John Stones says Manchester City had a “poor” night when it came to their chance creation against Aston Villa.
After Pep Guardiola and Co. suffered a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa, Stones said that he was “disappointed” by his performance at Villa Park as well.
But the 29-year-old had more to say about his side’s appalling showing while speaking to the club’s official website.
John Stones says the chance creation from Manchester City was “poor” against Aston Villa
The statistics back up John Stones’ assessment, as Squawka revealed that out of the 535 games managed by Pep Guardiola at senior level, the Sky Blues registered the least number of shots (two) in a single game out of any side he has coached.
Both shots emerged during the same sequence, as Erling Haaland could have done better in front of goal with his pair of attempts to put the visitors into the lead.
John Stones touched on the chance creation from Manchester City against Aston Villa, saying, “I think we had a poor night creating chances with what we’ve got. It’s not good enough by our standards, it’s something we’ve got to look at from back to front, really.”
“We win and we lose together and I think we all could have done better”, he told the club’s official website after the clash.
Why Manchester City have underwhelmed in this area
John Stones was spot on and one reason why Manchester City struggled to create chances against Aston Villa was due to the personnel on the pitch.
In Rico Lewis and Julian Alvarez as an advanced midfield pair, the Sky Blues lacked a central figure who had an eye for a final pass.
While Phil Foden is known to create chances, especially centrally, he was playing as a left-winger due to Jeremy Doku’s injury and Jack Grealish’s suspension.
But even aside from Wednesday night’s encounter, this season, it seems like Doku has become solely responsible for helping City carve teams out with how much of the ball he gets.
This has emerged as a radical change from last season when the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan were tasked with this responsibility from the middle of the park.
With De Bruyne’s absence and Gundogan’s exit as well, City lack a genuine chance-creating presence, especially with Foden, who is a natural midfielder largely playing out wide.
As a result, the treble-winner’s chance-creating issues are not simply down to just one particular issue.
