Pep Guardiola discussed his view on the match and the current challenges facing the team at the press conference

In the early hours of this morning, Manchester City suffered a 1-2 away defeat to Brighton in the 11th round of the Premier League. After the game, Pep Guardiola discussed his view on the match and the current challenges facing the team at the press conference. He mentioned that while the team played well today, they struggled to maintain that level for the full match, and he is ready to embrace the current challenges.



On the Loss  
“I’ll take these ten days to reflect, clear my thoughts, and help the players recover—this is the goal. When they return, I want them to reach the level we saw in the first half today; our first-half performance was excellent, and we played very well for the first 70 minutes.”

“I know how we performed, and I won’t try to convince you. At times, our level was truly high, but we couldn’t sustain it for long. I’m confident that when the players return, they will bring individual qualities to the team, and we’ll be back in form.”

“We lost two games in the Premier League. Of course, we have to make changes and get back to winning. I have no doubt that when the players come back, we’ll reach our best form.”

On facing his first four-game losing streak as a manager 
“Welcome to life—there’s always a first time. This is the challenge I’m facing now, and I enjoy challenges. I won’t back down; I want it more than ever. We’ll try again, and we’ll analyze our performance—four consecutive losses. The question is, how did we play?”

“In the match against Bournemouth, they deserved to win—it was a really great game. Against Tottenham, we played many young players. In the games against Sporting Lisbon and today, there were many positives, but we lost.”

“It may sound like an excuse, but it’s just how I feel. When we play poorly, I’m the first to admit it, but today I didn’t feel that way. We just couldn’t maintain the energy.”

The team is currently in second place, and Manchester City has typically hit its stride in the second half of the season to win the title over the past four seasons 
“The result may end up similar, but the key issue is that we’re missing a lot of players right now. Four center-backs are injured. Rodri, our best player, is unavailable.”

“De Bruyne is not at his best, Doku is injured, Grealish is injured. We can perform well in a single match, but to keep up consistency—that’s something we can’t manage right now. If we had Akanji, Ake, and Ruben Dias in the second half, it would be different.”

“We could have used Doku in the final minutes to change the game. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not complaining about the players we fielded, but we really played well.”

“In previous seasons, we had such depth in the squad; now, we don’t have as many options, and we have to survive in this situation, accept this reality.”

After the match, what did you say to Van Hecke?
“He went toe-to-toe with Haaland. I told him, ‘When Haaland stands up to you, you have to stand your ground—don’t go down.’ He played an excellent game.”

On young player Finley Simpson-Pusey’s performance today
“This young man played very well. It’s not easy for him; young players usually have Rodri’s support, but his performance today was incredible. We now have a center-back who can help us develop for the future.”