3 things we learned from City’s close win at Aston Villa

Manchester City have had a rough start to the season. Five points behind Chelsea in the title race, with a home loss to Stoke City already on the books, the defending champions badly needed to step things up. And so they did -- after 82 minutes of frustration against Aston Villa, they managed to grab a pair of late goals to claim a vital 2-0 victory.

Villa have made a habit out of defending well enough to frustrate bigger opposition this season, and that’s exactly what they did in the first half against the defending champions, who dominated the match and created the better chances but simply couldn’t find a way through the back line. Despite City having 70 percent of play, Brad Guzan wasn’t even tested before the break -- Aleksander Kolarov hitting both the post and the corner flag with a speculative shot was as close as the visitors came to taking the lead.

Meanwhile, Villa’s counterattack was rather more blunted than usual, perhaps due to the absence of the ill Gabriel Agbonlahor. His replacement, Andreas Weimann, seemed to take particular delight in running straight at Vincent Kompany, a tactic which resulted in ... well, exactly what you might expect.

City closed out the opening period with a flurry of half-chances from corners, and they kept up the intense pressure after the break. Indeed, they should have gone ahead when Sergio Agüero picked up a brilliant pass from James Milner only to slap his shot against the far post rather than into the corner, and seconds later the American was forced into a smart stop after David Silva’s deflected effort.

In between, Villa caused the visitors a major scare, with Kieran Richardson racing free of the defence on the break, but his weak effort was kept out well by Joe Hart. His effort served as a warning that the hosts were going to tighten things up on the break, and Charles N’Zogbia caused further problems with a jinking run which took out both Fernandinho and Eliaquim Mangala, albeit with no end product.

An injury to Fernandinho led to a brief spell of Villa dominance, but City soon righted the ship and put the pressure back on, with David Silva particularly brilliant in pulling the strings in midfield. And eventually that pressure told: Yaya Touré, pushed forward as the visitors looked for a winner, did the damage, smashing in from just outside the box to give the defending champions the points.

Sergio Agüero wrapped things up with a similar effort two minutes from time. Villa, after more than 80 minutes of brilliant defending, were undone -- and there’s more pain to come with a visit to Everton after the international break.

Aston Villa starting lineup (4-3-3): Brad Guzan; Aly Cissokho, Nathan Baker, Philippe Senderos, Alan Hutton; Fabian Delph, Ashley Westwood, Tom Cleverley; Kieran Richardson (Jack Grealish 71’), Andi Weimann (Christian Benteke 61’), Charles N’Zogbia (Leandro Bacuna 71’).

Manchester City starting lineup (4-4-2): Joe Hart; Aleksandar Kolarov, Eliaquim Mangala, Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta; James Milner, Fernandinho (Frank Lampard 56’), Yaya Touré, David Silva (Jesus Navas 84’); Edin Dzeko (Fernando 65’), Sergio Agüero.

Goals: Touré 82’, Aguero 88’.

Someone gave Yaya Touré some cake. Last season, Touré was perhaps the best midfielder in the world. Sure, he neglected his defensive duties, but he more than made up for hit with his contribution to Manchester City’s attack. He scored goals and played clever passes, but the most important aspect of his game was his ability to blast open the centre with his dribbling, using his strength to remove the opposition midfield.
This year, he hadn’t been doing that. Instead, he’s sitting back and playing passes, shielding his defence more effectively at the cost of removing the most dynamic aspect of the defending champions’ play. Whether this is the result of his dispute with the club at the beginning of last summer, a hangover from the World Cup or something else is up for debate, but what’s clear is that Manchester City aren’t near as good without Touré living up to last year’s world-class performance.
He was finally unleashed in the second half, and lo and behold he won City the points. Shocker.
Villa’s midfield three is good and getting better. Tom Cleverley, Fabian Delph and Ashley Westwood isn’t a midfield that will make the big teams tremble in fear, but it’s exceptionally well-balanced, and is more than good enough to dominate sides outside the top half. All three are capable of recycling the ball, and Delph’s ability to charge forward through midfield is going to create carnage in matches which they have more possession.
Cleverley in particular seems to have found his level as the last piece in the puzzle, and he’s a fantastic example of just how thin the margins are in the Premier League. Clearly not good enough for Manchester United, he’s dropped to a lower mid-table side and has immediately slotted in as a first-choice player.
Christian Benteke means the world to Villa. The cheers when Benteke, out of action for six months, warmed up for Aston Villa were incredible, the reaction when he actually stepped out onto the pitch utterly rapturous. The difference between the hosts’ play with the big Belgian on the pitch and with Andi Weimann (admittedly not a centre forward), was remarkable -- while Villa looked intermittently competent on the counter pre-Benteke, as soon as he emerged the whole movement seemed to suddenly acquire real purpose. Granted, they still couldn’t get much done, because Manchester City are Manchester City, but that doesn’t take away from what he brought to the pitch.
Despite their position in the table, Villa hadn’t really played well without their talismanic striker. Now that he’s back, we should see a marked improvement.