Rúben Dias vows to improve Manchester City’s performance after defeat to Aston Villa

Rúben Dias, the captain of Manchester City, has pledged to keep working on improving the team's performance after their loss to Aston Villa by a score of 2-1, in a round that saw the defending champions suffer their first defeat in the Premier League this season.

Manchester City struggled at the start of the match, falling behind to Aston Villa in the 6th minute, after John McGinn capitalized on a mistake in dealing with a long pass from Enzo Fernández to Marc Guéhi, setting up Nicolas Jackson who found the back of the net. City managed to get back into the game, before Erling Haaland equalized in the second half, benefiting from a cross by Iliman Ndiaye, scoring his ninth goal in the Premier League this season.

Nicolas Jackson scored to give Aston Villa the lead again, finishing a counter-attack with a shot that went past goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, securing victory for the home side and denying Manchester City a positive result.

Rúben Dias said in statements to "TNT Sports": "It's a frustrating result, I feel like we fought a lot. It took us some time to get into the game during the first 10 to 15 minutes, and they changed their positioning, so we needed time to adapt."

He added: "We fought and created chances, but they scored two goals from counter-attacks, and they were very effective. There is room for improvement, and we need to perform better. Whatever happens, we must respond to it, and the team showed a good reaction."

Manchester City captain stated: "The second goal was difficult because it came very shortly after the equalizer. We kept trying and creating chances, but it wasn't our day, and we will continue to move forward."

Rúben Dias concluded his remarks by pointing to the two upcoming encounters against Brighton, stating: "They are another strong team, and they play in a different way, so we will work on adapting to their style, then focus on ourselves, on the team spirit and our desire to win." The two teams will meet on Wednesday in the EFL Cup, before facing each other again on Saturday in the Premier League.