Manchester City’s turbulent season took another turn as they were soundly beaten by Aston Villa on Saturday, leaving Pep Guardiola to ponder another damaging defeat
Manchester City’s turbulent season took another turn as they were soundly beaten by Aston Villa on Saturday, leaving Pep Guardiola to ponder another damaging defeat Manchester City’s turbulent season took another turn as they were soundly beaten by Aston Villa on Saturday, leaving Pep Guardiola to ponder another damaging defeat
After Peter Bankes had blown the half-time whistle, he was confronted by Jack Grealish, who had been in a promising position when the referee called time.
As he likes to do, Emi Martinez got involved and that immediately provoked a muscular intervention from Erling Haaland. It was the only impact the Manchester City striker made all afternoon. And that just about summed up this City performance.
Haaland looks like an imposter, the whole team looks like it is full of imposters. Even by the standards of recent weeks, this display from a side that has won six of the last seven titles was jaw-dropping in its inadequacy.
And while there are actually a whole host of perfectly legitimate reasons for City’s seismic meltdown, it is still startling to see the scale of their current ineptitude.
It is like watching Rory McIlroy suddenly turn into a weekend hacker and be unable to get out of bunkers. It is every professional sportsman’s or sportswoman’s worst nightmare – wake up one morning and forget how to play.
Yes, injuries have been cruel for Guardiola and City. Yes, the mental and physical fatigue accrued over four successive title-winning seasons has taken a decisive toll. Yes, there is an age profile to the squad that is on the high side.
But there is still no accounting for the type of defending that gave Jhon Duran a gilt-edged chance after just 15 seconds. There is still no accounting for the type of midfield indolence that allowed Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers to fashion the opportunity that Duran converted just after the 15-minute mark. And there is still no accounting for the disappearance of City’s famed attacking threat.
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Teams simply sit back, let City have oodles of worthless possession and then help themselves on the counter-attack. City had the ball for all but a couple of minutes of the first half-hour yet did not fashion anything like a decent opening in that time. One team had all the passes, the other had all the potency.
The demise of the Premier League champions has now become utterly fascinating. Clearly, no-one can believe a defence of the title is possible but the intrigue lies in just how far they can fall.
Will Pep win another game as City manager? Seriously. Will Jack Grealish score another goal? Will Haaland look like an elite footballer again?
There appears to be an increasing number of voices suggesting Haaland is now more of a hindrance than a help. And it certainly looks that way. But Guardiola does not have anyone to replace him. Simple as that.
And Pep’s main problem is equally simple. City rarely look like scoring and always look like conceding, which is not the ideal combination.
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Villa’s second – nicely taken by Rogers, another one of those talents Guardiola could not find a role for during the England midfielder’s time at the Etihad – symbolised another City issue. Several players looked too tired to tackle, the rest looked as though they could not be bothered.
Rogers was very good in this entirely predictable contest, Villa were good. But they did not have to be exceptional. No-one does to beat this City team. So, what does Pep do?
Amongst his litany of worries will be the fact that Villa even controlled possession in the second half. He needs at least one or two new players in the transfer window and he needs to somehow come up with a plan that means Haaland has a few more touches than the dozen or so he managed in this match.
But before Foden managed to come up with an added-time goal that was no sort of consolation, Guardiola merely stood motionless in his technical area for a while. He looked utterly devoid of inspiration.
If he ever gets this team back to dominant ways, it will be his greatest ever achievement. Because right now, they all look like imposters.
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