Manchester City’s absolutely flawless start to the Premier League season, a perfect 100% winning record, just slammed into a wall at Villa Park. Nicolas Jackson’s two goals led Aston Villa to a 2-1 home win, and frankly, it’s ripped the lid off some glaring defensive issues for Enzo Maresca’s side, especially with Gianluigi Donnarumma and Marc Guehi.
The Backline Is Leaking, And These Numbers Are Ugly
Let’s just get straight to it: City has only managed a single clean sheet in their past six games. That’s not just a rough patch, that’s a full-blown defensive crisis for a team with title ambitions. And who’s at the heart of it? Goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and defender Marc Guehi. Since the start of last season, a staggering fact has emerged: only eight players in the entire Premier League have made more errors leading directly to goals than these two, each with three. Think about that for a second. The last shutout was two weeks ago against Liverpool, a big win no doubt, but around that victory, City has been conceding to everyone from Champions League holders Paris St-Germain to struggling Sunderland. It’s not a good look, not at all.
Donnarumma’s Struggles Are Unavoidable, And Costly
When City signed Donnarumma last summer, he was hailed as one of the best in the world, brought in to fill the massive shoes of Ederson, a keeper who totally changed the game with his footwork and incredible passing range. But the Italy captain? He just can’t seem to get comfortable with the ball at his feet. Time and again, he puts his own teammates in trouble with passes out from the back. We even saw captain Ruben Dias gesticulating to him on Saturday to just send the ball long after a difficult pass. It makes you wonder. Especially when Maresca sold James Trafford to Leeds for £45 million in the summer, and Trafford has been impressive at Elland Road, making more passes, having a slightly better rate at preventing goals, and sweeping the ball 11 times compared to Donnarumma’s single instance. While Donnarumma couldn’t do much about Jackson’s absolute rocket for the first goal, former City defender Steph Houghton on BBC Radio 5 Live pointed out that he “could have done better” on the second. A low shot seemed to squirm right under him. You just can’t have that.
This isn’t a small problem either. Maresca was forced to try different combinations at the back against Villa, and he flat out told TNT Sports that both goals were “Absolutely, both” avoidable. He said they needed to be more clinical and “avoid mistakes like the two goals we conceded.” City started the season conceding just eight goals in their first nine games. That was solid. But now? They’ve let nine goals hit the back of their net in the past four matches. That’s a dramatic downturn. Sir Alex Ferguson famously said, “attack wins you games, defence wins you titles.” It’s early in the campaign, and City is still guaranteed a top-two spot this weekend, but if they truly want to challenge for that title, they *have* to shore up that backline. The clock is ticking, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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