VMC's Some Might Say: The Case For No Defence

City's squad continues to ship goals at an alarming rate. 16 goals conceded in 8 games across all competitions. Post match reaction from the League Cup exit to Aston Villa...

Roberto Mancini:
'To play after just 48 hours rest is very difficult. We changed a lot of players but I think that when the situation is like this, we can do nothing but understand our mistakes and think about how we can get back to our best in the future...Villa deserved their win. They are a good team but we didn't play well.

'Our play is not quick, we want to take one touch too many - this is not good. Conceding goals is a real problem, we need to work with our defenders because we aren't defending well at the moment. It's the fourth competition but it's the only one we haven't won and for this reason we wanted to win. We are so disappointed.

'I am very sorry for the players, I am very sorry for the club and for the supporters.'

Paul Lambert:
'It is a massive result for us. I thought the way we played was excellent. It was a brilliant response from the team. It was a huge effort. We didn't deserve to go a goal behind but we showed real character to come back.'

Kevin Gallacher, BBC:
'It was a fantastic extra time period for Aston Villa. Young legs got them through it. At times it was a little too easy for Manchester City. The home side made mistakes and switched off to allow Aston Villa to catch them on the counter attack.'

Andy Hunter, The Guardian:
'The personnel and competition may change but the problems remain the same for Roberto Mancini at Manchester City. Again they failed to preserve a lead, again they failed to keep a clean sheet and again they failed to convince. Aston Villa took full advantage to give Paul Lambert the finest result of his brief tenure as manager.'

UPDATED UPCOMING FIXTURES:
all times East Manchester

Sa 29 Sep 15h00 Fulham, Craven Cottage, PL
We 03 Oct 19h45 Borussia Dortmund, The Etihad, PL
Sa 06 Oct 12h45 Sunderland, The Etihad, PL
Sa 20 Oct 15h00 West Brom, The Hawthorns, PL
We 24 Oct 19h45 Ajax, Amsterdam Arena, CL
Sa 27 Oct 17h30 Swansea City, The Etihad, PL

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.