LONDON.- The fall of Manchester City There is no end: Pep Guardiola’s team lost 2-1 this Saturday against Aston Villa and is left with only one victory in the last twelve games played, including all competitions.
City’s goal of breaking the bad streak before Christmas was cut short with goals from Colombian Jhon Durán (16) and Morgan Rogers (64), without Phil Foden’s goal in stoppage time (90+3) serving to break the dynamics of the ‘skyblues’.
With this new defeat, the current Premier League champion continues to move away from the top places: it is 5th with 27 points, 9 behind the leader Liverpool, which also has two games less.
The ‘Reds’ will close the 17th day of the Premier League on Sunday by visiting Tottenham, 10th with 23 points.
At the Villa Park in Birmingham, Unai Emery’s team got off to a great start, with two scoring chances in the first two minutes, by Durán and the Spanish Pau Torres, which goalkeeper Stefan Ortega prevented from ending up in the back of the net.
Without the ability to react, City once again paid for the defensive errors that are costing them so dearly this season: with a deep pass, the Belgian Youri Tielemans broke the defensive system of Guardiola’s team, allowing Morgan Rogers to stand alone against Ortega and The winger gave the ball to Durán so that an empty goal opened the scoring (16).
After the goal, Birmingham’s team continued to control the game, but City reacted and were somewhat more offensive, although without aim on the chances they had (minutes 34, 38 and 43).
At the start of the second half, City still couldn’t find a way to threaten the goal defended by ‘Dibu’ Martínez and Aston Villa took advantage of it to increase their advantage.
After hitting the post (60), Rogers received a pass inside the area from captain John McGinn and, faced with the passivity of the ‘skyblue’ defense, crossed the ball far from Ortega’s reach (64).
Control, but without effectiveness
Despite having possession close to 60%, City did not translate that dominance into scoring opportunities and only Phil Foden showed any danger on a couple of occasions, saved without great trouble by Martínez (71 and 75).
In the final stretch, even, Ollie Watkins, who had replaced Durán, missed the chance against Ortega to score a goal against a moribund City (82).
Foden’s stoppage time goal only served to disguise a result that aggravates Guardiola’s unprecedented crisis on the bench.
