BRIGHTON 2-1 MAN CITY: Erling Haaland found his scoring form again to give the champions an early lead, but Manchester City were stunned by a determined second-half comeback from Brighton.
The focus may fall on City’s defense, but the attackers deserve scrutiny as well. After Haaland opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, the team seemed to assume the match was over. But the shift in momentum largely came from Fabian Hurzeler’s sharp substitutions, and City’s attack faltered at crucial moments, leaving them just as accountable as their struggling defense.
City had chances to seal the game before halftime—Haaland had three clear opportunities before he found the net, and Savinho, a standout talent, could have claimed a hat-trick. While the Brazilian forward impresses with his skill, his finishing remains a glaring weakness that Pep Guardiola will need to address in training.
In the last 20 minutes, Guardiola’s high defensive line was ruthlessly exposed. Joao Pedro equalized for Brighton and then assisted substitute Matt O’Riley for the winning goal. With this fourth consecutive defeat across all competitions, City’s attack has now become as problematic as their increasingly leaky defense.
Eleven matches into the 2024-25 Premier League, Haaland stands alone as City’s top scorer with 12 goals. Behind him, only defender Josko Gvardiol and midfielder Mateo Kovacic have scored more than once in the league, each netting three times. While the Croatian duo has been solid individually, these numbers cast a harsh light on City’s star-studded forward line, apart from Haaland.
Guardiola faces an unwelcome milestone: four losses in a row for the first time in his career. The PFA Player of the Year Phil Foden, despite scoring against Sporting on Tuesday, was unusually quiet and still has yet to score in the league this season. Savinho, Bernardo Silva, and Jack Grealish are also scoreless, leaving City’s attack worryingly blunt as they enter the November international break. Collectively, that’s zero goals from 34 appearances—a troubling stat for such high-profile talent.
Injuries, rotation, and fitness concerns may play a role, but this level of performance falls short of last season’s standard. Losing Julian Alvarez to Atletico Madrid for a hefty £81.5 million payday seems questionable, especially with no replacement secured by Txiki Begiristain.
So far, City have only scored 22 Premier League goals this season—the same as mid-table Brentford and Tottenham—a stark contrast to the 28 they’d racked up by this time last season. Defensively, they’ve also allowed five more goals than at the same point last year, an issue that’s hard to ignore with challenging games against Spurs and Liverpool on the horizon.
Brighton demonstrated exactly what City are currently missing with their relentless energy and clinical finishing across the field. City’s overreliance on Haaland is now becoming evident, and even he isn’t entirely off the hook.
Interestingly, over 650,000 Fantasy Premier League managers dropped Haaland from their squads this week, making him the most-sold player in the game, with his ownership falling to 66%. While fantasy stats don’t always mirror real-life form, this trend suggests a diminishing confidence in Haaland’s reliability.
Though Haaland’s record remains impressive—15 goals in his last 16 appearances across all competitions—his form in the league has dipped. He has only scored once in his last five league matches, a rare dry spell by his high standards, despite facing sides like Newcastle, Fulham, Wolves, Southampton, and Bournemouth.
