Something has undoubtedly changed around Manchester City in the two years since the Treble, to such a degree that players and supporters alike are begging for this season to end.
Nine games to go, to finish the misery. No Pep Guardiola team has ever conceded this number of goals in a Premier League season after in-form Brighton’s two took the tally to 40. Opponents prey on vulnerabilities; the attackers can’t execute final balls with enough regularity either.
But more than that is this strange inertia sweeping around the Etihad Stadium. A stadium with empty seats in almost every block 24 hours before what was a massive game in the hunt for Champions League qualification. Some were going for £70.
It’s not just a pricing problem and it’s not just a fan apathy problem but there are forces working against each other to make afternoons like this very testing indeed. The Etihad was flat for most of the day – briefly livening up in places – when City needed something guttural behind them. Equally, the crowd need something to get behind.
Another shrug of a result, one that could have been better yet could have been far worse, with City still in fifth – Europe’s top table still in their grasp. It’s worth pointing out that several top clubs have fallen far harder when struggling but this just lacks purpose.
Man City’s Abdukodir Khusanov (centre) scored an own goal to help Brighton earn a 2-2 draw
Erling Haaland opened the scoring for City by converted a penalty kick in the 11th minute
Omar Marmoush also found the net for City, firing home from outside of the box in the first half
Things started well enough. Erling Haaland made more history in sending Bart Verbruggen the wrong way in the 11th minute, becoming the quickest man to 100 Premier League goals and assists. He’s reached that milestone in 94 matches, six fewer than Alan Shearer, and had to wait two full minutes between Simon Hooper blowing for Adam Webster chopping down Savinho. Ruben Dias held the ball for Haaland, shielding the spot from Brighton players.
City couldn’t protect their lead though, that lasting only 10 minutes. Nico Gonzalez had fouled around 25 yards from goal, Pervis Estupinan sending the free kick towards Stefan Ortega’s right-hand post. Ortega both gambled off his left foot and then guessed that the effort was going wide, wandering over nonchalantly, only to find it clinking off the frame and in.
Haphazard again, the only way Guardiola watches his team concede goals these days. Most of them avoidable, advantages tossed aside. Kaoru Mitoma had earlier seen a goal disallowed for fouling Ortega at the end of a breezy – and easy – move stemming from Savinho’s refusal to follow Omar Marmoush’s pressing in the visitors’ third.
Marmoush played like somebody angry with his surroundings, fed up with those around him, an attitude of he’ll do this himself. The thumping strike, kissing the post, to give City another lead six minutes before the break spoke to that. Much like the opener, Gonzalez’s pressure in midfield proved key, Ilkay Gundogan shovelling on to the Egyptian, who wellied in without looking back. He semi-aggressively attempted to cajole the crowd in celebration.
Savinho had spurned two golden chances by this point, with more question marks around his end product, and a Gundogan volley trickled wild with a tinge of sadness to it. Yanbuka Minteh and Joao Pedro squandered decent chances presented to them by tired defending. Josko Gvardiol actually played Pedro in for the second.
Pervis Estupinan scored Brighton’s first goal of Saturday’s game with a well-placed free-kick
City manager Pep Guardiola looked exasperated at times as his side struggled to find top form
Brighton remain just one point behind City in the Premier League, with nine games remaining
Fabian Hurzeler, in animated disagreement with Guardiola on the touchline, had Brighton drilled perfectly to exploit City’s deficiencies but had seen them give up a few too many opportunities as well. The way the young German prowled and pointed suggested he knew the points were there to grab and three minutes into the second half they were level again.
Level again after hospitality from their hosts. Abdukodir Khusanov was sluggish in getting out from a corner, meaning Adam Webster’s header towards danger saw Jack Hinshelwood spin to shoot, careering off the Uzbek and wrong-footing Ortega. It trickled over with the same sadness, the same slow-motion tragedy as much of this season.
Gonzalez’s header hit a post – City do still create enough – before the threat the other way almost sucker punched them. Hinshelwood slammed into the side netting when he ought to have squared before the moment Brighton had the game in their hands.
Carlos Baleba, someone City have scouted, ran 70 yards upfield to keep up with a counter attack. Ran on to Pedro’s centre perfectly. Ortega’s goal gaped and the shot ballooned over.
