~snip~
Foden scored a hat trick in this match and became a hero for Man City in this match. And what we can conclude from this match is that Man City is not completely dependent on Haaland and De Bruyne. Because even when Haaland and De Bruyne are not playing, we can see that Man City remains a strong squad and is difficult to beat. Aston Villa really lost badly in that match. And I understand the strategy that Pep uses in rotating players and making their core players not get too tired amidst the busy schedule they have. If we look at Man City as it is now, it seems that optimism towards Man City in the UCL will also increase again.
It's actually true that Manchester city is still a very formidable side wether Erling halaand and kelvin de bruyne plays or not but I really do think that is only applied on the lower opposition, no disrespect to Aston villa, but the are not a top side, in as much as they are fourth in the table, if am not mistaken, and Manchester city have what it takes in their ranks to put away team like Aston villa regardless of the presence of haaland or kelvin de bruyne.
But against the bigger boys, they actually need the bigger players like kelvin de bruyne and Erling halaand for the bigger occasions, and of a truth, they will definitely struggle against the bigger teams especially when those players are absent, though it's a very moral busting win, which they will take into their fixtures against real madrid.
It true that Manchester City is still tough team because they have truly perfect playing structure, Manchester City has many stars and they can always be relied on in every match.
Figures most attached to Manchester City are Haaland and De Bruyne because these two players have made huge contribution to Manchester City success last season, after all, Manchester City will always rely on these two players for important matches.
But we also have to admit that without Haaland and De Bruyne, Manchester City will still continue to show stable performance by winning even though only against team whose performance level is below them.
Match against Aston Villa today was truly extraordinary because Manchester City won big 4-1 victory and Phil Foden was the most admired player in this match because he scored 3 goals for Manchester City victory.
He is midfielder who is always in the main squad, just look overall during this season Phil Foden has also created quite lot of goals and assists.
That for sure because in every important match and against strong team these two players are always in the main squad which is included from the start of the match, without these two players Manchester City seems less than perfect when facing strong team.
I sure Pep did all that in today match to keep his two best players fit and not have any problems preparing for the UCL quarter-final match, because Real Madrid is not an easy opponent.