City Watch: Blues stunned by Villa

Following wins against Everton and Villareal, Manchester City looked to continue their rich vein of form against Aston Villa on Saturday. 

Following defeats to Tottenham and Brighton earlier on in the season, it’s seemed like the ball had got rolling a lot more for City, and the rich pockets of form they’ve found themselves in previous seasons had seemingly returned.

However, the Blues have failed to win at Villa Park since 2021, losing the last three visits, with Unai Emery’s side always getting the better of City in Birmingham. 

With Erling Haaland’s run of form, scoring in 12 consecutive games, I was quite hopeful that the rot would end and the players would continue their run of good results. I couldn’t have been more wrong… 

The game itself was very cagey, neither team looking to risk throwing everything at it in the opening exchanges. 

However, Matty Cash scored a magnificent outside the box goal from a corner to put Villa 1-0 up, which is what it remained going in at the break. 

Emery’s side channeled their inner Arteta tactics and parked the bus for the second half.

In reaction, Pep brought on the likes of Jeremy Doku, Nico Gonzalez, Omar Marmoush and Rayan Cherki in an attempt to flip the result. 

Haaland did score late on in the game, however, Marmoush was ruled offside before delivering the cross, so the equaliser was chalked off. 

The game ended 1-0 to Villa, bringing a good run of results to an abrupt end and continuing our awful form at the home of Aston Villa.

I will say, we didn’t play at all well in the first half, creating very little chances. 

However, the game changed in the second half when Nico Gonzalez came on. 

I spoke so many times last season about the impact of the absence of Rodri, or just any defensive midfielder. 

Pep hasn’t had to play without one in his entire managerial career, and I’ve mentioned before I believe that was the issue last season.

I thought he had it under control, however, after the weekend’s result, it’s clear that his tactics require a more defensively minded midfielder in order for him to fulfill his game plan.

Like I say, as soon as Nico came on, it felt like City had more life and were bolder in creating chances, less afraid of being caught on the break.

We of course had Gonzalez in the second half of last season, but he wasn’t playing to the level he is at the moment. 

The increase in intensity was also helped by the introduction of Doku and Marmoush, but just looking at how we played on Saturday and last season as a whole, I still think the defensive midfield position is an issue, and with Rodri still nursing knocks, Nico has some big boots to fill.

Hopefully, these issues won’t rear their ugly heads when we play Swansea. 

By the time this column is out, we will have played the South Welsh team in the Carabao Cup, and will be looking forward to our game against Bournemouth on Sunday. 

In any other season, you’d look at a game against the Cherries’ as a likely win, and a banana skin if lost.

However, the way the South Coast team have been playing, that will be no easy task, thank god we’re at home!