Steve Bruce has now admitted how annoyed he was with one Aston Villa player in last night’s meeting with Manchester City.
Both Unai Emery and Pep Guardiola made a few changes to their team for the midweek tie, but it did feel as if Villa came into the game a lot weaker.
Emery’s line up didn’t quite render the game as a write off, but it wasn’t far from it.
With Ollie Watkins missing, the Villa boss also decided to also hand a rest to Leon Bailey, Youri Tielemans, Alex Moreno and Pau Torres.
Of course, Villa do have a European tie with Lille on the horizon, but both Arsenal and Liverpool fans would have been disappointed to see such a weakened team.
That being said, the away side did make a good fist of the game before Phil Foden took over.
Jhon Duran proved his ability once again up top, a player who is rightfully frustrated to not be starting more matches.
That being said, it was one of Villa’s stalwarts who annoyed Steve Bruce against Man City last night.
Steve Bruce thought Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz took a dive against Jack Grealish
Speaking on 5 Live Sport, Steve Bruce recalled a moment when Douglas Luiz went down far too easily in his opinion against Jack Grealish’s tackle.
The incident took place in the 31st minute, and Grealish clearly agreed with Bruce’s view, picking up a yellow card for dissent when a foul was awarded.
Sharing his thoughts, Bruce said: “It’s never a foul. He never touched him.
“A big powerful lad and he rolled over like a big… he never touched him. I can’t say that on Radio Five Live!
“But we see too much of this where they just fall over and touch their knee, he barely touched him.”
And as you may expect, Grealish’s yellow card did receive a huge cheer from the Aston Villa fans, given his history with the club.
Similarly, there may have been a few Manchester City fans frustrated with their old player, even if he didn’t quite have the same legacy.
But dive or not, the £15m-midfielder really has made a name for himself since leaving the Etihad, and it’ll be fascinating to see if he will be on the move this summer, albeit unlikely.
All that being said, one pundit was also absolutely fuming with what Nicolo Zaniolo did during last night’s game.
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