PEP GUARDIOLA was left on the “verge of tears” as he saw his Manchester City side flop AGAIN.
Before the trip to Villa Park, City had endured a horror run of just one win from 11 games in all competitions.
After a full week of rest with City not involved in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, they might have been hoping to play their way out of their rut.
However, Guardiola and his staff were left down in the dumps once again as Unai Emery’s Aston Villa undid the Cityzens.
Jhon Duran had the chance to put Villa ahead after just 11 seconds but was denied by the fingertips of Stefan Ortega.
But when Morgan Rogers was found with a brilliant line-breaking pass, he was then on hand to square the ball across goal to the supporting Duran, who duly dispatched the shot to make it four goals in as many starts.
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Guardiola, miffed at his side’s lack of ability to get into the game again, was seen on the touchline casting a dreary expression and was also seen throwing a water bottle as his anger got the better of him.
The images were soon shared on social media, with fans believing the Spanish tactician was close to tears.
One rival fan said: “Seeing Pep Guardiola on the verge of tears like this gives me insane dopamine rush lmao.”
A second said: “We used to see pictures of [Erik] Ten Hag like this every week; now that he’s gone, we see pictures of Pep Guardiola like this every week.”
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A third said: “Pep Guardiola actually looks on the verge of tears here. City are cooked.”
Another said: “Look at Pep man he looks like he wants to cry.”
City’s struggles continued after half-time before ex-City academy star Rogers ran past his defender to then arrow a shot into the bottom corner to make it 2-0.
Following the goal, Villa fans were heard chanting: “You’re getting sacked in the morning.”
Phil Foden scored his first goal of the season in the second minute of injury time to give City late hope of a comeback, but Villa were able to clear their lines and hold on to all three points through a 2-1 win.
And the result means City have suffered twice as many losses already this season as they did through ALL of last season, with just one win in 12 with nine of those games ending in defeat.
Speaking after the game, Guardiola said: “We made a really good first half, second half we dropped.
“We changed our pressing for the reason John [Stones] could not continue. Congratulations Aston Villa and keep going.
“In the mid-block, they are so strong. We have good moments, we had chances, more chances than in the [Manchester] United game, but in the second half we dropped and our pressing was not good enough.
“We struggled a little bit and we could not drop them well. We found a goal in the end, but too late. We struggle to score and we concede goals.
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“We have nice personalities in the team and sooner or later we are going to find it.”
Guardiola’s side’s run of nine defeats in 12 is not something seen by rivals Liverpool and Man Utd for more than 60 years, while Arsenal have not had such a bad run for almost 50 years.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
