Manchester City were defeated at Villa Park last season but it was a surprising defeat. However, the Citizens' recent 1-2 defeat to Aston Villa was almost predictable. Simply put, Unai Emery's team is stronger, faster and better organized.
Jhon Duran and Morgan Rogers on Villa's side played with extremely impressive quality. And the qualities that the pair showed on the pitch were also what Man City were lacking. The reigning Premier League champions have not only been weak but have also been extremely slow.
Guardiola's side have been particularly weak in their opponents' counter-attacks. Obviously, not only due to Rodri's absence, Man City also have problems all over the pitch.
And especially, the Etihad team no longer created enough opportunities. They have only scored 10 goals in the last 9 Premier League matches in the so far 2 months. And it's hard to believe that only Leicester, Everton and Southampton have scored fewer than them in that time.
All this from a team that is proud of having Erling Haaland in attack. The Norwegian should take responsibility for his own drop in goals.
"I'm looking at myself first, I didn't score on my chances. I have to do better because that's not good enough," admitted the Norwegian striker, who has scored just twice in his last eight Premier League games.
And it's not just Haaland's inconsistent finishing. His 13 goals this season come from a combined expected goals of 13.21. That shows that his teammates have not created enough chances for Haaland.
Man City's attacking style of play currently depends heavily on passing the ball to Haaland, even when he rarely touches the ball. The Citizens are lacking wingers with good scoring efficiency such as Raheem Sterling and Ryad Mahrez before.
Haaland may have only scored two goals in his last eight Premier League games, but no teammate has scored more than him during that time. Gvardiol is the only other player to have scored more than once. The defender's contributions are not just an addition but are becoming a necessity for Man City today.
The expected goals total of 1.03 against Villa shows that this is not an unusual thing due to Man City's poor finishing. They have scored the right number of goals based on their creativity, similar to the 1-2 loss to Man United (0.95 xG).
This is the first time this season that Man City have created so few chances in 2 consecutive matches, and has Guardiola worried that they may be getting worse. And how can Guardiola hope to make The Citizens more creative when they still concede so many goals?
