Pep Guardiola has blasted his Manchester City players following their dramatic 2-1 defeat to Brighton on Sunday.
City were cruising to victory when Erling Haaland put them ahead in the 34th minute, with the Norway international bagging his third Premier League goal of the season.
However, Brighton came roaring back with James Milner and Brajan Gruda scoring to turn the contest around.
Guardiola has now suggested his City players were scared, insisting they 'forgot to play' because they were 'thinking of the consequences'.
Pep Guardiola has been left with plenty of food for thought following Man City's failure to beat Brighton | REUTERS"We conceded two goals. We were excellent for one hour. After the goal we forgot to play. We were thinking of the consequences," he told BBC Sport.
Guardiola did, however, insist City were heading in the right direction despite his team failing to claim anything from the match.
"I like many, many things we are doing. Like against Tottenham, we started well," he continued.
"I like many things the team has done here today but we were unable to win. When we conceded the goal we stopped playing.
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"It's one game. The season has just started. There is a long, long season ahead of us. We will see what happens."
In a separate interview with Sky Sports, Guardiola hinted that his City players were still gelling.
The club have spent big in 2025, while also losing experienced players such as Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish.
He continued: "We have a really good squad and of course we changed many things form the past to now, which is normal, we need new players to adapt and we need the older ones to help them to cope.
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Pep Guardiola is adamant Man City are heading in the right direction despite their defeat to Brighton
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"Rodri played a really good performance and he is a top character. Happy he played 90 minutes and I would say that he could handle his minutes in the national team and after we start the season.
"I like many things that we are doing and when we come back we know the squad we are going to have and we are going to try to compete."
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler, meanwhile, was thrilled his side were able to get the win.
"Sometimes football is not too much about tactics. It's about energy, intensity and togetherness on the pitch," he said.
"The substitutes came in and made the difference. You always can spread energy and it gives your team-mates and the whole crowd energy and that is very important in football.
"What we did after we scored the goal and the subs is that we had the belief. We weren't happy and satisfied with the 1-1, we want to go for the second and we deserved it.
"Pep is for me the best coach in the world and it is always a big challenge to face him.
"He always has new ideas and you have to adapt.
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Man City were stunned on Sunday as Brighton mounted a stunning comeback to turn the match around
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"It is always the biggest challenge to compete against him but it's not a one man show it is a team performance, and I am very happy that my players delivered that on the pitch.
"They committed to each other and suffered together."