Five Things Learned: Brighton 2-1 Manchester City (Premier League) | OneFootball

Manchester City lost their second match in a row in Premier League action after Brighton reacted with a late comeback at the Amex Stadium on Sunday.

City remain winless against Fabian Hurzeler after three meetings with the German’s Seagulls. This is also the second season in a row that Pep Guardiola’s men are beaten at the Amex Stadium.

The match started with City creating chances, many of which came to Erling Haaland, who eventually bagged the opener from close range after Omar Marmoush set him up with a mazy dribble into the Brighton penalty area.

The Blues certainly looked the better team throughout the first 45 minutes, despite James Trafford being forced into an excellent save to deny Kaoru Mitoma. However, things went downhill in the second half.

The Blues failed to create and Brighton slowly took control of the tempo. Substitute James Milner equalised from the penalty spot after Matheus Nunes was careless with his arms. After this, City lost their feet and never recovered.

Trafford was having a heroic display with stunning saves, avoiding what would have been a humiliation. But he was not able to keep the scores level, as Brajan Gruda got the ball from Mitoma, dribbled past him and secured the three points for the Seagulls in the 89th minute.

With this outcome, Manchester City go into the first international break of the 2025/26 season sitting 13th in the Premier League, while their next three matches come against Manchester United, Napoli, and Arsenal – all in the space of a week when club football resumes.

Before then, here are Five Things We Learned from Manchester City’s defeat against Brighton!

James Trafford shines, even in a poor result

After last week’s mistakes against Tottenham, many thought that James Trafford could not make it at his boyhood club, although he made strong saves to ultimately deny Thomas Frank’s side a third goal in the contest.

The goalkeeper made five saves during the full 90 minutes against Brighton – all of which were impressive. This week, Trafford was Manchester City’s best player on the pitch, and that says it all about the poor performance.

Despite losing the match, the No.1 left an impression that he is not going to hand over the starting XI position so easily with Gianluigi Donnarumma joining the club this summer. Being just 22 years old also helps him a lot, meaning he can improve even further.

New season, same old problems

Manchester City were not the better team across the match, despite playing better than their opponents in the first half. It was an average display in the first 45 minutes – nothing special – as the team still struggled with chance creation and putting the ball in the net.

As for the second half, Brighton exploited long balls and made the comeback look comfortable, almost a recap of last season’s duel, which also ended in a 2-1 win for the hosts. When it is not Manchester City’s day, everything appears to go wrong.

Even though new players were on the pitch, it looked like we were back in November 2024 once again. Hopefully this is the beginning of a change and not a 2024/25 campaign 2.0 developing.

City need Super Rodri

He is not Lionel Messi and he won’t win every game single-handedly, unfortunately. However, Rodri makes a gigantic difference in transitions when he is playing, as the club goes from defence to attack smoothly.

Yes, it was his first defeat in 50 starting matches in the Premier League, but it was also his first start in 343 days, since the 2-2 draw against Arsenal past September – and he made the team look more structured, at least for 60 minutes.

He needs the help of his teammates, but Rodri turns what Pep Guardiola loves in football simpler to achieve. His maturity is much needed in a moment the players need to find themselves once again.

Blackout 61’

After Hurzeler swapped Carlos Baleba, Jack Hinselwood, Danny Welbeck and Diego Goméz for James Milner, Yasin Ayari, Georginio Rutter and Brajan Gruda, Brighton took control of the match. If not for James Trafford, as previously said, City were in danger of a big defeat.

After the silly penalty given away by Matheus Nunes, the Blues looked like children playing against men – it was a blackout. No clear chances were created, substitutes were not effective and the mood was down, which only contributed to the final outcome.

In the early moments of the final 10 minutes, a draw felt like salvation: it would have been better had it finished like that. However, it was clear and deserved for the Seagulls to grab all the points. Once again, just like against Tottenham, City couldn’t recover from conceding.

Missing them…

Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic, Savinho, Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki would all have made a difference in Sunday’s clash – especially the last two. Injuries have come our way one more time, and it was all that Pep Guardiola asked not to happen.

Also, some players who are not in the club anymore were missed: Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne. How did City let them go so easily, some may ask. Grealish is now shining at Everton and De Bruyne is already loved in Naples.

With the options that Manchester City had on the bench on Sunday afternoon (especially considering those who came on), it is hard to think that both aforementioned names wouldn’t have played and shifted the balance to our side.

Now, we have to live with the uncertainty over a couple of decisions made by the club and hope that our medical department is free of work as soon as possible, since we need every player available to raise squad competition and reach the highest possible level.