Rodri blasts Man City after stunning defeat at Brighton - 'Don't care'

Manchester City midfielder Rodri gave a stark assessment of where the team need to improve after their 2-1 defeat at Brighton.

Rodri was not happy after Manchester City's defeat

Rodri blasted Manchester City for making schoolboy errors after throwing away a 1-0 lead at Brighton to lose. The Ballon d'Or winner made his first Premier League start for 11 months but ended it concluding that his team are nowhere near where they need to be if they want to compete.

It was another setback for Pep Guardiola with a second defeat in their opening three games, and particularly disappointing given how well they had controlled the game for the first hour. Erling Haaland had given the Blues a first-half lead that was deserved, with Brighton only creating chances to generate 0.04 in expected goals in the opening 60 minutes before a quadruple change transformed the match.

Guardiola made changes to try and turn the momentum back into his team's favour, but it proved a fruitless task. James Milner equalised from the penalty spot after a Matheus Nunes handball before a late winner from Brajan Gruda that broke what little resistance City had left.

Rodri had little thought for what City's record of one win in three games says about where the club are at. However, he was far more concerned with the performances in the opening weeks.

"To be honest, I don't care. The people can think whatever they want. We just have to work hard and focus on us and let's talk at the end of the season," he told Sky Sports.

"We're disappointed because we are Manchester City and we come here to win, but this is the reality. We are not at the level for a long, long time.

"The only way to come back is to look to ourselves. We started well but the second half we dropped a little bit. Then at home they have pressure and we make two mistakes and it's 2-1.

"We are missing the level. I don't know, call it how you want. It is a matter of the team and the changes, new players have to adapt, and of course when you change the team that much it is difficult. This is our reality, it is not for excuses and we have to see this is not the way to achieve things. Let's go to the break and refresh the mind.

"I do think that we had control of the game and we were not our best. We did not create our best match but today we should win because we concede two big mistakes and counter attacks. Some of the mistakes we are doing are kid mistakes, you are not concentrating and paying attention. The reality is that we have to raise the level if we want to compete.

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