'We forgot' - Pep Guardiola calls out Man City collapse at Brighton

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• Pep Guardiola

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke about where his side fell short in their 2-1 defeat at Brighton.

Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola accused his Manchester City players of freezing as they fell to another defeat at sunny Brighton. It is consecutive defeats for the Blues after last week's loss to Tottenham that leaves them well off the top of the table after a start that has been short of ideal.

City's manager has seen more positive signs from his team after the disappointment of last season, and they looked good for the first hour at the Amex. Erling Haaland gave them a deserved first-half lead and they looked the more likely to score at the beginning of the second half.

However, a quadruple change from Brighton completely changed the game. They were soon awarded a penalty after Lewis Dunk's effort hit the elbow of Matheus Nunes, and from there on there was only one team that looked likely to win.

James Trafford looked to have rescued a point for the visitors with an outstanding save late on, but seconds later the ball was in the back of his net again as Brajan Gruda took advantage of more poor play from City. Asked what changed in the second half, Guardiola said that his team could not get their organisation and focus back after conceding.

"The penalty. We forgot to play," he said.

"We decided to play direct, fine, but you have to be ready – be there. We were not ready to win the second [balls] when they happened.

"The momentum always happens in the Premier League, a goal can do that, but we forgot to play. We played brilliantly for the first hour.

"We created a lot against a tough opponent. But after the goal, it was like Spurs – we play really good in the beginning, we concede a goal and then we are a little bit more unstable.

"We forget to continue playing. You can never stop to play.

"It's just the beginning of the season. We have to find a way to win games. We lost the last two."

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