Manchester City 1-1 Brighton Review

Premier League GW21

Another draw for Manchester City, with three games that feel equaling frustrating to drop points, and to have chances wasted. They remain only six points behind Arsenal due to their draw against Liverpool. Just about hanging on in the title race. But they need to improve in front of the goal to stand a chance.

Apologies for no review of the Chelsea or Sunderland match; I had a couple of personal issues pop up, but we’re back to it with the Brighton review. Semenyo signing newsletter on the way. Review of Exeter City to come on the weekend!

Notable Stats:

• Erling Haaland has scored the 35,000th Premier League goal, four years and 131 days after the 30,000th by Burnley's Chris Wood against Leeds United in August 2021.

• Brighton's Fabian Hürzeler remains unbeaten against Pep Guardiola's Manchester City side in the Premier League (W2 D2) - becoming the first ever manager to avoid defeat in each of his first four top-flight meetings with the Spaniard.

Game Stats:

Manchester City 1-1 Brighton

• xG: 3.18 - 0.85

• xThreat: 2.13 - 0.93

• Possession: 59.7% - 40.3%

• Field Tilt: 79.1% - 20.9%

• Penalty Box Shots: 16 - 5

• Deep Entries: 16 - 7

• PPDA: 8.3 - 11.0

• High Turnovers: 11 - 1

Max Alleyne completes a full 90' in his Manchester City debut.

Abdukodir Khusanov completes his fourth full 90' of the season.

First start for Jeremy Doku since Real Madrid (A) after returning from injury.

Donnarumma has now played over 2,000+ minutes for Manchester City this season across all competitions.

If you want to stay up-to-date on individual player minutes, back four combinations, underlying numbers, and more, check out the live Google sheet below. 👇

In possession, you saw Nathan Ake look to support Jeremy Doku with underlapping runs, Silva holding the width on the right side, and Foden joining Reijnders between the lines. Nunes is also making the underlapping runs for Silva on the right side.

Brighton set up with Kadioglu as the right winger, who would drop back to support Hindshelwood and offer a 2v1 defending against Jeremy Doku. Rutter drops deeper to allow Ayari to track Foden between the lines.

With Cherki not playing, the pressing shape changed. City ideally wanted to push Brighton over to the right side, with Haaland starting from the left this time around. Reijnders and Foden are covering the pivots. Silva deeper, between De Cuyper and Dunk. If he jumps, Nunes follows to pick up the opposite full-back.

Gross header (2’) comes after City were slow to press, and Dunk has time to hit a ball over the top. Khusanov did not react quickly enough to win the aerial duels, allowing the flick on, and then when Brighton does get the cross in, neither he nor Ake is in a good position to clear it.

Kadioglu chance (8’) comes again from Dunk, having too much time to play a long ball, pressure not there from the 1st line, and then Alleyne gets on the wrong side of Rutter, who can turn and play the ball behind for Kadioglu. Two comfortable saves for Donnarumma in the end, but the issue all starts with the high press. Silva needs a rest for sure, and Semenyo coming in will be taking over this role.

Alleyne (9’) has a chance from a corner just after that Brighton shot that he heads wide. Good delivery from Foden targeting the near-post. Silva (15’) has a shot on the edge of the box from a corner; this time, Reijnders from the left side looped to the back-post. Comfortable save in the end.

A couple more crosses form Doku, including this one across the 6-yard box, but nobody makes the back-post run.

Brilliant first-time long pass out to Jeremy Doku from Phil Foden, who pounced on a loose ball in the midfield. Eventually worked to Ake for a cross that Haaland hits wide. Brighton has another chance with Rutter making an excellent run from deep, catching Khusnaov off guard, who still managed to get back and make a block.

E. Haaland (Pen) 41’ 1-0

The goal comes from Manchester City pressing Brighton high, forcing them long as they play out to the flank, but Jeremy Doku gets across to recover the ball. From there, he turns and drives at the opposition box.

Drives Hinshelwood back, Gomez comes across to support, making a rash challenge as Doku cuts inside to win the penalty. Somehow not given by the referee until VAR intervened, but clear as day.

Haaland steps up, slight delay in the run up as we’ve seen lately, and finishes into the bottom right corner to give Manchester City the lead.

Good chance to double the lead at half-time after Doku picks out the underlapping run of Nathan Ake, he cuts it back to Reijnders in the middle of the box, whose shot is blocked on the line.

Bernardo Silva misses (46’) a big chance at the start of the second half to double the lead off another high turnover, but his shot hits the post. Also had Haaland open in the middle for the pass.

