Manchester City

Umir Irfan
Football tactics correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City's out-of-possession work has been the source of some of their struggles in recent weeks.

Losses to both Tottenham and Brighton highlight an emerging pattern that is likely contributing to City's poor start to the season. City press high against opponents when they build up from the goalkeeper. The instruction to press high, paired with asking the full-back to cover a larger distance in which they are tasked with pressing, has given teams the chance to exploit Guardiola's men down the flanks.

For both the first goal Spurs scored and the second goal Brighton scored, the ball is moved to a defender out wide with City's attacker unable to press them tightly. The opposition's wide player is able to turn and face forwards before playing a direct pass into the channels.

One of the opposition players drops deeper dragging City's full-back with them, Nathan Ake against Spurs and Rico Lewis against Brighton.

City, therefore, end up with three players in their backline, with all three players shifting over to cover the space left vacant by the full-back.

One of City's centre-backs ends up having to defend on the flank in an area they are less comfortable with, making them more likely to lose their respective duel.

Opposition players are then able to run into the space between the spread-out three defenders.

With this general pattern seen in their two most recent games, it is worthwhile paying attention to how Guardiola and co seek to address this problem going forward.

Image source, Getty Images

Wayne Rooney believes Manchester City cannot be favourites for the Premier League title this season.

"City are still finding their feet with quite a few new players. It looked like they're still trying to figure out each other's game and how to gel better together, and they've lost big characters in the dressing room as well.

"Pep Guardiola will be very disappointed [with the Brighton defeat]. I don't see them as favourites [for the title]. Every year, in the last few years, I've seen them as favourites and the best team, but I don't think they're in the top two or three this year. It will be an interesting season for them."

Nonetheless, the former Manchester United forward maintains if City don't exceed expectations, then Guardiola might lose his post.

"If City don't win the league this year, I don't think Pep will be there. It might be a team in transition looking for a new manager and new players.

"So, I don't think you can look at it and say it's going to take the next three years to rebuild another title-winning team when there's probably uncertainty if the manager will still be there."

Watch The Wayne Rooney Show on BBC iPlayer or listen on BBC Sounds

Sean Kearns
BBC Sport

Pep Guardiola's best teams have been built on control, patterns of play and attacking incision.

When Manchester City beat Wolves 4-0 on the opening weekend of the season, it was natural to think the troubles that had plagued them last term had been erased over the summer.

But Sunday's defeat on the south coast was a repeat of the inconsistency City displayed throughout last season.

Guardiola's side stifled Brighton in the first half, limiting the Seagulls to a single opportunity through Kaoru Mitoma.

Erling Haaland, making his 100th Premier League appearance for City, opened the scoring with his 88th league goal for the club.

But a quadruple substitution by Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler after an hour changed the course of the game, with James Milner, Brajan Gruda, Georginio Rutter and Yasin Ayari entering the fray.

Brighton dominated from there on, equalising from the penalty spot through Milner, before a last-minute winner from Gruda.

"We conceded two goals. We were excellent for one hour," Guardiola told BBC Sport.

"After the goal we forgot to play. We were thinking of the consequences.

"I like many, many things we are doing. Like against Tottenham, we started well. I like many things the team has done here today but we were unable to win. When we conceded the goal, we stopped playing.

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

• Hear more from Guardiola on BBC Sounds

Only Manchester United's 1992-1993 title-winning team have recovered from losing two of their first three league matches to be crowned champions, and that came during a 42-game season.

"It's back to the drawing board for Man City," said former Chelsea and Middlesbrough goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.

"There are a lot of questions still about this team and Pep Guardiola. Is he going to turn it around? He has never been in a situation quite like this before and the hole keeps getting deeper and deeper."

Shamoon Hafez
Manchester City reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City have reshaped their squad in this transfer window, spending over £150m on six new signings, as well as seeing the exits of experienced winners Kevin de Bruyne, Kyle Walker and Jack Grealish from the dressing room.

Boss Pep Guardiola has spoken publicly about wanting to work with a smaller squad and it remains to be seen whether he gets his wish before the end of the window.

Sources have told BBC Sport there is interest in Manuel Akanji from Crystal Palace, AC Milan and Galatasaray among others, with City understood to be wanting about £15m for the defender.

With four senior goalkeepers on the books, Stefan Ortega will be allowed to move on and sources close to the player have said they are "looking for solutions".

Will Ederson leave too? If he does, will City have enough time to bring Gianluigi Donnarumma in?

Midfielder Ilkay Gundogan may go too if a suitable offer comes in, while there has also been reported interest in defender Nathan Ake.

It might be a busy day at Etihad Stadium.

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your views on what is still needed by Manchester City on transfer deadline day.

