Quote from: X-ray on Today at 09:41:20 AM

Quote from: Jhony771 on Today at 07:51:15 AM

Quote from: 3meek on Today at 07:17:16 AM

I wrote yesterday that Villa is not an easy opponent for Man City and now Villa are in third place in the standings... I thought that City would score, but Villa won with a minimum of one goal... It was a good match... Today it will be interesting to watch the game Spurs vs Hammers...

Judging from the statistics of Manchester City's match last night it was very different, they seemed to have lost their real game, maybe there were several factors, firstly they lost Kevin de Bruyne and secondly Rodri also didn't play because of card accumulation, this really made the game worse. Manchester City is declining, but behind Manchester City's defeat it is also proven that Aston Villa is currently really a team that the big six teams really need to be wary of.

Missing rodri was obviously making the gameplay of manchester city looks so terrible. Guardiola didn't have someone who can play as good as rodri and de bruyne. What's the point to have many great players while they were unable in scoring against aston villa?
Aston villa was even dominating the match with so many counter attacks that were almost conceding city with lots of goals. City has been decreasing a lot when it must be forced to play without rodri.
Some players like alvarez or even haaland can do nothing without having a creative player like rodri. guardiola needs to target a new midfielder as soon as possible.

Manchester city can find the solution after the transfer window will be opening again. We are only a few weeks away from that moment. Pep can try to search someone who was capable enough in helping the club to play even better.
I hope that rodri or de bruyne will be able to comeback as soon as possible. City losses its soul without all of them.

Indeed, Rodri's absence clearly affected Man City's performance when they lost to Aston Villa. So far, Rodri has been a key player for City. Rodri became the driving force of City's game.

Rodri is absent because he has been sanctioned for accumulating five yellow cards. Without Rodri, Pep Guardiola made an experiment by playing John Stones and Manuel Akanji as midfielders when Rodri was absent. Pep Guardiola admitted that Rodri's absence had an impact on City's performance. Past results and Aston Villa's opponents cannot be ignored. Guardiola must immediately make efforts to ensure that this situation does not happen again in the future. Rodri is of course an important player, but when he is not around, Guardiola has to find a way to win without him.