Matt O’Riley has revealed Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler knew exactly how to hurt Manchester City and condemn them to a fourth defeat in a row.
Manchester City continue to linger in a ‘dark place’ as they fell to yet another defeat on Saturday night, this time to Brighton in the Premier League.
Just like they did against Sporting on Saturday, Pep Guardiola’s side dominated the first half and took a well-earned lead, this time through Erling Haaland’s scrappy effort.
Yet, the similarities to Lisbon didn’t end there as City failed to make their control count and were left stunned by two quick-fire goals.
Chaotic defending allowed Joao Pedro to level things up and Matt O’Riley to grab the winner within five minutes.
It was a Premier League debut that dreams are made of for O’Riley who, after the match, revealed impressive Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler told him to position himself on the right side of the pitch, which exploited City’s disorganised defence and Rico Lewis in particular.
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Fabian Hurzeler targeted Rico Lewis in Man City victory
Speaking after his winning goal to Sky Sports, O’Riley was asked what his manager had told him to do when getting ready to be introduced off the bench.
The Dane revealed his manager wanted him to position himself on the right side of the field as he was making a tactical switch to his lineup to target the space City were leaving on the flanks.
He said: “He just told me to go and play in that right pocket.
“First half we played with a double 6 and one 10 in a box whereas second half we played with two 8s dropping out to the spaces on the side and I think that gave us a little bit more joy and I was just popping up in a few areas there and we got a lot of success from it.
“I just tried to make the run in the little half-space. The manager kept talking about aiming to make those runs and getting diagonals out to the wideman and I think if you do that enough you get on the end of it yourself.”
Though he didn’t name Lewis, the fact O’Riley was told to play in the space the full-back was leaving free shows he was targeted.
It speaks to Hurzeler’s tactical acumen that he spotted a weakness in City’s armour despite their first-half dominance and knew exactly how to exploit it.
It’s even more impressive that Guardiola didn’t have an answer for it. Now he must find one.
Rico Lewis continues to get exposed
Lewis is a fantastic player. Make no mistake. He’s still just a teenager, too, despite being a regular first-teamer for three seasons now so drops in form are more than understandable. Inevitable, even.
But he is struggling at present and questions need to be asked about his ability in defensive situations.
Lewis should have done a lot better for both of Brighton’s goals. He was unlucky to see his last-ditch tackle on Danny Welbeck eventually land at Joao Pedro’s feet – and Josko Gvardiol didn’t help – but he allowed O’Riley in on goal with little resistance for the winner.
Those were just the high-profile moments, too. Brighton, and O’Riley in particular, found lots of joy in the space on either side of Lewis when he was constantly caught between two positions.
This isn’t all the 19-year-old’s fault. He is being asked to play a complex hybrid midfield role – which he still did really well – in a team that is no longer controlling games as they used to.
City are not keeping hold of the ball or pressing with the same intensity yet are still playing with the same high line and Lewis is being instructed to move into midfield when there is often not enough time to do so before possession switches hands.
When Rodri and Ruben Dias are not on hand for extra protection, it’s a recipe for disaster that has been affecting City all season, even before this losing streak began.
Lewis needs to do better but the responsibility rests on Guardiola to find a new solution to his new problem rather than sticking to a system that is no longer working for 90 minutes.