Here are some of your comments:

Colin: Anyone can see that we need a new top-class goalkeeper if Ederson leaves. We also do not possess a dominant, tall centre-back to clear up defensive set-plays. For all his brilliance in some areas, Pep Guardiola is generally suspect in the transfer market. Complains he has too many players - who signed them all, Pep? He inherited a top-class team - in some areas we do not match those standards as we speak.

Mark: James Trafford is one for the future - we need Gianluigi Donnarumma for the Champions League. Hopefully sign him and a right-back.

Chris: Definitely a right-back. Rico Lewis is not a right-back. Mateus Nunes a panic buy who should never play for Manchester City again as he makes too many mistakes.

Brian: City must not be tempted to overload in this transfer window. We need two key positions filled - a left-back and a holding midfielder to be there to support Rodri. We need to sell four players - Gundogan, Akanji, Ederson and Phillips. City have done wonderful transfer business in this calendar year, but we now need to complete the squad re-profile to give stability to both the domestic and European challenges. The quest must now begin to replace Guardiola for next season.

Susan: We need to have clear sight on who our number one goalkeeper will be. It's vital. And we still need another midfielder with extra energy and power. It still feels like we are lacking there.

Ian: Get Donnarumma, and a left-back too. While we have a lot of defenders, they are injury prone and playing out of position. Let Gundogan go - he's been a great servant but not the same since his return. Honestly, we could do with a back-up forward too but that's not going to happen.

Fenerbahce are working on a deal to sign goalkeeper Ederson from Manchester City after Turkish rivals Galatasaray had a 10m euro (£8.7m) bid rejected. (Fabrizio Romano), external

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

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Today is the second transfer deadline day of the summer following a brief closure in June because of the Club World Cup.

In a change to previous windows, clubs only have until 19:00 BST to complete deals, bringing the Premier League in line with the EFL, Italy's Serie A, France's Ligue 1 and Germany's Bundesliga. The window in Scotland and Spain remains open until 23:00 BST.

It has already been a hectic window - with a number of storylines still to be resolved - but whether it turns out to be a day of transfer action or a pretty quiet one for your club, you will be able to keep across it all on BBC Sport.

Follow our live text coverage throughout the day here

Get alerts and keep up to date with all the latest news, insight and fan views for your club

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

Here are some of your comments:

Brighton fans

Tony: First, Fabian Hurzeler deserves great credit for the quadruple substitution that turned the game on its head. We were very poor until that point. However, I was surprised by City's decline. They are a shadow of their former selves. Their first-half display was possibly the most cynical and negative I have ever witnessed.

Fran: Sloppy and sluggish first half, but the subs again made the difference. I thought James Milner used his experience and we looked a totally different side. Deserved to win.

Chris: Same old one poor half and one good half. A relief to finally get three points - especially against City - after three games, but worry is for another season of inconsistency under Hurzler.

Jane: Subs made all the difference. Surely some of these guys need to start the next game? I would also suggest the new strikers should at least be on the bench, otherwise the money is wasted, isn't it?

Man City fans

Silvio: Pep Guardiola must go! His type of game is over. It would only work with outstanding talents and he no longer has them. Other teams know how to outsmart his tactics and he destroys talented players by de-skilling them - look what he did with Jack Grealish and look how he is performing under Moyes. Tiki-taka football might give you possession, but once you lose the ball you're wide open. He must go.

Ged: Pass, pass, backwards, sideways, pass, sideways - repeat endlessly without any end product. Arrogance, laziness and redundant tactics. The game has changed, Pep - change with it. There is no fear factor when playing City any more. If bringing on Jeremy Doku and Rico Lewis to try to change the game is the answer, then we really are bereft of originality. The only saving grace is that there are plenty of games left.

Mark: Taxi for Pep. No improvement from last season. Same predictable, sterile football. Boring. The club is now more interested in making money than winning trophies. Transfers in the past two seasons have been atrocious. Bring back Vincent Kompany.

Paul: Out of the title race in August. Same issues as last year - no intensity and can't defend.

Pundits Wayne Rooney and Joe Hart join host Kelly Cates to bring you the action and talking points from Sunday's Premier League fixtures.

Watch on BBC iPlayer here

And listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Brighton 2-1 Manchester City

• Nottingham Forest 0-3 West Ham

• Liverpool 1-0 Arsenal

• Aston Villa 0-3 Crystal Palace

Adwaidh Rajan
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Pep Guardiola would have hoped to have turned over a new leaf when Manchester City crushed Wolves 4-0 in their Premier League opener.

But that optimism from has quickly evaporated as a loss to Tottenham last week was followed by a late 2-1 defeat at Brighton on Sunday.

Things were looking up for Guardiola when Erling Haaland showed his knack to be at the right place at the right time to mark his 100th Premier League appearance with the opener for City.

