It was the goalkeeper’s first defeat since joining City. In the dugout Villa’s set-piece coach Austin MacPhee, on crutches and back after three games following knee surgery, smiled broadly – even if Cash later admitted the pull-back was not meant for him.
City protested the corner should not have been awarded but they had time to respond. Worryingly for them they could not do so. They cannot keep expecting Haaland to do it for them.
Silva: ‘We were two seconds late to every duel’
By Jason Burt
Bernardo Silva slammed Manchester City for being “really bad defensively” as their nine-game unbeaten run came to an end.
The City captain added that he and his team-mates arrived “two seconds late to every duel” against Aston Villa with Pep Guardiola admitting they were not “aggressive” enough in the first-half.
“I would say we played quite well with the ball. Our offensive concepts were quite good. Even if we didn’t score we had chances,” Silva said before adding: “On the other side of the game we were really bad defensively. Our pressing was really bad, we arrived two seconds late to every duel. That was the feeling even though our offensive concepts were quite good, but if the pressing is not good you allow the game to be a transitional game. When our pressing is not good we do not play well.”
Asked how damaging this result was to City’s title hopes, Silva said: “It’s still a long way to go. I don’t want to draw too many conclusions. We would love to be at the top but we’re not. It’s way too early to draw conclusions.”
Guardiola was more upbeat, declaring he was more concerned before the international break in September about City’s prospects. “I was worried before the international break when we were 14th in the table and they [Arsenal] were seven or eight points in front,” he said. “Our job is not to see towards the table. If they win all their games and win the Premier League, congratulate them, that’s all we can do.
“But I have to feel the team is alive, the team is good. I don’t know how many teams can come here and play the way we played, with the courage, possession and chances. We have to be stable with that. And after that, you to deal with games better. But I don’t live in October and November thinking ‘Oh what is going to happen if we don’t win the Premier League’, so it’s game by game now.”
