City Watch: Blues lose more ground in title race with defeat at Brighton

Usually these columns give me an immense amount of joy to write after watching the football team I’ve loved and supported my whole life win and win again. However, the last few weeks have proved a challenge given the state of Manchester City’s form.

Now I’m not one to complain and say it’s the end of the world after a few losses. From what I’ve seen, there’s a lot of fans out there who believe their club has a given right to win every game and be competing for every trophy each season. I want to say that no club is entitled to any trophy, they’re all won and championed by managers, staff and players who dedicate their lives to achieving extraordinary things, like City have done over the past few years.

Being only 23 years old, I can’t say that I’ve watched the club when it was at rock bottom, however, everything I’ve experienced as a fan so far has been incredible and if it all stopped tomorrow, I’d have those amazing memories.

That being said, I do like to give my analysis on the games in this column, so I’ll try my best not to be too upset about our recent results. After a 4-1 loss to Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League last week, our first in the competition since 2022 against Real Madrid, City had the chance to bounce back from three losses against Brighton at the Amex on Saturday.

The stadium brings back fond memories for me, and probably a lot of City fans as in 2019, we pipped Liverpool to the Premier League title on the final day in Sussex. 

This particular visit wouldn’t be as successful for the Blues. After a quick start the the game, Pep’s side were dominating the opening exchanges, not letting Brighton out of their own half. After 23 minutes, Erling Haaland opened the scoring with a not too convincing finish from a rebounded shot. 

City continued to dominate the first half but, similar to the Sporting game last week, were unable to take our chances after going 1-0 up.

The second half was a comely different picture, with Brighton coming out of the blocks very quickly, which almost seemed to surprise us. It was a very open 45 minutes, but after probing for just over half an hour, Brighton eventually got what they deserved and drew the game level through substitute Joao Pedro, who really changed the game.

Just five minutes later, debutant Matt O’Riley gave the Seagulls a 2-1 lead, which I have to say, they fully deserved.

The international break has come at just the right time for City, it’ll be a chance for the players to reset, spend some time with international teammates and come back stronger, as after the break, our next two Premier League games are Tottenham at the Etihad and Liverpool at Anfield.

I fear for the results of those games if the form doesn’t improve, it honestly feels like the whole squad is demotivated at the moment. The loss of Rodri is clearly playing a huge part not just on the pitch, but also mentally. I mentioned in one of my previous columns that the players seem more confident in themselves when the Spaniard is alongside them.

I’ll have the chance to break from talking about City myself next week too, it might be quite nice to talk about the internationals for once!