K. Mitoma 60’ 1-1

Brighton equalizes, and it’s poor from Nico Gonzalez in the buildup to it, coming across to support Ake, and the pass goes through his leg to Ayari to run at the backline before passing across to Mitoma.

Silva is quick across to support Nunes 2v1, but they leave the door open for Mitoma to move inside. He drives across the box and shoots into the far right corner. Through the legs of Nico, attempting to block.

It’s not long after that goal, Rodri is brought on for Nico Gonzalez (63’), who I thought had his poorest game of the season. Albeit returning from injury. He was always a step behind in anticipating and getting across to take a defensive action.

Gomez had a great chance (70’) after a long ball over the top was misread by Nunes, who was slightly under the ball. Mitoma gets into the box, and Gomez can’t convert his cross. The best chance of the game for Brighton, and the last one they’d have.

Triple substitution by Guardiola as Foden, Ake, and Nunes all come off (72’) for Lewis, O’Reilly, and Cherki. Brighton didn’t have a single shot after the 70’ as Manchester City continued to apply pressure searching for a winner. 65% possession, 59% of ground duels won, and 80% of aerial duels won by City in the 2nd half.

Big chances for Haaland (81’, 90+1’) and Cherki (86’, 88’) in the final minutes, but neither could take one of them.

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Moving Forward

In the Premier League, all teams will cause you problems at some point in the match, and Brighton were able to in moments, but after City improved with the press and settled into the game, their threat was limited. When you’ve created 12 big chances across the last three games, 49 shots, and 5.81xG, only to score 2 goals. It’s not good enough in front of the goal. Beating Brighton would have cut the lead down to 4 points, and Manchester City won’t get many more opportunities to do that. You cannot afford to miss those chances again.

An excellent performance from Max Alleyne on his Manchester City debut. He's been on the bench several times, all the way back to the CWC in 2023, but this was his first competitive minutes. Some issues with the press and positioning on duels, but those are areas that can be worked on. His courage on the ball to break the lines cannot and that was great to see in his debut.

3/3 tackles won. 3/3 aerial duels won. 6/7 ground duels won. 3/4 dribbles completed. 9/10 long passes completed and made the joint most progressive passes with Bernardo Silva. I'd expect to see him start the next two, in the FA Cup and League Cup—chance taken.

Abdukodir Khusanov was equally impressive off the ball, making the most ball recoveries and defending the width of the pitch. 2/2 tackles won. 3/3 ground duels won. 1/1 aerial duels won.

His pace is a cheat code, able to get back and across the attacking player, or worst case, in time to make a tackle. Giving the team the confidence to be aggressive in the press further up the pitch. Like Alleyne, I’d expect his minutes to continue throughout Jan, and the team will be all the better for it. The injury to Dias gives him the chance to get a run of games that he’s got to take.

Jeremy Doku is back, completing a full 90’ and showing what we’ve missed as he drives the team into the final third and box all game long. Not his easiest game with Brighton doing well to support on that side, often doubled or tripled up, and Ake as the underlapper. Still, he managed to create chances and looks closer to form before his injury.

This was the most passes Donnarumma has completed in a single match for Manchester City this season (38/45). 2/2 short passes completed. 27/27 medium-length passes completed. 9/16 long passes completed. 4/10 launched passes completed, which are passes over 40 yards. If not for the result, I think more talk would be on the step forward he’s taken in this game, and hopefully, we see that continue for the rest of the season. Especially when you’re looking at adding another option for him to play passes into with Semenyo.

Speaking of Semenyo, the club has announced his signing today, and he’ll wear #42. The first number Semenyo wore at Bristol City and the last worn at the club by Yaya Toure. Full newsletter on the signing coming soon…

Another addition it’s expected that the club is pushing for is at CB after the long-term injury to Josko Gvardiol. Stones’ injury is unknown, and Ake cannot be depended on for playing every three days. Alleyne performed well on his debut, but you’re still missing a senior CB, and they’ll be looking to bring the summer move to January. Marc Guehi is one they are pushing for.

Here is a rough look at the potential squad ahead of the final submission for the CL in the second half of the season. If they manage to sign Semenyo and Guehi. I've left out several players from the totals to highlight the room they have for both non-HG and HG players.

Next up for Manchester City is the FA Cup match against Exeter City, the first meeting of the two clubs, and they currently sit 14th in League One. Away from home, Exeter have won three, drawn one, and lost nine. Their starting goalkeeper, Joe Whitworth, is on loan from Crystal Palace.

It’s a big opportunity to rest the likes of Haaland, Foden, and Bernardo Silva. To rotate other players. Give another start to Max Alleyne, see some of the academy players, and for Antoine Semenyo to make his Manchester City debut.