“You have to be clinical” — Maresca frustrated after Man City lose to Villa
Manchester City's perfect Premier League start was shattered at Villa Park, where two uncharacteristic defensive errors and the heroics of Zion Suzuki handed Aston Villa a 2-1 win and left Enzo Maresca ruing his side's lack of ruthlessness.
“Performance overall was good, amount of chances we created...”
Manchester City's flawless start to the Premier League season was halted at Villa Park on Saturday, as two expensive errors saw Enzo Maresca's team slip to a 2-1 defeat despite controlling the game for long periods.
City headed to Birmingham having won seven out of seven in the league, but a couple of defensive lapses handed Aston Villa their openings and the hosts made no mistake with both.
An early slip from Marc Guehi let John McGinn tee up Nicolas Jackson for the opener, before Gianluigi Donnarumma allowed Jackson's low drive to slip beneath him just after the hour.
The outcome was all the more frustrating for City given the run of play. They had seven efforts on target compared to Villa's two and kept Zion Suzuki busy throughout, but the Japanese keeper pulled off a series of superb stops to keep the hosts in front.
One bright spot for City was the return of Erling Haaland among the goals after a foot injury. The Norwegian missed Tuesday's 5-1 Champions League thrashing of AEK Athens but marked his comeback by heading in Iliman Ndiaye's cross for City's only goal.
The day, however, belonged to Suzuki, who once again repaid Villa's trust since arriving in August to replace the departed Emi Martinez. He repeatedly kept City at bay, frustrating Haaland and his teammates as Villa secured a fourth straight home league win over the Blues.
Maresca: We must be more ruthless
Maresca was left to bemoan his team's profligacy in front of goal and the two preventable goals that ultimately settled the contest.
“The overall performance was good, the number of chances we created...”
“Absolutely, both (goals were avoidable). Sometimes you have to be a bit more lucky because we only conceded those two chances. But we created a lot of chances.
“We played most of the game in their box, but you have to be clinical and avoid mistakes like the two goals we conceded.”
For Villa, following a chaotic summer of ins and outs - including Martinez's move to Chelsea - there were finally indications that Unai Emery's reshaped squad is starting to click after a difficult league opening that brought three defeats in their first four matches.
“Today was a really good test; I was so excited for this test,” Emery said. “Today is one step forward.”
Enzo 💬 (On defeat against Aston Villa) I think we deserved more from the game for the amount of chances that we created and for the chances we conceded. We need to review the game. For sure when you see the amount of time we spent in their box, sometimes you probably need to be a little bit more accurate in the last third and try to score goals.
— Manchester City (@ManCity) October 24, 2026
City have little time to linger on the setback, with two consecutive games against in-form Brighton & Hove Albion coming up - first in the League Cup fourth round on Wednesday and then in the Premier League next Saturday.
“A top team, another one,” City defender Ruben Dias said. “A different way to play, so we'll make the adaptation, then focus on ourselves; that's the main thing - our spirit, our will to win.”
Defeat at Villa Park. 🟣 2-1 🤍 @okx https://t.co/WOWcQSllE3
— Manchester City (@ManCity) October 24, 2026
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