Maresca discusses 4-year winless streak at Aston Villa and first defeat

In the latest round of the Premier League, suffering their first defeat of the season, Manchester City’s head coach Enzo Maresca in Birmingham Aston Villashared his thoughts on the match (1:2) and the poor away record against them.

After a terrifying start to the season with seven consecutive brilliant victories, the 'Citizens' dropped points for the first time in the current championship. Most notably, it is the fourth consecutive season that the Manchester club has returned from 'Villa Park' with a defeat.

“We will try again next season”: On the away curse

After the match, in an interview with the prestigious TNT Sports channel, Enzo Maresca reacted calmly to the series of failures in Birmingham:

• Comment on the fourth consecutive defeat: “A fourth consecutive defeat at Aston Villa in the Premier League? It doesn't matter, we will try to change it again next season. At this moment, I can only analyze today's match and the mistakes made,” the coach replied.

“We didn't deserve to lose”: Analysis of goals and created chances

The specialist positively assessed the flow of the match and the quality of play shown by his players, while noting gross defensive errors:

• Control and attacks: “Overall, we played well and created many favorable situations. We spent the main part of the match around the opponent's penalty area. We allowed the opponent to create only two dangerous situations throughout the entire game;

• Counter-attack error: In the second half, we gave the opponent only one chance to punish us on the counter-attack, and they took advantage of it. In such moments, you need to defend better or have a bit of luck. These things happen in football;

• Avoidable goals: Actually, both goals conceded could have been avoided. I don't think we deserved to lose, but the fact is that we did. We will draw the right conclusions and lessons from this and continue to move forward,” the specialist added.

Next test: League Cup

Despite losing points for the first time this season, remaining one of the main contenders in the title race, Manchester Cityhas no time to dwell on it:

The 'Citizens' will play their next match very soon — on October 28 within the framework of the English League Cup Brighton club.