Pep Guardiola vowed that Manchester City would rediscover their defensive focus after another sloppy display on Saturday. Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush gave the hosts the lead at the Etihad against Brighton but they were pegged back twice and could have lost the game late on when Carlos Baleba blazed over when unmarked in the box.
It was more points dropped in a disappointing campaign that leaves City nervously looking over their shoulders in the race for Champions League qualification. They are in fifth place with nine games to go, although Newcastle can overtake them if they win their game in hand.
Both of the goals conceded against Brighton were avoidable, just like the goal Nottingham Forest scored last week to condemn City to their ninth defeat of the league campaign. Those three goals mean that Guardiola has already conceded more goals than he has in any other Premier League season – and there are still nine matches to play.
From having the meanest defence in the league nearly every year, Everton and Palace are among nine teams to have a better record than the Blues this season and that doesn’t look like changing while individual mistakes keep on happening. Guardiola would not blame individuals – fair given so many players have made so many errors over the course of the season – and put the loss of ‘work ethic and discipline’ when defending down to not having the same players as before.
“When you concede goals like that, and it’s not just today, it’s all the season,” he said. “What happened today has happened all the season.
“We have to be stable. We have to concede few goals. This was our secret.
“People say how well Manchester City have played in recent years and one of the reasons is our work ethic, our discipline. We conceded few. This season is an exception in our period here together.
“We don’t have the same players, definitely not. We are not the same as the last years – and it will be different next year.”
