Tony Bloom’s recent comments came to mind before this match, with the Brighton & Hove Albion owner having offered a withering assessment of Manchester City’s legal turmoil without naming Saturday’s opponents directly. “I think if there are rules and regulations in place, it’s really important, even if you really don’t agree with them, that you abide by those rules. Absolutely,” he told the BBC’s Albion Unlimited podcast back in September.
Pending of course the outcome of their appeal, the evidence suggests that there was very little abiding in the blue half of Manchester over a glittering nine-year spell.
Brighton were here at the Etihad as recently as Wednesday night, when Gerónimo Rulli’s two late saves in the penalty shootout sent City through to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup. No disrespect to the cup, but this second meeting in four days felt more significant; for City to respond to the disappointment of a first league defeat of the season at Aston Villa, for Brighton to continue a riveting start that hit a speedbump at Anfield last weekend.
Enzo Maresca, after the defeat at Villa, said he was not worried about Marc Guéhi’s form, despite the England defender being at fault in the win over Ipswich before his error led to Nicolas Jackson’s second against Aston Villa. Giving Guéhi the captaincy for the Carabao Cup tie seemed to emphasise Maresca’s backing. A few days later, he was an unused replacement on the bench.
All of those details felt slightly irrelevant with Bloom’s comments in mind, given the drastically different financial models these two clubs have run since Brighton’s return to the top flight in 2017. Brighton’s net spend over the past five years, a rare positive figure, is a shade over £11m. Manchester City over the same period? £-513.62m.
Brighton’s ability to part with their best assets for considerable profits while continuing a steady upward trajectory on the field should command the respect of everyone. Think of the sales of Moisés Caicedo, Marc Cucurella and João Pedro to Chelsea for over £250m. Or the fees paid this summer by Manchester United for Carlos Baleba (£70m) and Jan Paul van Hecke by Tottenham (£52m).
City know their way around a sale too, having parted with Sávio, Tijjani Reijnders and Rodri this summer for substantial income. But the idea of Brighton ever approaching a summer by revamping their midfield to the tune of £458m, as City did this summer recruiting Enzo Fernández, Elliot Anderson and Ayyoub Bouaddi, feels implausible.
For example Luka Vušković, who travelled south from Tottenham in the summer, is Brighton’s record all-time signing at £46m, an outlier from the club’s usual data-driven scouting fuelled by Bloom’s Jamestown Analytics operation.
Coincidentally, £46m was the exact profit Brighton made on Van Hecke, after signing him from NAC Breda for £6m back in 2020. Even if Brighton’s fees for new players in the past two years have risen slightly – including £30m on teenage Greek striker Charalampos Kostoulas last year – in the grand scale of Premier League investments they remain relatively modest.
And so Brighton’s entire approach – scouting extensively, numerous loans out each summer, selling high, showing prudency and patience rather than over-extending themselves – is all very easy to admire. Not a word used frequently over the past month in relation to City’s contracts between 2009 and 2018. Brighton’s travelling support, in good voice, were more than happy to remind their hosts of their current predicament.
Removing Guéhi did not cut out all of City’s ponderous defending. A quick free-kick gave Diego Gómez too much time out wide, fizzing in a cross which Matheus Nunes could not deal with as Maxim de Cuyper provided a tap-in for Yasin Ayari.
Asking Brighton to subsequently hold out for out for over 80 minutes felt like a tall order, with Oliver Boscagli at right-back stretched but surviving against Jérémy Doku as multiple appeals for handball from the home side were dismissed by referee Craig Pawson.
Iliman Ndiaye’s shot early after the break was a warning of an imminent City barrage, that would require the best of Bart Verbruggen if Brighton were to stay ahead. He did well to tip Ndiaye’s effort to safety off the post and to parry away a threatening Matheus Nunes effort in a run of strong saves. Bouaddi was not cheap but does look some player, the future at 19 years old gliding through Brighton defenders with one run before he surprisingly made way early in the second half.
The return of Jack Hinshelwood as a makeshift striker set Brighton up to withstand a late onslaught and City were unrelenting, barely allowing Brighton to escape their half. And yet the hard work of Brighton’s defence, led by the excellent Lewis Dunk, kept Erling Haaland quiet, securing a first-ever win for Brighton at the Etihad – City simply could not find a way through, falling to back-to-back defeats.
A triumph then for abstemiousness over excess which, like any defeat for City this season, is likely to be greeted warmly around the country.
Photograph by Lee Parker / CameraSport via Getty Images