Micah Richards says Manchester City ‘could not deal’ with star Aston Villa duo for one reason

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Aston Villa ended Manchester City’s nine-game unbeaten run with a 1-0 win on Sunday afternoon – and Micah Richards has pinpointed just where Unai Emery won the tactical battle.

Matty Cash’s early wonder strike saw Aston Villa take the lead over Manchester City on Sunday, and the Cityzens couldn’t find their way back into the game in their second blank of the season in the Premier League.

Despite boasting goal machine Erling Haaland, City could not get near Villa until the 90th minute, where a Haaland goal was ruled out for offside.

And Micah Richards says it was the physicality of Morgan Rogers and Amadou Onana that won the battle in the middle of the park for Unai Emery.

Micah Richards waxes lyrical over Aston Villa stars Morgan Rogers and Amadou Onana

Aston Villa had a poor start to the campaign, but they’ve now won four games in a row to completely turn the tide of their season.

That has been down to the individual brilliance of their squad, which has been crafted carefully over the past half-decade.

And it was the superb performances of Morgan Rogers and Amadou Onana that really got Micah Richards thinking, with their physical nature being too much for City’s smaller stature midfield.

Speaking on The Rest is Football, the former City and Villa star said:

“So, they started with [Tijjani] Reijnders, Bernardo Silva, and [Phil] Foden. And with Morgan Rogers and [Amadou] Onana, Villa just had too much athleticism for them.

“They just couldn’t deal with it. Then they would go into the low block. Man City couldn’t pick them off.

“And then what Man City were doing on the ball, John Stones was coming into midfield to help out with a little bit of physicality in the middle of the park.

“But when Villa won the ball back on the transition, they just could not deal with it. Just couldn’t deal with it at all.”

The result leaves Villa just two points away from Champions League football, an incredible turnaround after occupying the relegation zone as recently as a month ago.

Manchester City will regret letting Morgan Rogers go just like they did with Cole Palmer

Manchester City once had Morgan Rogers in their ranks, and a performance such as the one he made on Sunday will make fans ponder why they let him leave.

City signed the attacker from West Bromwich Albion in 2019, but with loan spells at Lincoln City, Bournemouth and Blackpool, he failed to properly stamp his mark on the club, seeing Rogers being linked with a £7million move to Crystal Palace.

Instead, it was his Carabao Cup purple patch at Middlesbrough – who City sold him to for just £1million in 2023 – that tempted Villa to sign Rogers for a fee that could reach £15million.

And his incredible form in the West Midlands has seen him star under Unai Emery, grabbing a run of England caps and his first Three Lions goal against Wales in the process.

Manchester City sold Cole Palmer to Chelsea, bearing instant regret as he scored 25 goals in his first season at Stamford Bridge. 18 strikes in the following campaign saw himself become a regular in the England squad, even notching a goal in the Euro 2024 final vs Spain.

And with fans regretting that sale, Villa fans will be feeling the benefit of another after Rogers was not given a fair crack of the whip by Pep Guardiola.

The 23-year-old is really knocking on the door of the England squad at present for a place at the World Cup and his valuation has shot up since, with Rogers labelled as ‘phenomenal’ by Aston Villa icon Gareth Barry.