Guardiolas

After City scored, they took a defensive approach unlike one Guardiola has opted for previously.

They sat deep and blocked the centre of the pitch, making it difficult for Arsenal to find striker Viktor Gyokeres or attacking midfielders between the lines. Guardiola has typically asked his team to defend in a 4-4-2 and did to begin with, but City moved into a 5-4-1 or 5-5-0 as the game progressed.

So why did he opt for this approach?

This was the third game in seven days for an unchanged City side who were fatigued, according to Guardiola. Most teams would struggle to stifle Arsenal’s excellent build-up play, but with City tiring, defending deep prevented them from being exposed trying to press Arsenal.

It wasn’t just about stopping the build-up, but preventing Arsenal creating chances.

Arteta’s men eventually got their equaliser but it was telling the goal came from a direct ball over a City defence that had stepped up, rather than when the visitors sat deep.

Arsenal dominated the ball, but the 68% possession they had amounted to 0.61 expected goals in the second half.

The Gunners have played through the middle this season with Martin Zubimendi and Riccardo Calafiori key to this, before releasing their direct attackers.

City aimed to nullify Arsenal’s dangerous central quality by putting numerous bodies in the middle of the pitch. They also aimed to nullify runners by reducing the space they had in behind by being close to their own goal.

It is unlikely City will play that deep consistently going forward, but it was interesting to see such an attacking manager like Guardiola deploy a shape without a recognised striker, given his previous quotes about the formation.

“In prehistoric times, now and in 100,000 years, it is always very difficult to attack a 5-5 formation,” were his words when facing a similar tactical gameplan deployed by Atletico Madrid in 2022.

Ultimately it was a combination of acknowledging City’s fatigue and strong counter-attackers, while wanting to minimise Arsenal’s quality – particularly the home side’s directness, build-up and central attackers – that help explain the unique approach.

Guardiola’s best teams have been built on control, patterns of play and attacking incision.

When City beat Wolves 4-0 on the opening weekend of the season, it was natural to think the troubles that had plagued them last term had been erased over the summer.

But Sunday’s defeat on the south coast was a repeat of the inconsistency City displayed throughout last season.

Guardiola’s side stifled Brighton in the first half, limiting the Seagulls to a single opportunity through Kaoru Mitoma.

Erling Haaland, making his 100th Premier League appearance for City, opened the scoring with his 88th league goal for the club.

But a quadruple substitution by Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler after an hour changed the course of the game, with James Milner, Brajan Gruda, Georgino Rutter and Yasin Ayari entering the fray.

Brighton dominated from there on, equalising from the penalty spot through Milner, before a last-gasp winner from Gruda.

“We conceded two goals. We were excellent for one hour,” Guardiola told BBC Sport.

“After the goal we forgot to play. We were thinking of the consequences.

“I like many, many things we are doing. Like against Tottenham, we started well. I like many things the team has done here today but we were unable to win. When we conceded the goal, we stopped playing.

“It’s one game. The season has just started. There is a long, long season ahead of us. We will see what happens.”

Only Manchester United’s 1992-1993 title-winning team have recovered from losing two of their first three league matches to be crowned champions, and that came during a 42-game season.

“It’s back to the drawing board for Man City,” former Middlesbrough goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer said.

“There are a lot of questions still about this team and Pep Guardiola. Is he going to turn it around? He has never been in a situation quite like this before and the hole keeps getting deeper and deeper.”