Manchester

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We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Brighton and Manchester City.

Here are some of your comments:

Brighton fans

Chris: That was a fantastic win and every credit to the manager for the changes he made in the second half. The calibre of the substitutes also demonstrated the excellent strength in depth we have now with the likes of Lewis Dunk, Solly March and Yankuba Minteh still to come back. A very exciting few months ahead.

Mark: Memorable evening at Amex Stadium. City may have dominated the first half but Carlos Baleba dominated City in the second half. He’s putting in man-of-the-match performances week after week in the way that Moises Caicedo used to. The Seagulls legendary player recruitment process strikes again - our next £100m player?

Chrissy: Unbelievable scenes. Showed no fear against City and stuck to our system. Thoroughly deserved the three points. We played with courage and belief. Absolutely buzzing - loved it.

Man City fans

Ian: City started the season playing better than they usually do but too many players are off form. Ilkay Gundogan is a shadow of his former self, as is Phil Foden and to a degree Bernardo Silva. Erling Haaland works off a minimal supply that has now virtually disappeared. Savinho is still adjusting while Matheus Nunes is not City standard. All this on top of critical injuries. It will improve.

Danny: Dominating possession but not scoring enough goals has been an issue with City. What’s the point of possession if you dont make it count? They need to be more direct and quicker moving forward. The ball needs to be played to Haaland’s feet more and he needs to be demanding of the ball.

Phillip: Again very disappointing. We didn’t deserve to win unfortunately. Yes we are missing key players , but players like Foden who are now senior players in my opinion are not doing enough . He runs round like a headless chicken . But the fact is we are missing Rodri as he dictates pace and direction of play . We look lost without him .

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We asked for your thoughts after Sunday's Premier League game between Manchester United and Leicester.

Here are some of your comments:

Man Utd fans

Warren: Manuel Ugarte is looking better and better and he made a huge difference to Casemiro, which was also very good. The midfield looked solid but the defence never looked safe with Diogo Dalot poor. Marcus Rashford was sadly anonymous again.

Eric: We played great, with Amad Diallo as man of the match. We closed them down and were on the attack in the first half. The second half was slack but Leicester didn't score. Two great goals and I enjoyed it. I hope Ruben Amorim keeps Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Peter: Not the best game ever but three goals and three valuable points will do. Some good performances: Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro, Ugarte... but poor from Dalot and Rashford. There is much work for Amorim to do but 100% effort is a minimum for every player.

Leicester fans

Nigel: Once again we were outplayed. Every Leicester ball was either over hit or passed to no one. It's one thing to play well on the training ground but another when you play your opposition. all in all a very disjointed performance. Feel we might be going down now.

JC: Passive and disappointing. I didn’t expect us to win but I expected us to compete against a very average Man Utd side. I’ve been a supporter of Steve Cooper but today I could not see what the team were trying to do.

Stephen: A shocking performance. No fight, no closing down and the defending was shocking. Not doing the basics right.

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Manchester United midfielder Casemiro says "it's been a good season" for him personally so far, despite the Red Devils' lowly league position.

After being urged to leave the club, external by Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher after a 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace in May, the 32-year-old has bounced back and started seven of United's 11 Premier League games this campaign.

After Sunday's 3-0 win over Leicester City, he said: "Well, everyone can see, can't they? "I only had the Liverpool game, right [the 3-0 home defeat in September]? The whole team was not good in that game, or this season.

"Individually, when the goals are missed, of course it ends up hurting the team more, but I think it's been a good season for me."

The win over the Foxes marked the end of interim manager Ruud Van Nistelrooy's time in charge before Ruben Amorim assumes control over the international break.

"He was a legend at Manchester United, he was a legend at Madrid," Casemiro said. "He is a legend of number nines.

"It was a pleasure to share that moment with him. We do not know if he will stay or not, but it was a pleasure to share the dressing room with him."

The five-time Champions League winner believes Amorim can bring success back to Old Trafford, after he secured Sporting's first Portuguese title in 19 years.

"He has already proved he is a coach that has won a lot," Casemiro added.

"There is going to be a good template that everyone wants to grow, everyone wants to learn."

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Former Premier League manager Martin O'Neill says Pep Guardiola "needs to remove doubts" from his Manchester City squad by clarifying his future.

Guardiola's contract is due to expire this summer, and he has yet to confirm whether he will stay at the club beyond the end of this season.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast, O'Neill said: "If it's something that’s on the minds of the players that their manager is thinking of leaving, then perhaps he should come out now and say: 'Listen, I'm hanging around - I'm not leaving at the end of the season' That might relieve doubts in players' minds.

"It's very difficult to keep winning."

The reigning champions are on a four-match losing run, having fallen to a 2-1 defeat at Brighton on Saturday.

The loss left the side second in the table, five points adrift of title rivals Liverpool heading into the international break.

On Sunday's episode of Match of the Day 2, ex-Watford striker Troy Deeney highlighted the performances on Manuel Ugarte and Casemiro in central midfield as one area which has been much improved under Manchester United interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy in recent games.

"It's been a small tactical tweak of just not allowing the game to be so expansive," said Deeney.

