“Outthought. Outfought. Outplayed.”

The words of commentator, Martin Tyler, at the end of the Aston Villa-Manchester City match.

What made them remarkable was that he was talking about Manchester City.

Yes, really. A 1-0 scoreline flattered the champions, such was Villa’s dominance.

And with those three fully deserved points, Unai Emery’s men leapfrogged Pep Guardiola’s side in the table.

Now sitting a lofty third, the Villains are serious Champions League contenders.

Emery has turned Steven Gerrard’s relegation candidates of 14 months ago into a genuine force – albeit with a trio of astute additions.

Victors normally write history but Villa fans will know that on this occasion, the story is mostly about the vanquished.

For a few weeks now, City have looked strangely vulnerable even when they were winning.

They were still overwhelming title favourites – but one or two cracks have appeared.

When they overturned a 2-0 halftime deficit to RB Leipzig, they got the points, but could not erase the memory of a shocking first half.

Future opponents watching that will certainly not forget.

When you win the Treble, you can expect close scrutiny. And when you’re Pep, you know it’s going to be forensic.

Until Thursday morning (in Malaysia), critics divided into two camps: one felt it might be complacency; the other thought it was the changes.

After such a barnstorming season, it’s perfectly natural that there might be a drop off. And City are relatively slow starters anyway.

A lot of good judges thought it was just that along with the absence of Kevin de Bruyne and, to a lesser extent, John Stones.

Others pointed to the loss of Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez and that only Jeremy Doku of the four new signings has worked.

Anyway, Pep didn’t seem too concerned. And at the weekend, after his third winless game in a row against Spurs, he insisted: “We’re going to win the title.”

He dismissed complacency and said he’d seen good things even in games they had failed to win.

After the draw with Spurs, he said: “It reminds me a bit of the first season because we were playing good but we could not get the results.”

Well, they didn’t play ‘good’ against Villa. In fact, in many aspects of play, they were outclassed.

The home side had 22 shots to City’s two, the lowest a Guardiola side has had against any club in Europe’s top five leagues.

They won the ball back in City’s half no less than 13 times, a telltale stat on City’s uncharacteristic lack of control.

In mitigation, they were missing their principal ‘controller’ – Rodri – along with both Jack Grealish and Doku, both of whom know how to keep the ball.

Rodri dependence is becoming a problem: City have failed to win any of the four games the Spanish playmaker has missed through suspension.

If Grealish got himself a fifth yellow card at the weekend – as has been suggested, to avoid the wrath of his former fans, his timing was ill-advised.

And this is when the absence of Gundogan is really being felt.

The former skipper was a miser in possession as well as a master of the telling pass.

His replacement Mateo Kovacic is certainly not like-for-like: the Croatian lacks creativity and seldom scores.

Besides the well-documented ‘soft centre’ they’ve acquired at the back, City are not ticking over as smoothly up front, either.

Argentina’s Julian Alvarez would walk into most EPL teams as their No 1 striker but has to play second fiddle to Erling Haaland.

But by playing him as an attacking midfielder, Guardiola is losing both creativity and goals: Alvarez scores more often as a substitute than he does when he starts.

It is not a crisis, but Pep will be concerned. De Bruyne should make a massive difference if he can reproduce his old form on his eventual return.

But he cannot rely entirely on the Belgian. He may need a few games to adjust to the pace; he may get injured again. Pep will know that he has to act now.

As well as being a tactical genius, he is also a master at diverting attention. After all, he’s a wizard at ‘mind games.’

And like Alex Ferguson, of whom he is a great admirer, he’s made full use of the siege mentality.

Back in February when the EPL announced it had laid 115 charges against the club, it was Pep who rallied the troops.

And when some thought this ‘Sword of Damocles’ would destroy their season, Pep cultivated a siege mentality that sparked City’s charge to the Treble.

Despite his denials, a bit of complacency may have crept in – they wouldn’t be human if it hadn’t – so we can expect a few backsides to be kicked before the weekend.

Also, the above-mentioned tweaks and personnel changes have yet to work. Kovacic, Matheus Nunes and Josko Gvardiol have been underwhelming.

City go to Luton on Sunday and he cannot afford to take the Hatters lightly.

They might not enjoy the visit to what is essentially a League 2 ground, but they can also score, yes, a hatful that might restore confidence.

But Luton, gallant losers against Arsenal, will be up for it.

No over-thinking, Pep or the unthinkable might happen.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.