In the early morning of December 7, Beijing time, the Premier League continued to play. Last season's "treble" Manchester City challenged Premier League upstart Aston Villa as a guest, Manchester City's main defender Rodri was suspended due to a total of 5 yellow cards, and Guardiola used teenager Lewis to partner Stones who returned from injury as a double midfielder.
Pep Guardiola's side did not dominate at Villa Park in this game, and even played the whole game, Aston Villa bombarded 22 shots in the game, of which 7 were on target, while Manchester City only had 2 shots on goal. In the past, Manchester City was proud of the possession rate, but this game was only 54%, and finally Manchester City lost 0:1 to Aston Villa away from home, and has not tasted a win in the last four league rounds, and the ranking has also fallen to 4th place in the league.
I have to admit that the strength of Guardiola's team has regressed a lot compared to last season. Pep Guardiola's 3-2-4-1 tactics were so successful last season because of the team's captain Ilkay Gundogan, the German midfielder who had a strong ability to fight for two penalties and was able to find the most appropriate place to score goals, and Manchester City lacked such a "killer" this season In midfield, the new additions of Mateo Kovacic and Nunes are clearly not Gundogan's style of players, and their position in Pep Guardiola's system is unclear at the moment, and it may take more playing time to gradually determine what role is suitable for him.
In addition to the impact of Gundogan's departure, De Bruyne's injury has also contributed to City's decline this season, with City's no.17 missing most of the season, and if you compare the games in which City have De Bruyne and De Bruyne's injuries, it is clear how important he is to City's midfield attack. In addition to De Bruyne's own super ball-holding and tandem ability, his own long-range shooting is also a big killer, and he can activate the striker giant Haaland well as long as he is on the field, but when he is not there due to injury, the entire Manchester City's midfield seems to have suffered a chain reaction, and many problems have been exposed.
The timing of De Bruyne's return is uncertain, and it is also uncertain how much quality he will have left after his return, and it is difficult to find the same type of player in the transfer market at the moment, and if Guardiola wants to continue to maintain a good result, he will have to make good use of his current squad and make new changes, as he did when he changed to a back three last season.
Manchester City has only won 9 games in the Premier League this season, I believe no one believed that this would be the case before the season, the most ironic thing is that Manchester United, who has always been tortured, has also won 9 games in the *** league this season, and the winning percentage of both teams is the same, which is unbelievable. Now Manchester City is in 4th place in the standings, 6 points away from Arsenal at the top, this season's games have been played more than 1 3, Guardiola's team still has a chance, after all, they are the best team in the back, but also the strongest team in the late stage, but if Guardiola can not make changes, and the mentality of Manchester City's players can not adjust well, then this season they want to win the title may not be as easy as in previous seasons. As for the other teams, of course, they can't let their guard down, and it would be foolish to underestimate the Blues because of City's temporary poor results, and we as spectators may see one of the most intense seasons in the title race in five years.