Man City 2-1 Brighton: First half not so good, second half good
Regular WAB readers will know that around these parts, we are very fond of a phrase made famous by Sven-Goran Eriksson during his time as England boss. And Man City 2-1 Brighton offers the perfect excuse to dust off the Swede’s favourite saying. Kind of.
“First half good, second half not so good,” is how Eriksson would often describe the performance of his Three Lions team. For the Albion at the Etihad, it was the reverse; first half not so good, second half good.
The champions led 2-0 inside of 20 minutes. City were clearly in no mood to face the prospect of losing a third Premier League game in a row for the first time since Pep Guardiola became head of sportswashing for Abu Dhabi in 2016.
It could and probably should have been more. Without Lewis Dunk, it almost certainly would have been. The Brighton captain gave the best possible response to being jettisoned from the England starting XI for the Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy on Tuesday night with a magnificent display against arguably the finest team in Premier League history.
Thousands of words will no doubt be devoted to who should partner John Stones when the Three Lions open their campaign in Germany next summer. More performances like this and Dunk’s claims will be irresistible.
Whilst Dunk thrived at the Etihad, others struggled. In particular, James Milner. Roberto De Zerbi went on the defensive afterwards when questioned on the 37-year-old’s performance at right back, saying Milner was not the problem. But he very much was.
A lot of Albion fans questioned the wisdom of not signing new, younger cover in both full back positions during the summer.
Watching Jeremy Doku tear Milner apart down one flank whilst Solly March was forced into playing at left back due to Pervis Estupinan and Tariq Lamptey being injured felt very much like a cows coming home to roost moment.
And that is before we even mention March departing proceedings on a stretcher. The poor bloke has already suffered some terrible knee injuries in his career. Fingers crossed it is not another.
Man City 2-1 Brighton is not the first time Milner has been targeted by an opposition manager opting to test him with a fast, direct winger. West Ham did likewise when winning 3-1 at the Amex. It will not be the last, either.
Doku gave Brighton a taste of what was to come when breezing past Milner and firing just wide before City took a 1-0 lead with just seven minutes on the clock.
Phil Foden seems to reserve his best for facing the Albion. He switched the ball out to the left, Doku drifted past Pascal Gross and his low pass into the box was lifted over Jason Steele by Julian Alvarez.
Next came a reminder that Carlos Baleba is far from the finished article, despite all the giddiness Brighton fans have been exerting over his potential.
A terrible mistake from the 19-year-old gifted the ball to Erling Haaland in midfield. You simply cannot afford to give away possession like that in any Premier League game; let alone to City of all teams and Haaland of all people.
The Norwegian striker gleefully accepted the gift, driving forward and finding the bottom corner with an unstoppable effort from outside the box.
At this point, memories flashed back to last month’s 6-1 defeat to Aston Villa. Brighton managed to negotiate more than 20 minutes of that horror show at Villa Park without being 2-0 down, so just how many goals were City going to rack up?
The answer was none, although that was not for the want of trying on the part of City. Doku had the best chance to make it three, leading Milner on a merry dance (again) before cutting inside. Doku should have at least tested Steele, but could only fire high and wide.
De Zerbi hauled Milner at the break in favour of Joel Veltman. Whatever else De Zerbi said during the interval worked as Brighton were much improved after the break, turning what was looking like a comfortable afternoon for City into a nervy one.
Gross should have done better when Simon Adingra found him after intercepting a poor pass from home goalkeeper Stefan Ortega. Rather than hitting the target when put in one-on-one, Der Kaiser was unusually non-clinical in firing wide.
Steele made a decent save from Haaland before Kaoru Mitoma came to the fore. Brighton hit a long ball out of defence, Ansu Fati helped it out to the left to send Mitoma running clear.
Ortega came charging from his goal which initially looked bold. When Mitoma could only drill low and hard against the City goalkeeper from the edge of the box, it suddenly became an inspired piece of goalkeeping.
Mitoma then showed his very underrated aerial ability, rising at the far post to head a Gross corner into the side netting.
You could feel that City were starting to worry a little. That worry deepened when Fati made it Man City 2-1 Brighton with 17 minutes remaining.
It was a beautiful goal which went from one end to the other in double-quick time. A Steele clearance went awry and Alvarez went for goal from 30 yards out on the left.
Dunk blocked on the line and hit a pass towards Fati. The on-loan Barcelona man found Mitoma and off went the Japanese Bullet Train, breaking 50 yards down the pitch with the ball at his feet.
After reaching the box, Mitoma pulled a cross back. Manuel Akanji could only half clear to the edge of the area where Fati arrived having continued his run, guiding the ball beyond Ortega.
Suddenly, it was game on. In a testament to what Pep Guardiola thinks of Brighton, Man City sat back to try and defend their 2-1 lead rather than going for a third, as they would against most opponents.
The champions even resulted to time wasting followed by cynical fouls to stop the Albion in the search for an equaliser, leading to Akanji seeing red at the start of 10 minutes stoppage time.
Fati was enjoying possibly his best showing in a Seagulls shirt so far. He was looking to break into the City half when Akanji grabbed him around the waste as if the two were at a barn dance, earning a second yellow card.
There probably should have been more than 10 added minutes given how City ran down the clock in the latter stages. The champions though held firm – but Brighton could take heart from their second half performance ahead of a run of big games.
