Haaland vanished on the field. Player ratings for Man City in the match against Aston Villa

Manchester City responded to Aston Villa’s fast and vibrant play with... sluggishness. City's style of play was unsurprising and quickly became dull to watch.

In the first half, everything felt particularly monotonous:

• Step one: overload the right flank;
• Step two: play a diagonal ball to Grealish;
• Step three: Grealish either tries to dribble or realizes it's not worth it and passes back to the right wing.

That's it. The pattern repeats, and it happens at a slow pace... Only after going 2-0 down did City start to show some signs of life.

Recently, Pep Guardiola stated that the team urgently needs new players. This is an issue that has been apparent for some time. Manchester City is an aging team, with key players over 30. This is partly why the play has slowed down. The defense, in particular, needs rejuvenation — today, the City defenders were simply outpaced by Aston Villa's players in terms of physical fitness.

But let's focus on the heroes of this match...

Jack Grealish

Today, we saw something unexpected in the starting lineup — not just the absence of Jeremy Doku, but also Jack Grealish playing in his original position. Recently, Jack had been playing as a left midfielder, effectively covering Doku's back. But today, against his former team, he played as a left winger. And honestly, he performed better than Doku. Jack certainly hasn't lost his skills, but playing a more "cautious" left midfielder role also affected him, as he didn’t try to dribble constantly but carefully assessed the situation, knowing when it was better to pass.

Phil Foden

In all the endless ball circulation, City seemed to forget that they needed to attack — there were very few incursions into the penalty area and few shots on goal. Fortunately for City, Foden didn’t lack the patience for this. He was the one who periodically tried to break up the ball circulation, pushing the attack forward, particularly in the second half. In fact, it was only Foden and Grealish who attempted to do anything in attack. Ultimately, Foden's efforts led to a consolation goal for City.

Stefan Ortega

It was a weak performance from Manchester City overall, and with two goals conceded, one might wonder, "Why highlight the goalkeeper's work?"

But if it weren’t for Stefan, there would have been more goals. He made 4 saves, and believe me, they weren’t easy shots. In the first 3 minutes alone, Aston Villa managed 3 shots on his goal! To be fair, one of those goals was ruled out by VAR — the ball was literally millimeters from crossing the line, thanks to Ortega’s save.

• Read also: Manchester City has lost 9 of their last 12 matches. When was the last time other Premier League giants faced a similar slump?

Worth mentioning:

Erling Haaland has a rather passive role at Manchester City: he drops back to pull the opposition defense and waits for the ball to arrive, then scores. So, over the course of the game, he may barely have more than ten touches. When City functions well, this approach works: minimal action, maximum result. But now, with Guardiola unsure of how to get the team working, the reasonable question arises: why is Haaland even on the field?

Player ratings for the match:

• Akanji M. - 7
• Walker K. - 6
• Gvardiol J. - 5
• Grealish D. - 7
• Gundogan I. - 6
• Doku J. - (too little played, not rated)
• Kovacic M. - 6
• Lewis R. - 7
• Ortega S. - 7
• Savinho - 6
• Silva B. - 6
• Stones J. - 7
• Foden F. - 7
• Haaland E. B. - 4