Shay Given has questioned Manchester City’s decision to let four of their academy players leave in the wake of the side’s crushing defeat at the hands of Aston Villa.
The Premier League champions’ incredible slump continued in this afternoon’s lunchtime kick-off and Morgan Rogers, a product of City’s academy, was the star of the show as Villa secured a convincing 2-1 victory.
Rogers put the ball on a plate for Jhon Duran to break the deadlock at Villa Park in the 16th minute and the 22-year-old attacking midfielder doubled the hosts’ advantage with a composed strike midway through the second half.
Phil Foden halved the deficit deep into stoppage-time but it proved too little, too late for City, who have failed to win in their last eight matches away from home.
The result saw Villa leapfrog City into fifth place, with City nine points adrift of top-of-the-table Liverpool, who have two games in hand over Pep Guardiola’s men.
‘We’ve never seen this before, one win in 12. It’s just such a terrible run and lots of defeats in that as well,’ former Manchester City and Newcastle goalkeeper Given said of City’s latest damaging loss.
‘It’s not like they’re having lots of draws, there are so many defeats in that run as well.
‘I don’t know what happens next. Is Pep Guardiola under pressure? Is that a crazy question? Does Pep Guardiola walk? I don’t know, it’s just so hard to fathom.
‘We talk about the age of the squad as well and Morgan Rogers has been the star man for Villa today and he’s ex-Manchester City. Cole Palmer, ex-Manchester City, Jadon Sancho, ex-Manchester City, Liam Delap, ex-Manchester City.
‘They let all these young players leave the club and now he’s in a real rut, Pep Guardiola.
‘Their legs are gone, they couldn’t match Villa physically, couldn’t match them tactically. They were miles off it so what happens next? That’s the question.’
Given is confident City will be ruing the decision to offload Rogers, who came back to haunt his former club with a man-of-the-match performance at Villa Park.
‘He played well at Middlesbrough before he joined Aston Villa, I think it was £15m they paid for him and they probably thought he would be a bit of a squad player, with Unai Emery feeding him into the team,’ Given added.
‘But it’s been nothing like that. He has really stepped up to the plate. Today, against his former club, and you saw him chatting to Pep Guardiola after the game. He’s going: “You let me go!”.
‘Every time you play against your old club, you feel hard done by, you didn’t get an opportunity at that club. He probably thought, “I’ll show them today!”, and he was brilliant today.’
Rogers felt Villa’s incisiveness on the counter-attack ultimately won them the game against City.
‘It felt tougher than it probably looked. They make you work and it is so demanding out of possession,’ the young England international told TNT Sports in his post-match interview.
‘We knew we had to be on it from start to finish. On the counter-attack we were good and that’s probably why we won the game.’
On Unai Emery’s influence, Rogers added: ‘Everyday he pushes me, he doesn’t let me have a second off.
‘He wants the best for me and that’s perfect for me. We have a good working relationship, I am not the only one he has improved.
‘I want to keep going on that trajectory and see where it takes me.’
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