Where do Manchester City go from here?
Their latest loss — a ninth in 12 games in all competitions — did not carry the same air of surprise as some of the other defeats they have suffered over the past couple of months.
In fact, perhaps the most worrying thing on this occasion was that they seemed destined to struggle at Villa Park from the opening minutes, when Aston Villa piled on the pressure and might have scored twice before the visiting champions had been given the chance to settle.
Unai Emery’s Villa were brilliant throughout, producing a performance reminiscent of the form that took them into this season’s Champions League. In contrast, Pep Guardiola’s side, shorn of confidence, simply could not cope.
Jhon Duran gave Villa an early lead after a well-worked move carved City wide open and Morgan Rogers, who provided the assist for the opener, doubled the lead midway through the second half with a low drive. Phil Foden struck an added-time consolation, but there was not enough time for City to salvage anything.
The result adds to the sense these teams are heading in opposite directions: Villa leapfrog their opponents to move up to fifth in the table and are flying in the Champions League, City drop to sixth and their qualification prospects in the same European competition hang in the balance with two league-phase games left next month.
Jacob Tanswell, Thom Harris and Anantaajith Raghuraman analyse the key talking points.
Duran takes his opportunity
It felt like the firmest vote of confidence yet from Emery in Duran, who was picked to start with Ollie Watkins on the bench. Arguably, it was the first time Duran has been selected in preference to Watkins for a Premier League game with the two coming from an equal starting point; Watkins had been carrying an injury when named among the substitutes for the previous fixture against Nottingham Forest.
Duran’s first-half goal not only vindicated the decision but was the sixth time the Colombia international has scored when starting a game this season across all competitions.
Emery selected a starting XI full of energy and power, with four central midfielders overloading the middle of the pitch. They were tasked with turning over possession to set Duran and Rogers free to run behind City’s back line. The plan almost materialised in the first 15 seconds, when John McGinn stole the ball and presented Duran with a one-on-one opportunity which Stefan Ortega saved.
The opening goal, when it came, was a demonstration of how quickly Villa wanted to play forward. It took just three passes from goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to Duran’s finish. Martinez played the ball to Youri Tielemans, who took a touch on the half-turn before delivering a pass with his weaker left foot behind City’s high line for Rogers to run onto. He then squared for Duran to finish.
Duran thought he had scored a similar goal early in the second half but this time he had just strayed into an offside position.
Out of possession, Duran also did a mature job in screening City passes into midfield, showing the now 21-year-old is developing other areas of his game to complement his goalscoring prowess. He took his chance ahead of Watkins today and, when Duran was replaced in the 80th minute by the England international, the Villa Park crowd rose to their feet.
Duran has scored more spectacular goals than today’s for Villa but this was perhaps his best all-round performance for the club.
Jacob Tanswell
Did Guardiola’s in-game tweaks work?
In short, no.
As stated above, City struggled in the first half but had positives to hold onto. Foden forced a good save from Martinez in the 35th minute, while Josko Gvardiol headed over after leading a counter moments before the break.
Guardiola’s half-time response was to replace John Stones, making his first appearance for a month, with Kyle Walker, move Manuel Akanji into central defence alongside Gvardiol and shift Rico Lewis to left-back to offer Jack Grealish, who was the champions’ most involved attacker in the first half, some support.
But rather than City improving as a result, Villa — as in the first half — had two great chances to score early on.
In the 49th minute, Tielemans, who was repeatedly allowed to get into positions to collect the ball unchallenged on the turn to move Villa forward, wriggled away from two players to find Boubacar Kamara, with the move resulting in Matty Cash firing a shot into the side-netting. Two minutes later, Villa almost recreated their opener to make it 2-0 as Tielemans collected on the turn to slip Duran in behind, only for the offside flag to deny him.
Villa then established control, easily working around City’s lacklustre press to dominate possession for the next 14 minutes before doubling the lead. Rogers, receiving the ball from Pau Torres, easily escaped a weak challenge from Walker before finding McGinn, who passed it back to him. Walker got back into the argument only to see Rogers’ shot nestle into the bottom corner.
The half-time changes did not result in better chance creation from City, even with the arrivals of Savinho and Jeremy Doku from the bench during the second half. Villa old boy and former talisman Grealish, bright in the opening 45 minutes, was rarely involved, while Foden and Erling Haaland both looked exasperated at different points.
Villa, in fact, had a great chance to make it 3-0 in the 83rd minute after Rogers outmuscled Walker with ease again to find sub Watkins, but he shot straight at Ortega.
City’s goal came in stoppage time as a result of Savinho’s directness and sloppy defending from Lucas Digne, who trod on the ball in the box to give Foden the chance to halve the deficit.
Guardiola has proven himself a master tactician, but his reactions on the touchline here to Villa’s goals and his team’s struggles on and off the ball suggest he has more questions and fewer answers on how to arrest this alarming slide.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
Grealish the centre of attention – but can’t make it count
It was never going to be a quiet afternoon for Grealish, but even he will have been surprised by just how much of the ball he saw during his first start at Villa Park as an opposition player.
In the opening 45 minutes, the former Villa captain was picked out by 15 long passes; only Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin has received more (16) in a Premier League game this season.
Grealish has been good when asked to play in central areas this season — he completed all but one of his 58 passes against Forest at the start of this month and brought more bulk and control into the middle — but on this occasion there was a familiar feeling that something wasn’t quite clicking on the wing.
He looked lively in spells, bringing down a cross-field pass and firing just wide after five minutes, before teeing up Gvardiol for a good chance before the break. But there were also times in and around the penalty area when he looked like what he is: a player who has not scored a club goal in over 365 days.
He was not the only one to blame. City were predictable when they could control the game, with Foden and Ilkay Gundogan in the No 10 positions either side of Haaland. Neither could find the pockets of space behind the midfield in the first half, the latter man-marked by Amadou Onana, who dropped alongside the defenders to form a back five when City attacked.
They did not offer much threat in behind either, forcing the long passes out to a couple of wingers, in Grealish and Bernardo Silva, who were mostly hesitant to take on their full-backs.
Instability on the counter and individual errors in defence have been well-documented weaknesses for City; a faltering attack is the last thing they need.
Thom Harris
What did Emery say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What did Guardiola say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What next for Aston Villa?
Thursday, December 26: Newcastle (A), Premier League, 3pm GMT, 10am ET
What next for Manchester City?
Thursday, December 26: Everton (H), Premier League, 12.30pm GMT, 7.30am ET
Recommended reading
(Top photo: Aston Villa FC via Getty Images)
Read the full article here