**Manchester City captain Bernardo Silva dissected his side’s 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa at Villa Park in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.**
City’s unbeaten streak ended at nine in all competitions as Matty Cash’s stunning strike from distance following a corner was enough to secure all three points for Unai Emery’s side in a hard-fought contest in Birmingham.
The visitors made a strong start to the game and came close to testing Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez a few times in the opening stages but Pep Guardiola’s side were outplayed and outrun for majority of the game that followed.
There was little City could have done about Cash’s winner but had Erling Haaland – who has been scoring for fun this season – taken a very presentable chance made by Silva soon after the opener, the game could have played out very different.
City’s narrow loss means the Blues have tasted defeat for the first time in 10 games in all competitions, with Guardiola and co slipping down to fifth place in the Premier League – six points behind league leaders and title rivals Arsenal.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the defeat, Silva explained where his side lacked as they failed to hit the back of the net and deal with Aston Villa on the counter attack from start to finish.
“I’d say we played quite well with the ball. Our offensive concepts are really good, we felt comfortable in the way we had the ball,” the Manchester City captain said.
“Even though we didn’t score, we had chances. I had the feeling we managed to put them defending deep, they struggled in some moments.
“Then on the other side of the game, we were really bad defensively, our pressing was really bad. It felt like we arrived late, about two seconds, in every duel.
“When you go late to each duel against quality players like Aston Villa, it’s always going to be tough because they’re good, can go both sides, can counter, and that was the feeling.
“Even though our offensive concepts were quite good, that was what I thought, if the pressing was not good you allow the game to become transitional, allow the other team to run, it makes you run every time 50 or 60 metres, and when our pressing is not good, our team doesn’t play well. And I thought we were really bad in the defensive part.
“Obviously they (Aston Villa) are good, a very good team, a Champions League team, a team with a lot of quality, but we have to look at ourselves and I have an idea – I’d have to watch the game again – that, and I’m not going to go into details, our defensive concepts were really bad today.”
City will be hoping to move on from this defeat quickly as a Carabao Cup fourth-round clash away at Swansea awaits Guardiola and co, who saw off Huddersfield in the third-round in a comfortable 2-0 win at the Accu Stadium last month.