"This loss is on him", "Stop overthinking" - Fans place blame on Pep Guardiola as Manchester City lose 1-0 to Aston Villa

Manchester City fans have put the blame on manager Pep Guardiola following their 1-0 loss to Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday, October 26. They believe the Spaniard got it wrong with his lineup by including certain players in the starting XI.

City entered the contest at Villa Park unbeaten across their last nine matches in all competitions. As expected, they started the game strongly, but Villa grew in the game as the match progressed.

In what came as a surprise, it was Villa who opened the scoring against a Manchester City side that had scored first in each of their last 10 matches. Emiliano Buendia found Matty Cash from a corner kick routine, and the latter rifled his strike into the bottom right corner, leaving goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma rooted on his spot.

Guardiola turned to his bench in the second half to bring on fresh legs in a bid to find an equalizer, but Villa’s defense proved to be a hard nut to crack, with Emiliano Martinez making three saves for the hosts in the entirety of the match.

The match result meant Manchester City have now dropped to fourth in the Premier League table. It also marked the first time they have lost three consecutive away league games against Aston Villa since 1975. After the match, irate fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to vent their frustrations on Guardiola, with one writing:

“This loss is on Pep. Stop overthinking.”

Another tweeted:

“It's Pep's fault..... That midfield should have never started match not even Carling cup.”

A fan slammed him for the lineup.

“Pep is a clown for that lineup,” they wrote. “peps brain is so cooked, he has a weird obsession of watching savio lose the ball,” another added.

One questioned why he kept Savinho on the pitch for a long period.

“This loss is on Pep. Why was Servinho on the pitch for that long?” they queried. “This defeat is on Pep, I mean what was that line-up when you have such depth," another chimed in.

“We will learn from that” – Pep Guardiola on Manchester City’s 1-0 loss to Aston Villa

Pep Guardiola was quite delighted with his side’s performance despite their defeat at Villa Park on Sunday. Speaking after the match, Guardiola stated that they were much better in the second half but claimed that their pressing in the first half wasn’t good. The Manchester City boss Sky Sports:

"That we are a really good team who played a really good game. We started a really good game. In general we were much better in the second half but in the end we could not score. They link really well inside, they play four up front, they track you in high positions and after they link behind, they have the ability to keep that ball, it is not easy and when you cannot win those duels it's more difficult.

He added:

"In the first half the pressing wasn't good, in the second half it was better. We were not aggressive enough. It was a corner. A good corner and a goal. Listen, it doesn't matter. We can talk about this reaction. Listen, in 10 years already here I respect the referees too much. It was a corner and we should've defended that. You cannot complain about actions from five minutes before. We had the chances to score, we couldn't do it. We will improve. I am satisfied. We played really good in the Premier League mainly and we're getting better. We will learn from that. It's a long journey, we will try to be close at the end."

Manchester City will next be in action against Swansea in the fourth round of the EFL Cup on Wednesday, October 29.

Edited by Ezekiel Olamide