"They were looking after each other and were right in the middle of the pitch. They were never too far away from each other so if one of them made a mistake, the second one is there to help him out. They worked as a partnership.

"In weeks gone past they were 30-40m away from one another. Now they're playing little passes with each other and controlling things.

That's what Casemiro and Ugarte bring to your team. There's a reason they were at the clubs they were at before."

Watch highlights and analysis on Sunday's Premier League games on BBC iPlayer

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Manager Pep Guardiola says it is "not true" that Manchester City are "special" after experiencing their fourth successive defeat on Saturday.

City's 2-1 defeat at Brighton meant four losses in a row for the first time since Guardiola became manager in 2016.

It was the the defending champions' second successive league defeat and left them sitting five points off leaders Liverpool going into the international break.

"I was a football player and many times I lost a lot of games - four in a row, five in a row, six in a row," Guardiola said. "I never expect different - the fact we won in the past, that we are special. People can believe that, but it's not true.

"You can lose four games in different competitions.

"I know after you win, everything is perfect. Against Fulham, we won and we played miles worse than today [against Brighton], Sporting Lisbon and Spurs. Miles away.

"But we are not consistent enough to maintain this level that helped us to win what we want for many years. Hopefully in the future we'll come back - and if we don't come back, we'll learn from that."

Despite the recent poor form, it is not unusual for City to have lean spell at this time of the year, having a run in autumn 2023 that included one win in six before going on to win the title again.

"Four in a row, but [we won] six titles in seven years, playing against Bournemouth and Brighton. All the teams in this league are important, that puts it in perspective. You take for granted before the season that City will win again," Guardiola added.

"Right now, we are not in our best - it's obvious. But still, it's November so hopefully we'll come back step by step."

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Former Premier League midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast about Ruud van Nistelrooy's spell as interim boss of Manchester United:

"We said before that he had his time in the limelight now and he had to use it wisely, and he's done it. We've seen a completely different Manchester United, playing the same 4-2-3-1 and he hasn't changed them tactically, but we're seeing a response from the players.

"For the CEOs and directors of football, they should be watching that and saying that what Van Nistelrooy has done at United - a club that was an absolute mess - in such a short time with the same players, means he should be one people may be looking at for potential manager jobs.

"He's done everything that you'd expect him to do and now it's just who is going to be wise enough to give him a good opportunity at a good club."

Listen to more analysis on BBC Sounds

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Former Brighton striker Glenn Murray, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast about Manchester City's run of four successive defeats:

"In Pep Guardiola's time in charge, it [the concern] is as high as it's ever been.

"The one thing that was kind of a saving grace for the first three defeats is that they were all in different competitions. But, now that's back-to-back [defeats] in the Premier League. That's starting to become a worry. You don't want that points tally to get too big between you and Liverpool.

"The international break is so important for City - just that little bit of breathing space to regain a little bit of composure and get lads back who are on the cusp of being fit. For instance, they had Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake on the bench. I'm sure they can't have been anywhere near fully fit, otherwise they would have started the game.

"They do look very susceptible on the counter-attack at the moment. They have not been their clinical selves.

"Letting Julian Alvarez go to Atletico Madrid was always going to be a problem, for me. I feel as though he picked up a lot of the slack. Whenever City weren't quite firing, or Erling Haaland wasn't at his tip-top best last season, he would score goals and put the gloss on games that were maybe going to end 1-0 or 2-0, he would put the third or fourth on there.

"Letting him go without any real cover has been and could be continuing a problem."

Listen to more analysis on BBC Sounds

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Former Manchester City defender Micah Richards spoke to BBC Match of the Day about the Blues' struggles: "The international break has come at the right time, and I think Guardiola is right to mention the injuries [to key players].

"The most defining thing for me is that they aren't pressing any more. When they do press, they go in as individuals.

"When you lose the best midfielder Europe [Rodri] it's always going to be a strain on your team, but they are just too easy to play through at this moment.

"They are just playing as a team of individuals."

Listen to the full analysis on BBC iPlayer

Watch highlights and analysis from Sunday's four Premier League fixtures, plus the best of the action from the rest of the weekend.

If you missed Match of the Day 2, catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

And you can watch Saturday's Match of the Day here.

Listen back to the weekend's full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Man Utd 3-0 Leicester

• Nottingham Forest 1-3 Newcastle

• Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal

Manchester United are eyeing a surprise move for Chelsea forward Christopher Nkunku, 26, as the Frenchman is unhappy with his playing time under Enzo Maresca. (L'Equipe via Express, external)

The Red Devils have joined Barcelona in the race for Bayer Leverkusen's Germany defender Jonathan Tah, 28. (Fichajes - in Spanish, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Monday's full gossip column

Manchester City are prepared to pay the 60m euros (£50m) release clause for Real Sociedad and Spain midfielder Martin Zubimendi, 25, as they continue their search for a replacement for Rodri in January. (Mirror, external)

Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde, 26, is another candidate for City but the Uruguay international has a release clause of 1bn euros (£830m). (Fichajes - in Spanish, external)

Paris St-Germain is a plan B for Manchester City's Erling Haaland, with Barcelona and Real Madrid also interested in the striker, who is out of contract in 2027. (Football365, external)

Want more transfer stories? Read Monday's full gossip column