Manchester City suffered yet another defeat in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon as they succumbed to a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa at Villa Park.
The loss marks Pep Guardiola’s ninth in his previous 12 matches, which represents the worst run of form since he took over at the Etihad back in the summer of 2016.
pep guardiola-2
What is going wrong at the Champions? Obviously, they are missing the presence of Rodri at the heart of their midfield, but elsewhere, nothing is happening.
Rodri-Man-City
Against Villa, the club managed 12 total shots, yet could only find the back of the net once, which came as the match was entering the dying embers.
It is evident that something is lacking up front and Erling Haaland has looked like a shadow of his former self in recent months, scoring just three Premier League goals since the end of September and this run extended on Saturday.
Erling Haaland’s stats vs Aston Villa
The striker was once again tasked with leading the line for City, looking to add to his 13 league goals.
Unfortunately, it was yet another dismal display by the Norwegian hitman. Throughout the course of the match, he managed to complete just eight of his 12 passes, while taking only 18 touches.
Key statistics - Aston Villa vs Man City
Metric
Shots on target
Tackles
Accurate passes
Key passes
Ground duels won
Via Sofascore
Indeed, this was 19 touches fewer than goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, showing just how little he was actually involved against Unai Emery’s side.
Haaland registered just one shot, which was off target, while he failed with his only dribble and lost possession six times. Hardly the performance that Guardiola was expecting from his number nine, especially as a couple of goals would have bolstered his confidence.
Erlig-Haaland
Charlie Gordon of the Daily Express gave Haaland a match rating of just 4/10 for his display, stating that he ‘offered very little and his hold-up play was poor. Haaland's torrid run continues’ and the manager will have to turn to the drawing board.
Pep Guardiola must drop Erling Haaland
The obvious thing to do would be to drop the former Borussia Dortmund striker to the bench for the next game, but it isn’t as clear-cut as that.
Indeed, who could replace him? City sold Julian Alvarez in the summer and Guardiola doesn’t have a like-for-like option to slot in Haaland’s place.
He could perhaps go with a false nine instead, utilising someone like Phil Foden in that role to good effect.
The Englishman is hardly enjoying the form of his life either, however, which makes this change more risky than it should be, but he did find the back of the net in this defeat, which could spark his and City's season into life.
Could this see the club dive into the transfer market for another striker to give Haaland some much-needed competition? Only time will tell.
The manager has to change something, as the way it stands, they won't even qualify for the Champions League next season.
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