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 visitors had been given the chance to settle.
Unai Emery’s Villa side were brilliant throughout, producing a performance reminiscent of the form that took them into this season’s Champions League. Pep Guardiola’s side, shorn of confidence, simply could not cope.
Jhon Duran gave Villa the lead after a well-worked move carved the City defence wide open and Morgan Rogers, who provided the assist for the opener, doubled the lead in the second half with a low drive.
Phil Foden struck an injury-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 European prospects are hanging in the balance.
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 Unai Emery in Duran, who was picked ahead of Ollie Watkins. Arguably, it was the first time Duran has been selected in front of Watkins for a Premier League game from an equal starting point; Watkins had been carrying an injury before 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 centre midfielders overloading the middle of the pitch. They were tasked with turning over the ball to set Duran and Rogers free to run behind City’s backline.
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 goal itself, when it came, was a demonstration of how quickly Villa wanted to play forward.
It took just three passes from Emiliano Martinez to Duran’s finish. Martinez played the ball into Youri Tielemans, who took a touch on the half-turn before wrapping 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 did a mature job in screening City passes into midfield, showing he is developing other areas of his game to complement his goalscoring prowess. He took his chance ahead of Watkins and, when Duran was replaced in the 80th minute by Watkins, Villa Park rose to its feet. He has scored more spectacular goals but this was perhaps his best all-round performance for the club.
Jacob Tanswell
Did Guardiola’s in-game tweaks work?
In short, no.
Manchester City struggled in the first half but had positives to hold onto. Foden forced a good save from Emiliano Martinez in the 35th minute, while Gvardiol headed over after leading a counter moments before the break.
Guardiola’s half-time response was to replace the returning John Stones with Kyle Walker, moving Manuel Akanji into central defence alongside Gvardiol and shifting Rico Lewis to left-back to offer Jack Grealish, who was their most involved attacker in the first half, some support. Rather than City improving, 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 into the side-netting. Two minutes later, Villa almost recreated their opener 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 making it 2-0. 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 but only to see Rogers’ shot nestle into the bottom corner.
Offensively, the half-time change did not result in better chance creation, even with the arrivals of Savinho and Jeremy Doku from the bench. Grealish, bright in the first half, 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 Watkins, who 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 is a master tactician, but his reactions on the touchline 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 on his first start as an opposition player at Villa Park.
In the opening 45 minutes, he was picked out by 15 long passes; only 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 Nottingham Forest 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 a player who has not scored 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 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
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- Jesus Navas retires at 39: ‘Sometimes the pain in my hip makes it tough to even play with my kids’
- Inside the world of opposition analysis: ‘It’s not about what they do, it’s about what we need to do’
- Introducing the most dangerous pass in football
(Top photo: Aston Villa FC via Getty Images)
