liverpool, who have two games in hand.
Speaking post-match, Guardiola reserved praise for one of his players but admitted his side “struggled” in two departments.
“We make a really good first half, second half we dropped,” Guardiola admitted.
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“We changed our pressing for the reason John [Stones] could not continue. Congratulations Aston Villa and keep going.”
On whether Stones couldn’t continue because of his previous injury as he was subbed at half-time, Guardiola responded: “Yeah.”
On Aston Villa: “In the mid-block, they are so strong.
“We have good moments, we had chances, more chances than in the [Manchester] United game, but in the second half we dropped and our pressing was not good enough.
“We struggled a little bit and we could not drop them well. We found a goal in the end, but too late. We struggle to score and we concede goals.”
On Phil Foden: “The last one or two games, he has been better. Most of the players have had problems. Sometimes the next season is not the same, the people change and the situation changes. Today we made a really good game.”
“Step by step [we are getting our confidence back], we have nice personalities in the team and sooner or later we are going to find it.”
On whether he has to change his approach, he added: “Yeah. I have to do it. Back my players, that is what will be different.”