John Stones despair and Morgan Rogers thrill show up ridiculous Man City transfer plan

It's Christmas time, there's no need to be afraid.

Unless you're Manchester City, who have gone from being the most feared team in England to easy pickings in the space of a few remarkable months. Aston Villa became the latest team to wish they could play City every day with an easy 2-1 win that dumps the Blues down to sixth.

At the rate they are going, Pep Guardiola would probably take that. A team that have gone backwards at an alarming rate in no time at all since their injury crisis first hit in October endured another miserable day at the office.

Guardiola can't win with his lineups while City can't win. It should have been good news for the Blues that John Stones and Manu Akanji were back in the XI, while Kyle Walker and Matheus Nunes were not in it, but there was still plenty of fume about the selection - as there will be when nobody can say they deserve to start on the back of their last performance.

The mood wasn't helped before the team news was out as the Manchester Evening News reported that the club are not planning on signing either Bruno Guimaraes or Martin Zubimendi in the January transfer window. Whether it is because they can't or they don't think they have to, it doesn't help the current squad and doesn't help the club to shift rumours that swirl about the Premier League charges every time they don't go and splash the cash.

As former captain and current midfielder Ilkay Gundogan said after the Feyenoord collapse last month: "It seems we have to go through this season the toughest way possible." Akanji and Stones started while Nathan Ake was back on the bench, yet it still felt like an uphill struggle from the start.

City players are still saying all the right things but they know the only way they can change things is on the pitch, and it took 15 seconds for heads to be in hands in the away stand. One ropey pass each from Stones and Josko Gvardiol, and Jhon Duran was racing free on goal, only for his weak effort to be tipped wide for a corner.

That should have been a wake-up, but from the set-piece it needed a worldie from Ortega to keep out Pau Torres's header when at least 85 per cent of the ball had crossed the line. Villa could have been deflated but knew they wouldn't have to wait long for another golden opportunity and sure enough 15 minutes later Emi Martinez released the ball and four touches later Morgan Rogers was squaring for Duran to score.

It was pitiful defending from front to back, no pressure exerted and no challenges won as 15 minutes of reasonable play was instantly undone. Injuries have ruined the best defence in Europe, but it still should be so much more than this.

Later in the first half, City repeated their United trick and turned an attacking corner into a threat to their own goal. As the whistle approached, Stones stood on the halfway line with the ball at his feet and his arms in the air, wondering where all the players who want possession and responsibility have gone.

Fitting with the crisis, that was Stones's last act before going off at half-time with Walker coming on and Lewis and Gvardiol switching positions. Guardiola may well be right that this squad fully fit would be challenging at the top of the table, but two months into the injury problems it doesn't look like this group of players can survive, never mind thrive.

City may well have rabbits up their sleeve for the January transfer window but choosing not to push all the way for two players in Guimaraes and Zubimendi who look like they would improve their XI and squad for the short and long-term looks ridiculous when the team are playing as poorly as this every week. The squad enjoyed their time off this week in a much-needed break, yet it made no difference to the performance with former City youngster Rogers instead running them ragged and deservedly getting the second goal.

Rogers left City to little regret and he would not have become the player he is now if he had stayed, yet it was striking to see how much more athleticism and physicality he had than anyone in the City midfield. That is far from the first opposition player you could say that about against City in recent weeks either.

If the club do not act on that, or the failure of defenders to stay fit, or the failure of attackers to create any meaningful chances, a blue Christmas looks like extending well into January and beyond.

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