PEP GUARDIOLA raged against the machine but if there were any doubts that it was broken here was the proof to dispel them.
A side that commanded the Premier League after four successive title wins is now malfunctioning on an industrial scale.
PAErling Haaland fired Manchester City ahead from the penalty spot against Brighton[/caption]
GettyThe goal was the Norwegian’s first in three games[/caption]
ReutersOmar Marmoush was on target just before half-time to give City the lead[/caption]
ReutersAbdukodir Khusanov netted an unfortunate own goal as Pep’s side wilted on home soil[/caption]
An own goal from Abdukodir Khusanov produced the most miserable statistic of Guardiola’s nine–year reign.
City have now conceded 40 league goals this season, more than in any other campaign under their manager.
Not only have they lost their mojo as the best possession–based team on the planet, their world at the back has fallen apart.
A Champions League place is still a possibility – as it very much now is for Fabian Hurzeler’s soaring Seagulls.
Yet just as there were plenty of empty blue seats in the Etihad, evidence that belief is deserting the faithful, so City are running on empty, devoid of almost all that made them so special for so long.
The only good news from a personal point of view for Guardiola after another stuttering display was that he didn’t lose a tenth league game this season.
He has never lost more than nine of any campaign across a glittering career that started at Barcelona before Bayern Munich.
But not even he would wager on his side saving him from what would be a shocking tenth – at least – by the end of this campaign.
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Yet he would have hit that nadir anyway had Carlos Baleba not blown away a golden opportunity eight minutes from the end.
Joao Pedro crossed low from the left, Dias missed the interception leaving the midfielder free and clear – only to blaze wildly over the bar with the goal at his mercy.
All the way through Guardiola kicked every ball on the touchline, pleaded and gesticulated with players now performing as if gripped by mass memory loss.
But he looked a lonely, forlorn figure, too, in his black coat, tortured by the failings of a side that had once looked like it was indestructible.
Right from the start they were getting things wrong with Stefan Ortega setting the tone of trial and tribulation.
Seagulls wide man Kauro Mitoma met a cross to deliver a weak strike at the goalkeeper brought in after No.1 Ederson pulled out with an abdominal injury.
He got both hands to the ball but lost his grip and as Ortega fell he bundled into him, forcing the ball over the line only for referee Simon Hooper to adjudge that the attacker had used an arm in the clash.
Hurzler’s men looked confident and brash as well they might do.
Since being spanked 7–0 by Nottingham Forest at the beginning of February, they had responded in scintillating style, winning six games on the bounce in all competitions.
But City, who had never lost at home to Brighton in their history, were still ahead by the 11th minute thanks to Erling Haaland’s penalty.
Skipper Adam Webster dived into a challenge on Omar Marmoush for what was a stone-wall spot kick and Haaland made himself some Prem history – completing 100 goal involvements, 84 of them strikes.
ReutersPervis Estupinan levelled for the visitors to silence the Etihad[/caption]
GettyEstupinan curled in a brilliant freekick from the edge of the box[/caption]
He took Alan Shearer’s record but Brighton took advantage of more dodgy and this time fatal work by Ortega.
Pervis Estupinan delivered a free kick from just around 20 yards that took a tiny deflection.
The German correctly moved right to intercept then unaccountably stopped – clearly convinced the ball was going wide – except for it to fly in off the inside of the post.
Ortega had looked a tad embarrassed by the first mistake, but this one in the 21st minute was a shocking blunder and he looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him as Estupinan celebrated his first Prem goal since December 2023.
There was hesitancy, indecision and a dearth of pizzaz throughout City’s side yet they were back in the lead again by the 38th minute – and this time their opponents were the ones shooting themselves in the foot.
Jack Hinshelwood’s sloppy pass was picked up by Ilkay Gundogan who immediately despatched to Marmoush.
The Seagulls defence was wide-open and the man who would be the Eygptian king of the Etihad barged straight through with a right footer that Bart Verbruggen couldn’t even move for.
That fourth goal from Marmoush since his £59million January arrival from Eintracht Frankfurt didn’t do much to enliven his team mates however.
It took a desperate challenge by Abdukodir to deny Joao Pedro, all but clean through after a mix-up between Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol just before the break.
Five minutes after it Hurzeler’s side were level again as, once more, City and their defenders especially, reacted as if moving in quicksand.
Webster rose to power a header across the box, Hinshelwood moved first to scoop at the ball and Khusanov, trying to once again save the day, deflected an effort that was going wide into his own net.
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