Rodri made his first start in a Premier League since September 2024 but unfortunately for the midfielder, Manchester City lost 2-1 to Brighton & Hove Albion.
Thanks to Erling Haaland, Pep Guardiola’s men opened the scoring but in the second-half, the hosts beat City at the Amex Stadium once again courtesy of James Milner and Brajan Gruda getting on the scoresheet.
Perhaps one of the only few positives for the Sky Blues is that Rodri largely looked like a class apart as he was typically press resistant, won a fair few crucial challenges in midfield and his passing was excellent.
However, Manchester City’s habit from last season of struggling to hold on to leads came back to haunt them against the Seagulls.
Rodri suggests Man City will find it hard to adapt to new signings after Brighton loss
After Brighton’s latest victory, Rodri admitted that due to the number of new signings Pep Guardiola and Co have made this summer, it is a challenge for the side to return to their best while speaking to Manchester City’s official website.
“We’re missing the level, I don’t know, call it what you want. It’s a matter of the team, changes, new players have to adapt and when you change the team that much it is difficult. This is our reality, it’s not excuses.”
Rodri compared Rayan Cherki to Riyad Mahrez, which shows that he does not seem to believe that the players City have signed are below par. However, while Rodri is seemingly not calling his new teammates out per se, he seems to feel too much change could make it difficult for Manchester City to bounce back as quickly as some may expect this season.
Rayan Ait-Nouri’s display against Brighton was criticised as he had a particularly poor game, often losing the ball, with Yankuba Minteh pocketing him when supporting the hosts’ defence while struggling defensively as he conceded needless fouls and misjudged several long balls.
While Pep Guardiola has praised Tijjani Reijnders, even he had a tough outing in the south coast as the midfielder often lost the ball and failed to provide any sense of control or threat in the final third.
Cherki’s injury has ruled him out for two months, which meant he was unavailable for the contest but James Trafford started yet again and while the Englishman’s shotstopping was terrific, he often hoofed the ball excessively as he still seems to be re-learning Pep Guardiola’s system upon his return.
As a result, Rodri’s point holds weight after assessing Manchester City’s loss against Brighton as the quartet could take time to settle into life at the Etihad Stadium — which means it could take the side a few months before they click into gear.
The concern for the Spaniard must be that by the time that City may look like the real deal, Liverpool and Arsenal may already leave them far behind in this season’s race for the Premier League title.
Rodri calls out Man City teammates after losing to Brighton
In his post-match interview, Rodri seemed frustrated with Manchester City’s latest setback as he called out his teammates’ schoolboy errors during the contest.
“I don’t think we had control of the game. I don’t think we were at our best, we didn’t create much. It’s many aspects. Today we should win because the two goals we conceded are two mistakes. Some of the mistakes are like kids mistakes. This is football. When we lose it is easy to point at everyone. The reality is we have to raise the level if we want to compete for the Premier League.”
Rodri concluded: “We have to look to ourselves and see that this is not the way to achieve things. Let’s go to the international break, clean our minds and come back stronger.”