Since signing from Borussia Dortmund in 2022, Haaland has scored 88 goals in the English top division - more than any other player in their first 100 games.

For comparison, Alan Shearer scored 79 in his first 100 games while Ruud van Nistelrooy had 68 and City legend Sergio Aguero netted 64.

However, the Norwegian was not to grab the headlines at the final whistle as the Seagulls pulled off a blockbuster second-half display to derail City.

The visitors failed to deal with Brighton's counter-attacks after the restart as Kaoru Mitoma, Yankuba Minteh and Diego Gomez all had chances to hurt City from quick breaks before goals from James Milner and Brajan Gruda sealed their fate.

It is safe to say City, who were looking to better their third-placed finish from last season, have not had an ideal start to the new season.

And it will not get any easier for them either as Manchester United will visit the Etihad Stadium in their first game back from international break on 14 September.

Pep Guardiola spoke to BBC Match of the Day after Manchester City's defeat against Brighton: "We conceded two goals. We were excellent for one hour. After the goal we forgot to play. We were thinking of the consequences.

"I like many, many things we are doing. Like against Tottenham, we started well. I like many things the team has done here today but we were unable to win. When we conceded the goal we stopped playing.

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

Rodri spoke to Sky Sports after Sunday's defeat: "I'm not Messi. I'm not going to come back and just make the team win and win, this is a collective. When we won in the past I needed all my teammates. For sure I need to recover my best level and we have to look to all of ourselves, it is a collective sport. Hopefully after the break we can be much better."

On what people might think of the team with two defeats in three: "To be honest I don't care. The people can think whatever they want. We just have to work hard and focus on us and let's talk at the end of the season."

Did you know?

• Manchester City have lost two of their first three Premier League matches in a season for the first time since the 2004-05 campaign. Only one team has ever lost two of their first three games and recovered to win the title – Man Utd in 1992-93.

• Rodri has ended on the losing side in a Premier League match he started for the first time since Man City's 1-0 loss to Spurs in February 2023, ending a 49-game unbeaten streak for the Spaniard. Only Sol Campbell (56 in a row between 2002 and 2004) has gone more consecutive starts without losing.

• Today was Man City forward Erling Haaland's 100th Premier League appearance, with his goal taking him to 88 goals in the competition – nine more than any other player has scored in their first 100 matches.

Whether you were at the game or following from elsewhere, we want to know what you learned.

Have your say on Brighton's performance

What did you make of Man City's display?

Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler makes three changes from the 2-0 defeat by Everton last week.

Diego Gomez, Jack Hinshelwood and Joel Veltman are among the starters as Matt O'Riley, Yasin Ayari and Mats Wieffer miss out.

Brighton XI: Verbruggen, Dunk, Van Hecke, Minteh, Hinshelwood, Baleba, Welbeck, Mitoma, Gomez, De Cuyper, Veltman.

Subs: Steele, Gruda, Rutter, Milner, Boscagli, Kadioglu, Ayari, O'Riley, Coppola

The big news from the Manchester City camp is that Pep Guardiola has insisted with James Trafford in the goal with Ederson's future at the club uncertain.

They make four changes from the 2-0 defeat by Tottenham last week, including a first start for Rodri since a 2-2 draw with Arsenal in September 2024. Matheus Nunes, Abdukodir Khusanov and Bernardo Silva also come in.

Manchester City XI: Trafford, Reijnders, Stones, Marmoush, Rodri, Silva, Ait-Nouri, Nunes, Khusanov, Bobb, Haaland.

Subs: Ederson, Dias, Ake, Doku, Gonzalez, Gundogan, Akanji, O'Reilly, Lewis.

There are four games in the Premier League on Saturday and BBC Sport will bring you every moment.

• Brighton v Man City - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

• Nottingham Forest v West Ham - listen on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 2

• Liverpool v Arsenal (16:30) - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

• Aston Villa v Crystal Palace (19:00)

Kick-off times 14:00 BST unless stated

Follow all of the action and reaction from the two 14:00 matches here

Get Liverpool v Arsenal here

And Aston Villa v Crystal Palace is here

Which Manchester City side will we see? I said last week on Football Focus and Final Score that the goalkeepeing situation with James Trafford worries the life out of me. I don't think he should be playing ahead of Ederson, even if there is talk of Ederson leaving.

Brighton should've won their first game against Fulham - they didn't and then they lost to Everton despite having a fair few chances.

This match could be anything. I think we'll find out a lot about Manchester City and whether they can be challengers because Brighton away is a difficult fixture.

Last season I backed City on so many occasions saying they'd bounce back. I got so many of the predictions wrong after they did the exact opposite and stayed on their bad run.

There's a strong chance I'll be wrong again, wouldn't be the first time, but I'm going to revert back to last season's technique and say City will pinch this.

