Aston Villa did not play very well when welcoming Man City in round 10 of the Premier League last weekend. However, Matty Cash's individual brilliance, combined with Unai Emery's brand-breaking style of play, helped Villa get 3 very important points.
In this defeat to Man City, super striker Erling Haaland did not score, which means that the away team did not have any goals. There are many signs that as long as Haaland can be stopped, victory will come to any team that is Man City's opponent.
The playing styles of Aston Villa and Man City are completely opposite. The home team cleverly staged a set piece to score early. The situation after that almost belonged to the away team but it was just a cat-and-mouse game. In the end, the rat won.
The loss to Aston Villa was Man City's third defeat of the season, after 9 matches. If they maintain this form, they will end the season with 12 losses. This was the Citizens' first defeat since a 1-2 loss to Brighton in August.
As Aston Villa started to play more solidly in the second half to preserve the score, Man City began to show a deadlock despite having many fast and technical players on the pitch. Both Savinho, Phil Foden and then Jeremy Doku were stuck on a day when striker Erling Haaland could not score as usual.
At that time, the question was asked for Man City: Are they capable enough to compete for the championship or, more simply, can they score 1 goal when being completely blocked by the opponent like that?
After gradually saying goodbye to the "third generation" players in 2023, Man City still controlled the ball a lot and put pressure as usual. However, their biggest weakness at the moment is their predictability. By the 70th minute, the expected goals (xG) of both teams was only 0.85. One side has scored and there is no need, just keep the score. The other side attacked continuously but the pressure and innovation were not enough to score at least 1 goal.
Man City had more possession (53%), double shots from Villa (18 compared to 9), better xG (1,3 compared to 0.81) and had many substitutes on the pitch (Doku, Omar Marmoush, Rayan Cherki and Nico Gonzalez) but Emiliano Martinez was hardly challenged.
The look back was on Erling Haaland as the super striker had only 2 chances throughout the match and was easily blocked by Emi Martinez. The Norwegian star has been deprived of his playing space and his entire practice has been at a standstill as his communications with the satellites around him have been severed.
When asked what was wrong with Man City, Pep Guardiola only answered briefly: "The problem is just the finishing to put the ball into the net". Yes, it is very simple, but it also requires someone to do it professionally. That person was Haaland and he didn't score today.
Pep did not deny that the tactical implementation still had some shortcomings, but the Citizens' approach at Villa Park was not wrong. In a round in which Liverpool and Chelsea both lost, Man City also lost points and could not reduce the gap with the leader Arsenal. Arsenal also struggled against Crystal Palace, but they also had a set piece that helped Eberechi Eze score. As for Man City, when Haaland was silent, there was no one or any way to help the team score.
For Pep Guardiola, this season cannot predict anything, quite different from the championship race plan of previous years. According to the Spanish strategist, he is now focusing only on improving the team, not thinking too much about the series of matches in November and before Christmas. That is probably more reasonable than setting a certain goal at this time when Pep has not been able to find someone to share the burden with Haaland from small things like finding someone to share the fire with.
When Haaland did not score, Man City suddenly improvised mediocrity and could be defeated in the very "common" way Aston Villa applied at Villa Park. That is the biggest problem for Pep Guardiola at the moment. If it cannot be solved, the Champions League ticket race will be very difficult, let alone the dream of reclaiming the Premier League championship.
