Grealish's maverick parts have been sanded off by Guardiola's tactical void | Barney Ronay

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Pep Guardiola appears to have no fix for Jack Grealish's slump – or Manchester City as a whole

Perhaps the most startling aspect of Manchester City's ongoing, real-time collapse, which continued here with a 2-1 defeat by a vigorous, happy-looking Aston Villa, is the lack of any sense of struggle, desperation, or even any real variation. You lost. Lose again. Lose the same way.

Eleven games and eight defeats into that run, nobody outside the players really has any clue how or why City have been reduced to what they looked like here, a team playing Dignitas football, always aware of that spectre in the corner of the room, already hearing the clank of the scythe.