Sutton's prediction: 1-2

Read the full predictions and have your say here

It's transfer deadline day tomorrow, with the window closing at 19:00 BST.

How would you assess your window? And if you think work still needs to be done, give us names on who should be brought in or let go.

Get in touch with your views here

Tottenham Hotspur lead the race for Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji, 30, as they look to beat both AC Milan and Crystal Palace to his signature. (Gazetta Dello Sport - in Italian), external

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

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

Uefa has confirmed the date and time for each of Manchester City's eight Champions League group stage matches:

• Man City v Napoli: Thursday, 18 September - 20:00 BST

• Monaco v Man City: Wednesday, 1 October - 20.00 BST

• Villarreal v Man City: Tuesday, 21 October - 20.00 BST

• Man City v Borussia Dortmund: Wednesday, 5 November - 20.00 GMT

• Man City v Bayer Leverkusen: Tuesday, 25 November - 20.00 GMT

• Real Madrid v Man City: Wednesday, 10 December - 20.00 GMT

• Bodo/Glimt v Man City: Tuesday, 20 January 2025 - 17.45 GMT

• Man City v Galatasary: Wednesday, 28 January 2025 - 20.00 GMT

Tom White
BBC Sport

Brighton host Manchester City on the south coast this Sunday. BBC Sport takes a look at some of the fixture's key themes.

Brighton made 11 changes for their Carabao Cup match against Oxford United in midweek, prompting an instant change in fortune in front of goal. The Seagulls, who had managed just one goal from their opening two games of the Premier League campaign despite an xG of 3.91, put six past the Championship side, including debut goals for trio Olivier Boscagli, Stefanos Tzimas and Tom Watson.

Fabian Hurzeler's side host Manchester City hoping to avoid failing to win their opening three games of a league season for the first time since their debut Premier League campaign in 2017-18. Hurzeler will take encouragement from his side's record against City in 2024-25, winning this fixture 2-1 in November before a 2-2 draw in Manchester last March.

The German is looking to become just the second manager, after Ronald Koeman, to be undefeated against Pep Guardiola in three top-flight matches.

City's 2-0 home defeat by Tottenham last weekend was a stark reminder that Guardiola still has a team in transition. He stated afterwards that his side needed "more composure with the ball" to keep improving.

One problem he doesn't have is in the striker department. Erling Haaland is due to make his 100th Premier League appearance this weekend and has been more prolific than any other player to reach that milestone. His tally of 87 goals is one more than West Bromwich Albion managed in their first 100 Premier League games.

Manchester City's recent away league form is strong – they are unbeaten in their past five on the road, without conceding a goal. On Sunday, they can set a club record of six consecutive away clean sheets in the league.

Karan Vinod
BBC Sport journalist

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has been speaking to the media before Sunday's Premier League game against Brighton at Amex Stadium (kick-off 14:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Guardiola confirmed that Rayan Ait-Nouri is available for selection and there are no other fresh injury concerns. He "hopes" to have Savinho back after the international break.

• On transfer activity and Savinho's future: "When the transfer window closes, then you can ask me about that. Don't ask me about rumours and potential arrivals. Next week. Always have been [happy with the squad size]."

• Guardiola said he is not the kind of "manager to complain much about the squad" and "it is what it is and the club is doing the best". He also stated that he recognised how much the players tried last season to "do well".

• On goalkeeper James Trafford's morale: "Always have the arm around their shoulders - they don't believe how we take care of them. Impossible to be better. What happened doesn't belong just to James in the second goal. He is a strong man and a huge personality. We are here to help them, no doubt about that."

• Guardiola revealed he has yet to decide who will start in goal against Brighton, adding that the decision will be made on Saturday because he is not scheduled to hold a news conference.

• On inconsistency in performances: "It is one game at a time. The season has just started and it's only been two games - and just with two games, I have a feeling that we will have a good season. I know the people maybe don't believe it."

• On Brighton: "Really good team - they proved it last season. They have been a really good team for a long time."

• The City manager confirmed he has "spoken with Rodri" following the midfielder's call-up to the Spain squad for the upcoming international break, amid concerns over managing his minutes and gradually easing him back in.

• Guardiola said he is happy with the "honours of having the most games" as a visiting manager at the Bernabeu after being drawn against Real Madrid once again in the Champions League.

• On also facing Kevin de Bruyne and Leroy Sane in the group phase of the competition: "I am really pleased that they can come back here and, of course, we have to beat the two teams - Napoli and Galatasaray. But it is nice to bring them back, and we can give a great welcome to them because they deserve it."

Hear more from Guardiola on BBC Sounds

Listen to BBC Radio 5 Live match commentary of Brighton v Man City at 14:00 on Sunday

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news