Manchester City's disappointing start to the new campaign continued on Tuesday, with Aston Villa knocking the defending English Premier League champions out of the Capital One Cup with a 4-2 comeback victory.
City held an early lead on the Villans, but Paul Lambert's side rallied to send the match into extra time, where Charles N'Zogbia and Gabriel Agbonlahor provided the winning goals.
Brad Guzan was on the bench for the match, while Eric Lichaj came off the bench to close the match out for Aston Villa.
In the day's other Capital One Cup shocker, Leeds United knocked off a mostly-reserve filled Everton side, 2-1. Tim Howard sat out the match, which was still a surprising result even without David Moyes playing many of his best players.
Here are some other soccer news items to get your Wednesday going:
VIDIC SIDELINED AFTER KNEE SURGERY
Manchester United will be without defensive standout and team captain Nemanja Vidic for two months after the Serbian centerback underwent knee surgery on Tuesday.
Vidic missed a large part of last season after suffering a torn ACL, and it appears he re-injured the same knee, which led to the fresh surgery. Vidic joins a long list of injured United defenders, a list that incldues Phil Jones and Chris Smalling.
ST. PAULI FIRES MANAGER
Young American midfielder Joseph Gyau finally managed some playing time for German second division side St. Pauli on Tuesday, but it remains to be seen when his next chance will come after the club fired head coach Andre Shubert following the team's disappointing home loss to newly-promoted VfR Aalen.
Gyau joined the Hamburg club on loan from TSG Hoffenheim in a move that was expected to earn him some regular playing time, but St. Pauli's early-season struggles led Shubert to go with other options in recent weeks.
MARTINEZ CHARGED BY FA
Wigan manager Roberto Martinez has been charged by the FA for comments made after his team's recent 4-0 loss to Manchester United. He critized the officiating in the match and suggested that only older and more experienced referees should officiate matches at Old Trafford.
RIO OPEN TO ENGLAND RETURN
Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand is open to a return to the England national team in the wake of John Terry's sudden retirement from the national team.
Terry chose to step down due to disappointment with the English FA's handling of his racism case (Terry is accused of racial abuse for alleged comments made at Ferdinand's brother Anton last season). The controversy led to Ferdinand being kept off the England Euro squad last summer, but Ferdinand is reportedly ready to put that behind him and return to the England fold now that Terry won't be around.
ROMA AWARDED FORFEIT SERIE A WIN
In case you missed it on Monday, and were wondering just what happened with Roma's scheduled match against Cagliari last weekend, Roma has been awarded a win after Cagliari failed to host the match in an empty stadium as required by Serie A due to the club's stadium undergoing renovations.
Cagliari is appealing the decision.
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What do you think of these developments? Disappointed to see Everton field a weak squad in the cup? See Manchester United struggling without Vidic? What do you make of Martinez's comments about referees at Old Trafford?
Share your thoughts below.