A new downfall for Manchester City…a ninth loss in the last 12 matches

Defending champion Manchester City continued to deteriorate more and more, falling at Aston Villa 1-2 on Saturday, in the seventeenth stage of the English Football League, suffering its ninth defeat in the last 12 matches in all competitions.
At Villa Park, where they lost 0-1 last December, a result that woke them up and made them finish the rest of the season undefeated. City entered the match with its host, fourth last season, on the back of a defeat at home to its neighbor Manchester United 1-2 in… The last stage, and before that, against the Italian Juventus 0-2 in the Champions League.
But the team of Spanish coach Pep Guardiola did not show any reaction and left Villa Park, dragging behind it the sixth disappointment in its last eight league matches, making its mission complicated in trying to win the title for the fifth time in a row, after its score froze at 27 points, declining. From fifth to sixth place in favor of Aston Villa by a point.
It may decline further if Bournemouth (25 points) wins over Manchester United on Sunday, and it will be 12 points away from leaders Liverpool with a game more than the last, if the “Reds” win over Tottenham on Sunday in London.
Guardiola seems unable to extricate his players from their extremely deteriorating morale, also affected by the large number of injuries among the team, which played Saturday’s match with six changes compared to the loss to United, where German goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, Rico Lewis, John Stones, Swiss Manuel Akanji, Croatian Matteo Kovacic, and Jarek Grealish participated as starters. While Belgians Kevin De Bruyne, Jeremy Doku and Kyle Walker sat on the bench.

“We’ll find her sooner or later.”

Guardiola said after the match to the T&T Sports Network, “We performed well in the first half, then our performance declined in the second half… Congratulations, Aston Villa, and continue in this vein.”
Regarding the possibility of regaining self-confidence, he said, “One step at a time. We have our players who have good personalities and sooner or later we will find it (self-confidence),” acknowledging that he must change his approach. “I must do that and support my team’s players. This is what will make the difference.”
The beginning was difficult for City, who almost fell behind a few seconds after the start of the match had it not been for the brilliance of goalkeeper Ortega, first in a one-on-one challenge by Colombian John Duran following a fatal defensive error by Croatian Yushko Gvardiol (1), then by blocking a header by Belgian Amado Onana from under the crossbar following a corner kick (3). ).
Villa opened the scoring when they launched a counterattack through which the ball reached the back of the defense with a pass from Belgian Youri Tielemans to Morgan Rodgers penetrating on the left side, who played it to Duran, who shot it into the net (16).
City tried to return and impose its control on the field, but without any real threat until the 35th minute, when Phil Foden penetrated the penalty area before shooting a shot that was brilliantly blocked by Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, then Gvardiol followed it up with a header over the crossbar after a cross from Grealish (43).
At the beginning of the second half, Villa was close to adding the second goal through Polish Matej Cash, but he shot into the side netting (48), then Duran’s goal was disallowed after a solo due to offside (51), before the host’s luck was stubborn when Rodgers’ attempt bounced off the post (60). ).
Villa’s pressure ultimately resulted in the second goal, through Rodgers in particular, after he launched the ball himself from the middle of his team’s field and then exchanged it with Scotsman John McGinn, before shooting it into the net (65).
Thus, City conceded for the 25th time in 11 matches since the beginning of November, more than any other team in the five major leagues, and also conceded more than one goal in eight consecutive away matches in all competitions for the first time since the May-October 2001 series, according to “ BBC.
Guardiola’s team seemed completely unable to respond until the third minute of stoppage time, when Foden reduced the gap late with his first goal in the league this season after an error by French defender Luca Digne.