We Didn’t Deserve To Lose Against Villa — Maresca

Enzo Maresca believes Manchester City didn’t deserve to lose to Aston Villa after conceding two “absolutely” avoidable goals on Saturday.

Nicolas Jackson stole possession following a poor first touch by Marc Guehi, before making a driving run and finishing superby to give the hosts the lead in the seventh minute at Villa Park.

Erling Haaland hit back with an equaliser shortly after the interval, but Jackson put the Villans back in front on the hour mark when he slotted in Ibrahim Mbaye’s cross.

Despite the defeat, City’s first in the Premier League this season, Maresca was pleased with his side’s display, though felt they could have better at the back.

Maresca laments avoidable Villa goals as Man City suffer first defeat

“Performance overall was good,” the Italian told TNT Sports (via Yahoo Sports). “Amount of chances we created. Second half we only conceded the transition of the goal.

“Sometimes you have to defend a bit better or be a bit more lucky in that transition but it’s football. We learn from that and move on.”

Asked if Villa’s goals were avoidable, Maresca answered: “Absolutely, both. Sometimes you have to be a bit more lucky because we only conceded those two chances. But we created a lot of chances.

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“We had many 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.”

City have only won one of their last five encounters with Villa and lost each of their last five visits to Villa Park, with their last victory at the ground coming in 2021.

“We will try again next season,” said Maresca. “I can only analyse today and I don’t think we deserved to lose today, but we lost.

“You can always learn something. For sure there are things we can do better today.”

Next up for City is a tricky home tie against high-flying Brighton, who sit third in the table with just one defeat from their opening seven games, on Wednesday.

“We will see,” Maresca added. “It will be a different game, they are doing a fantastic job. It will be tough in both games. But we must recover and prepare for that.”

James Agberebi is a sports content creator and analyst with a passion for football and other sports. He writes sports news, match reports, and analysis to keep fans informed about the latest developments in the sporting world. James has covered international matches involving both Nigeria’s men’s and women’s national teams. His experience covering Nigerian football gives him a good understanding of the game and the teams he writes about. Through his work with Complete Sports, James shares sports updates, match coverage, and analysis with readers in Nigeria and around the world.