BRIGHTON: Pep Guardiola said his Manchester City team had ‘forgotten how to play’ after losing 2-1 to Brighton in the Premier League last night.
City dominated the first half and Erling Haaland broke the deadlock in the 88th minute on his 100th Premier League appearance.
However, the Norwegian striker also wasted several opportunities to expand the lead, thus giving Brighton space to rise.
James Milner equalised from the penalty spot in the 67th minute, becoming the second-oldest scorer in league history.
Then, Brajan Gruda scored the winning goal in the 89th minute to hand City their second consecutive league defeat this season.
Asked what changed the game, Guardiola said: “The penalty. We wasted the game. We forgot how to play. We chose to play long passes, that’s fine, but we have to be ready to win the second ball. We weren’t ready for that.
“The momentum in the Premier League always changes after a goal, and that’s exactly what happened. But at that moment we forgot to continue playing like we did brilliantly in the first hour against a difficult opponent,” said Guardiola.
After starting the season with a win over Wolves, City have now lost two in a row, including a 2-0 home defeat to Tottenham last week.
It’s a worrying start for Guardiola, after last season City handed over the title for four consecutive years to Liverpool.
They finished the season 13 points behind Liverpool, were knocked out of the Champions League before the last-16 stage, and suffered a shock FA Cup final defeat to Crystal Palace.
Guardiola had hoped that big spending in the January and summer transfer windows would inject some new energy, but the early returns have been disappointing.
The Spanish manager is trying to emphasise the positives, but the international break will be an uncomfortable period as he tries to sort out the problems of City, who face Manchester United on September 14.
“We conceded one goal and after that we became unstable. Not because I didn’t know how good and strong they (Brighton) were, but because we forgot to keep playing. You can’t stop playing for even a second,” he said.
Brighton looked more venomous after manager Fabian Hurzeler made four changes midway through the second half, including bringing on Milner and Gruda to seal the win.