Resigned Guardiola signals City's complete breakdown

An obsessive Spanish manager had taken his adopted club to rare heights.

- RICHARD JOLLY

Then came a chastening spell of 11 games, littered with setbacks, sending his team tumbling down the table, bringing their ambitions into question. But this victory was emphatic and impressive, offering relief and respite. A slump may be over.

But not for Pep Guardiola. Because, for Unai Emery and Aston Villa, Manchester City came to town. They were duly and deservedly beaten. Second best in the Second City, they suffered their ninth defeat in 12 matches. Villa had lost six in 11 since they went top of the Champions League. Like City, they had conceded a quickfire double to conjure defeat when they could have won last week. But in a battle of the beleaguered, City lost. Now they always do. It is their strange new normality. For Guardiola, it doesn’t get better. It just gets worse. It wouldn’t be a weekend without someone chanting “sacked in the morning” at him and he heard a familiar song.

It has become the soundtrack to a slide. “We don’t have a defence, the results are not good,” Guardiola admitted. He has a lone win in 12 attempts. City struggle to perform for 90 minutes. “I wasn’t pleased with the second half,” he said. The fragility of City’s spirit became an issue then. “The confidence for us was increasing and the confidence for them was going down,” noted Emery.

He earned just his second win over Guardiola in 16 attempts. It was utterly merited, with City flattered by the final scoreline. Villa began at a blistering pace, took advantage of City’s soft underbelly and used their greater physicality to good effect. Jhon Duran started, starred and scored. Morgan Rogers was terrific. Youri Tielemans was arguably better still. Damningly for City, each was allowed to shine.