Aston Villa condemned Manchester City to a sixth defeat in eight Premier League games with a 2-1 win over the reigning champions at Villa Park.
Jhon Duran stroked Villa in front early in the game, capitalising on a tentative start by Pep Guardiola’s side before Morgan Rogers deservedly doubled the advantage midway through the second half. The scorers seemed to symbolise the speed and strength City lacked.
Phil Foden pulled one goal back in stoppage time but even that could not mask how poor City were. The victory lifts Unai Emery’s side above them into fifth in the Premier League table, leaving Guardiola’s side down in sixth and still wondering if and when this slump will end.
How Villa won it
Villa tore into City right from the outset, John McGinn nicking the ball off Josko Gvardiol to allow Duran to test Stefan Ortega inside the first minute. The City goalkeeper had to make two more saves inside the opening 100 seconds as Villa set the tone.
Duran’s opener was a beautifully worked move after Youri Tielemans had spotted the run of Morgan Rogers, the marauding midfielder unselfishly squaring the ball for the Colombian striker to score his seventh Premier League goal of the season.
The pattern thereafter was City dominating possession without being able to create much of note, too static and too predictable in their passing. Every time they had the ball, it felt like this was just the pause before Villa were running at them again.
Duran and Tielemans, in an advanced role, were both excellent but Rogers was the standout performer because of the way that he bullied City, Foden almost bouncing off him at one point as he desperately tried to keep up with the Villa player.
Time and again Rogers picked the ball up on the half turn, held off his marker and skipped away from them. Kyle Walker, on as a half-time substitute as Guardiola tried in vain to change something, seemed to age in real time when up against him.
Where do Man City go from here?
On paper, things do get a little easier for City from here on with four of the next five games coming against teams towards the bottom of the table, with the other being against mid-table Brentford. But you would not bet much money on them in this form.
City remain unable to cope with the counter-attacks but just as alarming is their lack of incision in front of goal. “We’ve scored a goal,” chanted the visiting supporters, sarcastically, when Foden found the net late on. They are not creating enough chances.
Why? Although Jack Grealish should have done much more given that he found himself one on one with Matty Cash numerous times over the 90 minutes, a lack of movement off the ball is an obvious answer. It was startling how static City appeared in attack.
Erling Haaland seemed isolated with only Foden willing to run beyond him. Ilkay Gundogan used to, so did Bernardo Silva, but neither are playing well. Kevin De Bruyne remained on the bench but Guardiola clearly doubts the solutions are there either.
Given City’s long reign, many have been reluctant to rule them out of a trademark title charge. But the more pressing question is whether this is the new normal for this group of players. A rebuild is required. That will take time. And mean more painful days ahead.