Man City lose to Aston Villa: Pep Guardiola says struggling champions ‘have to find a way’ to win again
Manchester City are currently in a relegation situation with no end in sight.
Saturday’s Lost 2-1 to Aston Villa They are joint-bottom of the table in their last eight games, with only Southampton tied with them.
Saints are bottom of the Premier League, level with Manchester City on four points from their last eight games, with a record of one win, one draw and six defeats, the same as the struggling Championship side.
If Southampton—— Ivan Juric was named new head coach on Saturday – Manchester City will be the worst in the division with at least a point at Fulham on Sunday.
Even the Wolves, sacked boss Gary O’Neill last Sunday and replaced him with Vito Pereira, Earn double points for playing one less game during the same period.
These are devastating statistics for Guardiola, even if he does have some mitigating circumstances, with Ederson, Nathan Ake and Ruben Dias all missing Villa Park through injury game, and Long-term midfield powerhouse Rodri is missing.
Guardiola was pleased with Saturday’s performance despite the defeat at Birmingham, but it was of little consolation to slip further in the title race.
He may need to field a semi-fit Manuel Akanji and John Stones at Villa Park, but that doesn’t explain why City don’t look like their former self.
That doesn’t justify the mistake Josko Gvardiol made in giving Jhon Duran a golden chance in the first 20 seconds, or the £100m-worth of Jack Grealish once again failed to make an impact on the game.
There may be legitimate reasons for City’s decline, whether it’s injuries, mental fatigue, or simply a team coming to the end of its life, but their form fell from the edge of a cliff when they strolled to a fourth successive title last season.
“The worrying thing is the number of goals conceded,” former England captain Alan Shearer told BBC Match of the Day.
“It’s shocking how many times they were opened up because of the lack of protection and lack of legs in midfield. There’s a lot going wrong at the moment.”
