Abdukodir Khusanov of Manchester City scores an own goal as Erling Haaland of Manchester City reacts during the Premier League match between City and Brighton
Abdukodir Khusanov turns the ball into his own net to hand Brighton a second equaliser against Manchester City
Not for the first time this season, Fabian Delph came to mind. As well as being a useful option for a time in Pep Guardiola's all-conquering side, the former England midfielder infamously called out his teammates for not doing the basics.
It sounds better to imagine it spoken in Delph's West Yorkshire drawl, but it gets to the heart of what is required at Manchester City. For all the manager's reputation for intricate football, really he wants all of his players to do the basics to a level that Jake Humphrey would approve of.
Too many games this season have been defined by individual or collective mistakes that have undermined the performance. Saturday's 2-2 draw with Brighton is in a lot of company.
Brighton won the reverse fixture when City's slump was just starting to take hold and came into this game in terrific form and just a point off the Blues with the longest winning run in the league, so they were not to be underestimated. The pressure they put City under in the opening minutes and how close they came to scoring when Kaoru Mitoma had a goal disallowed for a perceived foul backed that up.
However, City responded as good sides do thanks in no small part to their January signings. Ruben Dias this week described them as 'starving' for success and it was Omar Marmoush who first made a difference, producing a driving run to get the Etihad on its feet immediately after the disallowed goal and then urging a flat crowd to make more noise.
The lift worked, and after dogged tackling from Nico Gonzalez to win the ball back around the centre circle Savinho and Erling Haaland found Marmoush in the penalty area and he was taken out by Adam Webster for a penalty. Following a lengthy delay where Brighton keeper Bart Verbruggen did his best to put Erling Haaland off, City's No.9 slotted home the opener.
It seemed curious that Brighton were happy to restart slowly when behind, with Verbruggen keeping the ball waiting for a City forward to press him. However, the tactic worked because of those annoying basics.
As Marmoush went to challenge the keeper in the 20th minute, the ball was played down City's left where Josko Gvardiol made a hash of winning the ball. Nico Gonzalez then twice missed the chance to dispossess Georginio Rutter and brought him down to leave Guardiola raging well before Pervis Estupinan swung a free-kick in off the post as Stefan Ortega watched it in on his side.
So many times City could have stopped the goal from happening, and on each occasion they weren't as good as they should have been. Until that changes, City are going to find it really hard to win football matches.
In case that hadn't been spotted in the opening 20 minutes, City repeated the trick over the next 30. Marmoush lashed in from outside the box to give the Blues a lead before half-time, only for poor defending just after the break to bring a corner that produced even worse from the home side as Webster was left unmarked on the edge of the box to head to Jack Hinshelwood unmarked in the six-yard box, with the ball cannoning in off Abdukodir Khusanov.
Jeremy Doku tried to get City back in front and the team did have the better of the second half, but there could be no complaints over a draw - especially not after Carlos Baleba blazed over from 15 yards with the goal at his mercy in the final 10 minutes.
Maybe the point will end up being a good one, but there weren't many on the pitch who could say they had enjoyed a positive afternoon. Savinho and Doku ultimately missed another opportunity to impress, Kevin De Bruyne - with only one league start since January 19 - was only brought on with five minutes left and Jack Grealish was once again an unused substitute to mean his run without a league start will go beyond three months.
As plenty of Blues made for the exits before injury time had even started, it was another game that appeared to end with more writing on the wall for more than one City career. There are nine finals left for Champions League qualification, and the task is harder after yet again City failed to do what they needed to.