Guardiola Admits Man City Can’t Compete for 90 Minutes we have to force him to play with injury
Pep Guardiola confessed Manchester City’s recent struggles to compete for a full 90 minutes after Brighton dealt the Premier League champions a fourth straight defeat with a dramatic 2-1 comeback at the Amex Stadium.
Despite taking an early lead through Erling Haaland, City’s form crumbled in the closing minutes. Joao Pedro equalised, and Matt O’Riley struck the winner with seven minutes left, handing Guardiola his first four-game losing streak in his career.
“Today, we played very well in the first half but couldn’t finish the game,” Guardiola reflected.
“We were not consistent to maintain our game and our intensity and press and be aggressive for 90 minutes. The level we are playing is really good in certain moments, but we are not able to continue for a long time. I’m pretty sure when the players come back (after the international break) and we make some individual qualities in the team, we’ll be back.”
Guardiola Admits Man City Can’t Compete for 90 Minutes
The loss adds to a troubling period for City, following a League Cup exit to Tottenham, a league loss to Bournemouth, and a 4-1 Champions League defeat by Sporting Lisbon. Now trailing five points behind leaders Liverpool, City’s fifth successive title bid looks uncertain.
Injury issues have compounded City’s decline, with key defenders Ruben Dias and John Stones unavailable, leaving 19-year-old Jahmai Simpson-Pusey to start in central defence. The young backline wilted under pressure, as City’s title hopes took another blow.
Guardiola remains optimistic despite the setback, saying, “Normally people lose games, right? Always there’s a first time in life. This is my challenge, our challenge, and I like to face it. I will not step back at all. More than ever, I want to do it. We will try again.”
However, he acknowledged that after years of dominance, this season might be different: “Maybe after seven years winning six Premier Leagues, maybe one year another team deserves it.”
Manchester City’s desperate run of form continued with a defeat at Brighton to make it four losses in a row and back-to-back in the Premier League.
BRIGHTON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 09: Kaoru Mitoma of Brighton & Hove Albion holds off Kyle Walker of Manchester City during the Premier League match between Brighton & Hove Albion FC and Manchester City FC at Amex Stadium on November 09, 2024 in Brighton, England. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
Pep Guardiola refused to make excuses for Manchester City’s losing run, but listed the players he has unavailable to highlight how far away from full strength the Blues are.
City have lost at Tottenham, Bournemouth, Sporting and Brighton in the space of 11 torrid days, and arrived at the Amex Stadium with another injury added to the list as Jeremy Doku was ruled out.
Guardiola insisted his side played well vs Brighton and also at Spurs and Sporting, but bemoaned his tired squad’s ability to maintain their intensity and aggression for 90 minutes. He left Manu Akanji and Nathan Ake on the bench as Jahmai Simpson-Pusey started again for his Premier League debut.
Kyle Walker struggled but Guardiola said he is not fully fit, while Kevin De Bruyne was unable to salvage the game off the bench – both playing ahead of schedule.
“Kyle is not ready for 90 minutes at all because he trained few training sessions all season so far and still we are not able to do it for a long time,” Guardiola explained. “Hopefully we can maintain the level when the whole squad come back. All the teams have a lot of injuries, hopefully we can turn it around with all the players being fit.
“The point is we don’t have the players. The four central defenders, all four are injured. And 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.
“In the second half if I could use Manu or Nathan or Ruben [Dias] and after that in the last minutes if I need to change the game I could put Doku or other players, but we cannot do it. It looks like I am complaining but please do not misunderstand me, it’s not that, we played really good in my opinion.
“But if you ask me how does it compare to previous seasons, 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.”
Guardiola also confirmed that Ake and Akanji were unable to play any part despite sitting on the bench – “Otherwise would have played,” he said. “Having 10 days to recover I would have played but they are not ready. Manu said ‘I felt so bad’ in the training session yesterday that he couldn’t move properly. Against that team I prefer fresh people.”
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