There was an aimlessness to Pep Guardiola’s walk on to Brighton’s grass once another defeat was confirmed. Not even really a walk, more of a wander. It was dazed, disorientated and without true direction.
Nobody of a Manchester City persuasion approached the manager, who seemed so consumed by his own thoughts that he forgot to go to counterpart Fabian Hurzeler for the usual post-match pleasantries. Bart Verbruggen offered a handshake, but it looked accidental.
Guardiola was left well alone, Brighton’s goalkeeper the only person he interacted with before heading over to politely applaud City’s travelling support, many of whom have enjoyed the novelty of recent disappointment, yet will probably not stand for it too much longer.
There are no two ways about it, this is a dreadful start to City’s rebirth, one exacerbated by news that Rayan Cherki will miss two months with a thigh problem.
Sitting below Manchester United at any stage of a season — after three games or 30 — is not a spot to be in. Ruben Amorim’s circus rolls into town straight after the international break. Best not to think about that for a few days.
City will hope that their second defeat in a week — also losing to Tottenham, after which Guardiola bolted straight down the tunnel — represents teething problems with a more daring defensive set-up.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola seems almost resigned to his team being a fading force
Rodri expresses his frustration during City’s defeat against Brighton on Saturday
Rayan Ait-Nouri, who joined City this summer, endured a difficult time for Brighton’s winner
Many others will believe it is the continuation of a decline. It is up to Guardiola and Pep Lijnders to prove a few people wrong now. If last season felt strange then this, after a revamp costing in excess of £300million across two transfer windows, will go even further were it to continue down the same road.
Ironically, Guardiola only really appeared relaxed in the opening 20 minutes after half-time. That was just before City imploded, James Milner converting a penalty after Matheus Nunes threw his arms at a Lewis Dunk shot. ‘Some of the mistakes we are doing are kids’ mistakes, you are not concentrating and paying attention,’ Rodri lamented.
Guardiola already looked resigned to surrendering this game before Brajan Gruda raced clear, sitting Rayan Ait-Nouri down and sliding the ball into an empty net in the final minute of normal time.
He is anxious right now, anxious beyond his normal idiosyncrasies. The Catalan has always been a micro-manager, sending messages, calling players over, arms constantly flailing. This feels a bit different though, the pressure to correct last year heightening.
He will know that it is three defeats from four competitive games, including the shock elimination by Al Hilal at the Club World Cup, and Guardiola is stretching his neck to notice who is picking up the new concepts.
Down at the Amex, the 54-year-old looked tired. Age and maturity dictate the old grandmaster is not the coach who bounds around any more, but there does seem more of an acceptance to adversity, an acceptance that when City struggle for a few moments in matches, wrestling themselves back into it is unlikely.
‘We forgot to play,’ Guardiola said, almost sighing. ‘After the goal, it was like Spurs — we play really good in the beginning, we concede a goal and then we are a little bit more unstable. We forget to continue playing. You can never stop to play. We played really well in the first half.’
He is not wrong there. City controlled Brighton nicely. Before eventually scoring, Erling Haaland could have had a hat-trick. Perhaps the Haaland of 2023 would have done.
It is up to Guardiola and assistant boss Pep Lijnders to prove a few people wrong now
Fabian Hurzeler has now seen his Brighton teams take seven points from nine against City
Even so, Guardiola is fully aware these players need to learn the tweak in the press and how they attack teams, a tweak in the mould of assistant coach Lijnders. The pair chuntered about phases of play and passing through the thirds. An exasperated Guardiola was even imploring Rodri to exploit space to unlock Ait-Nouri going forward. Omar Marmoush was called over for his out-of-possession stuff, the Egyptian eventually recording more defensive contributions than anybody except Rodri.
During celebrations for Haaland’s clever opener, there was also an explanation delivered to Tijjani Reijnders on how to build up from the back. Bernardo Silva was given an extended earful for conceding a daft free-kick. The list goes on.
It looks like City’s new breed are being taught by Guardiola during games and his only true moment of spikiness was reserved for Hurzeler’s assistant, Jonas Scheuermann, when sarcastically inviting him to barrack the fourth official after Oscar Bobb was not given a foul. The two benches were spicy in parts, Hurzeler moaning at Lijnders, who was not paying attention. Ilkay Gundogan encouraged physio Federico Genovesi to hop over and get himself involved.
Hurzeler — whose quadruple substitution on the hour-mark changed the game — has now seen his Brighton teams take seven points from nine against City. The manager was visibly pumped up, home supporters in the posh seats remarking that he had altered his wardrobe especially for the showdown with Guardiola.
The young coach must have thrown his credit card at somebody at Zara earlier in the week. And in a huddle with his players at 1-1, he told them to launch everything at City.
‘We don’t accept a draw,’ he told them. City were hanging on at that point and those contrasting attitudes told the story.
Guardiola whispered his way through the post-match debriefs. It was a fitting end to August.
