Guardiola admits Man City were ‘not good enough’ after Brighton defeat | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola lamented his side’s collapse against Brighton as “not good enough” after losing 2-1 late on.

City were in charge in the first half, and Erling Haaland’s opening was exactly what the visitors deserved after a dominant opening period. However, after Fabian Hurzeler’s quadruple substitution on the hour mark, the Citizens crumbled, with James Milner converting a penalty 66 minutes in before Brajan Gruda’s 89th minute winner sent Guardiola’s men to their second consecutive league defeat.

The Catalan was disappointed by his side’s lack of control late on in the match despite a positive first hour of the game where they were comfortably the more dominant side.

“We concede the goal and after that it shifted,” Guardiola said. Until then it was really, really good, we had chances and the team looked aggressive and dynamic.

“We made a good hour and then after the last half an hour we were not good. We forgot to pass the ball, just played long balls and we were not good enough. It is what it is.

“Erling is our big threat but in general we made a good hour and after we concede the goal, a bit like Tottenham, we concede and everywhere we don’t continue to do what we need to do.

“It can happen, you still have time because it is possible to concede in the Premier League. Of course everyone makes the substitutions to get better and they did it well but it all changed after the goal.

“We have a really good squad and of course we changed many things form the past to now, which is normal, we need new players to adapt and we need the older ones to help them to cope.

“It’s one game. The season has just started. There is a long, long season ahead of us. We will see what happens.”