This is what being a Manchester City fan used to feel like.
Traveling across the country during a rough patch, hoping for a win but not expecting one. The journey itself often mattered more than the match. If City won, it was a bonus.
Pep Guardiola has flipped the script on this “Typical City” notion over the last nine years. Wins are assumed. Titles are anticipated. When Pep says that losing is normal and that titles aren’t guaranteed, it sounds like overthinking; fans just expect that City will string together 10, 20 wins by season’s end to secure another title.
But this challenging period is exactly what Guardiola has warned about for years. “One day, we will stop winning,” he’s said repeatedly. Now, with three losses in a row, City fans are feeling echoes of an era they thought was left behind. The prospect of a fourth straight defeat feels like a distant but haunting memory.
In the past, City endured a miserable run in 2006 with 10 losses in 11 Premier League games, including two separate stretches of four straight defeats under Stuart Pearce. That team, with players like Bernardo Corradi, Ben Thatcher, and Joey Barton, couldn’t compare to today’s squad. Yet the lineup against Brighton felt just as patched-up and chaotic.
Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, who was just nine months old back then, started his first Premier League game, partnering Josko Gvardiol in a defensive pairing of City’s fifth and sixth-choice center-backs. The squad’s severe injury issues have clearly left Guardiola with limited options.
Guardiola, usually known for his intense but composed pre-game rituals, made a rare appearance during warm-ups, pacing the touchline and observing both squads closely. Was he looking to inspire a new focus in his team or simply too anxious to stay in the dressing room? Either way, it added weight to what already felt like a higher-stakes game.
Despite the tension, City looked like themselves in the first half. Matheus Nunes and Savinho were making promising runs down the flanks, Phil Foden was creating from deep, and Simpson-Pusey was holding his own. Savinho’s shot was well-saved, and Haaland narrowly missed a chance off a Foden free-kick.
Haaland has struggled in front of goal during this losing streak, with xG stats indicating he’s missed about 4.5 expected goals over the last three games. But when Mateo Kovacic slid him a perfectly-timed pass, he found the back of the net, needing two tries but celebrating with a telling grin.
Kovacic, who’s faced criticism in recent weeks, played a big part in that goal by intercepting a dangerous attack and setting up Haaland. Later, he almost scored with a well-hit volley, showing a much-improved all-around performance.
Brighton was persistent, though. Danny Welbeck kept City on edge, and Ederson was called into action to maintain the lead with a reflex save. Joao Pedro, though, eventually equalized after City’s defense struggled to clear, and then set up Matt O’Riley for the winning goal, sealing a rare four-game losing streak for Guardiola.
Brighton fans chanted “Sacked in the morning,” and Guardiola looked visibly frustrated, exchanging words with Brighton’s staff and defender Jan Paul van Hecke after the final whistle. This international break couldn’t come at a better time for him.
The break will prompt questions about Guardiola’s future, especially as he often signs contract extensions during these periods. But he may be more focused on solving a crisis of injuries and losses like he’s never faced. For the first time in his nine years at City, Guardiola is experiencing what “Typical City” used to feel like.
