I heard the chant Man City fans sang to players after Aston Villa defeat - and saw Kyle Walker's reaction
by Joe Bray · Manchester Evening NewsManchester City's hapless run continued as they were comfortably beaten by Aston Villa on Saturday.
It was another game with more injury issues collected and more of the same mistakes - Jhon Duran scoring easily in the first half after Morgan Rogers was sent free through the middle.
Rogers scored against his former club in the second half to show them what they have missed out on, and City's miserable form shows no sign of stopping. These are the moments you might have missed from City's latest defeat.
Rogers rubs salt in the wound
Rogers wanted to be a first team player for Manchester City, but when he left 18 months ago he was out on loan in League One and City took a loss on their £4m outlay on him four years earlier. Since then he has earned Middlesbrough £15m, made his England debut, scored in the Champions League and was the standout CFA Academy graduate on a pitch including Phil Foden and Rico Lewis.
It points to the fine form he is in, and the desperate form of City. And to compound the misery for City, Rogers did the 'Cold Palmer' celebration that he shares with close friend and fellow City graduate Cole Palmer.
How City would love two forwards in that form at the moment. Neither had regular first team chances when they left and it is an incredible use of hindsight to say they should have stayed. But given City's complete lack of fight and answers at the moment, every transfer decision in the last few years is being re-evaluated. Rogers condemning them to another defeat doesn't help that narrative one bit.
Fans mock City
Villa fans were mocking City all afternoon, and by full-time it was their own fans doing the same. 'We've scored a goal', sang the away fans who were left in the 93rd minute, well aware their team had shown no attacking threat throughout the game.
Pep Guardiola insisted that the players go to the fans at full-time, with Jack Grealish, Foden and Bernardo Silva giving shirts to fans. There was applause for the players, but this is far from a happy camp at City.
Captain Kyle Walker was the first to turn back to the dressing room, and there appears to be a resigned nature to the squad - and no answer to how to turn things around.
Grealish's Ronaldo moment
Grealish was the pantomime villain at Villa on his first start back at his former club. He was booed pre-match and every touch was jeered. 'You're not super any more', sang the Holte End.
Grealish was City's main outlet in the first half, though. Every ball went to him (and then went back) and Matty Cash was cautioned for too many late fouls on the former Villa captain. After the yellow card finally came out, Grealish could be seen winking to a teammate, similar to Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal against England in 2006.
At half-time, Grealish raced to the officials to complain about the fouls, drawing a booking for Emi Martinez who took exception. But Grealish couldn't create the chance to get City back in it.
New face in the warm-ups
With Ederson out, Stefan Ortega took his place between the posts and Scott Carson was on the bench. That presented an opening for an academy keeper to be the extra man in the travelling squad to hep with warm-ups in the way Carson usually does.
At Juventus that role went to Max Hudson, in part because he was in Turin anyway for the UEFA Youth League and also due to UEFA stipulations about home-grown status vs players trained at other clubs. At Villa, the third goalkeeper was Spike Brits, the 17-year-old who has been playing for the under-21s this season.
Brits faced shots from Haaland and Grealish, before taking his place on the bench to watch the senior team. One to watch for the future.