Manchester City, despite conceding a goal in the first half of the 2025/26 Premier League, were unable to change the scoreline, ultimately losing 0-1 to Aston Villa, coached by Unai Emery. Bernardo Silva stated that the team's defense was indeed not good enough, and he would not make a final judgment on the season.

In the 19th minute of the game, Buendia made a cross, and Cash at the top of the penalty area received the ball and scored with a long shot, helping Aston Villa take the lead 1-0.

In the 89th minute of the second half, Malmus received the ball and passed it across to the front of the goal. Haaland took advantage of the opportunity to push the ball into the goal, but unfortunately Malmus was offside before, so the goal was ruled invalid.

In the end, Manchester City lost to Aston Villa 0-1 away. After losing 3 points, Manchester City is currently ranked 5th in the standings with 16 points, 6 points behind the leader Arsenal.

Regarding the current championship situation, Manchester City captain Bernardo Silva said, "This season is still very long, and I don't want to make too many conclusions now. We certainly hope to be at the top of the table, but we are not, but it is indeed too early to draw conclusions now."

"I thought we did a good job of keeping the ball and attacking well. Even if we didn't score, we created chances and forced them to defend deep, which made it difficult for them at times. On the other hand, our defense was really bad."

"Aston Villa are of course a very good team with Champions League quality and a lot of high-quality players, and we have to reflect on ourselves."

Bernardo Silva also pointed out that "our pressing was also very bad. It felt like we were two seconds slower in every tackle. Although our attack was good, if the pressing was not done well, the game would become a transition battle. When our pressing was not good, the team's overall performance would not be good."

In addition, Cash, who secured victory for Aston Villa, said, "When playing against a strong team, they will definitely have the ball for a long time and create good opportunities. But we have spent a lot of time practicing penalty area defense before, and we know they have top wingers and forwards."

"The key is to stay resilient, defend well and threaten the opponent on the counterattack. Overall, I think our performance was very good. Beating Tottenham Hotspur away last week to get three points was a huge result, and the three points in this game are equally significant."