Ashley Williams has now shared what he found “bizarre” about Manchester City during Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa.
The 39-year-old made the comments when speaking on Match Of The Day.
So, what was said about Manchester City? Let’s take a look…
What Ashley Williams said about Manchester City
Well, the Welshman could not believe how little Manchester City created at Villa Park.
Manchester City only had two shots in comparison to Aston Villa’s 22 attempts on Ederson’s goal.
Both of Manchester City’s efforts came through Erling Haaland, who at least managed to get the two shots on target, but failed to find a way past Emiliano Martinez.
Speaking about Manchester City’s lack of creativity, Williams said: “It almost felt like Unai Emery had got the better tactically of Pep, which you don’t often say at all. In all aspects of the game, they did better than Manchester City. They restricted them to only two shots on target, and it is bizarre to think Manchester City didn’t create more chances than that.”
It really was a strange evening in the Midlands.
As WhoScored shows, Aston Villa had two players who registered five shots each against Manchester City in Douglas Luiz – who is being watched by the Citizens – and Leon Bailey.
The Villans also had two players who had four shots each in John McGinn and Ollie Watkins, on a night where Guardiola was outsmarted in a way we rarely see.
Aston Villa result shows what Manchester City must do in January
To put it simply, Txiki Begiristain must find a reliable deputy for Rodri in January.
Manchester City have now lost all four games in which the Spaniard has been unavailable this season, and cannot afford to fall apart each time the 27-year-old is out.
Kalvin Phillips has not proven to be the Rodri alternative Guardiola hoped he would, so it is imperative that a similar midfielder to the Spain international is found this winter – Benfica No.87 Joao Neves could be the man.
