Manchester City’s dismal form continued with a 2-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion, marking their fourth consecutive loss and their second straight in the Premier League. This latest setback has left Pep Guardiola facing growing frustration as his side struggles to regain their rhythm.
Despite the mounting losses—against Tottenham, Bournemouth, Sporting, and now Brighton in just 11 days—Guardiola refused to make excuses for his team’s performances. However, he pointed to the injury crisis that has left the Blues far from full strength. Jeremy Doku was the latest addition to the injury list, further depleting the squad.
“I think we played well against Brighton, and also against Spurs and Sporting,” Guardiola said. “But the problem is that the tired squad could not maintain intensity and aggression for 90 minutes.” The manager also revealed that key players such as Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne were still recovering and had to play earlier than planned.
“Kyle is not ready for 90 minutes at all because he trained few training sessions all season so far,” Guardiola explained. “Still, we are not able to do it for a long time. Hopefully, we can maintain the level when the whole squad is back.”
The manager continued to stress the impact of missing key players: “The point is we don’t have the players. The four central defenders, all four are injured. Rodri, the best player, is not there. Kevin is away from his best. Doku is injured. Jack [Grealish] is injured. You can do it for one game, but to be consistent you cannot.”
Guardiola lamented the limitations he faced due to the injuries: “In the second half, if I could use Manu [Akanji] or Nathan [Ake] or Ruben [Dias], and after that, if I needed to change the game, I could have brought on Doku or other players. But we cannot do it.”
Though Guardiola admitted that the team played well at times, he pointed out that the difference between this season and previous ones is the lack of depth: “In previous seasons, we had the squad. That is the main difference. But we have to survive with that, we have to live with that, and how we behave is good.”
Regarding Ake and Akanji, Guardiola confirmed they were unable to play despite being on the bench. “Otherwise, they would have played,” he said. “Having 10 days to recover, I would have played them, but they are not ready. Manu said, ‘I felt so bad in the training session yesterday that I couldn’t move properly. Against that team, I prefer fresh people.’”
