Brighton Vs Manchester City [2-1] Premier League 2025/2026: Fabian Hürzeler Quadruple Substitution & Comeback Tactics – Tactical Analysis

For the second consecutive year, Manchester City visited the American Express Stadium and lost 2-1.

Fabian Hürzelers Brighton & Hove Albion went for it in the second half, making a quadruple substitution at the hour mark, which ended up making the difference.

Its back-to-back losses for Pep Guardiolas side as they struggle to get off to a good start to the season.

The calendar has only just turned to September, and Man City are already six points off Liverpool.

The defensive issues that plagued them most of last season are still there and dont seem to be getting fixed anytime soon.

There were some major structural flaws in Manchester Citys backline that Brighton were able to expose as the match went on.

The same exact flaws allowed Brighton to come from behind to beat Manchester City last season.

In this tactical analysis, well explore how Manchester City went from being in complete control to unravelling over the final 30 minutes and losing.

Brighton Vs Manchester City Lineups & Formations

Fabian Hürzeler lined up his Seagulls in a 4-2-3-1 formation, which they have typically used throughout.

Bart Verbruggen lined up in goal behind the same centre-back pairing of Jan Paul van Hecke and Lewis Dunk that Brighton used for their first two Premier League matches this season.

New signing Maxim De Cuyper started his third consecutive Premier League match at left-back, while Joël Veltman made his first start of the season at right-back.

Carlos Baleba and Jack Hinshelwood started together in the midfield for the first time this season, while Diego Gómez lined up as the ‘10’ for the first time this season.

Yankuba Minteh started at right wing, while Kaoru Mitoma started on the left.

Danny Welbeck got the start up top for the second straight Premier League match.

Hürzeler made four substitutions in the game, all at the same time.

In the 61st minute, they made a quadruple change, bringing on Yasin Ayari, Brajan Gruda, Georginio Rutter,  and James Milner for Diego Gómez, Danny Welbeck, Carlos Baleba, and Jack Hinshelwood.

As for the visitors, Guardiola set up his team in a 4-3-3 shape.

James Trafford started in goal for the Citizens behind John Stones and Abdukodir Khusanov as the centre-back pairing, which was only the second time those two have played together.

Rayan Aït-Nouri got the start at left-back, while Matheus Nunes started at right-back.

Rodri, Tijjani Reijnders, and Bernardo Silva were Manchester City’s midfield trio.

Oscar Bobb got his third start at right wing, while Omar Marmoush was on the left wing.

Erling Haaland occupied his usual position up top for City.

Guardiola made a total of four substitutions, all of them coming late in the second half.

In the 72nd minute, Bernardo Silva and Omar Marmoush were taken off, with Jérémy Doku and Nico OReilly coming on.

Then, in the 85th minute, Abdukodir Khusanov and Matheus Nunes made way for Rúben Dias and Rico Lewis.

Manchester City Early Control

Manchester City had control of this match for quite a long time and limited Brighton to virtually no chances.

They were doing it by tilting the field on Brighton and forcing them to defend in a very compact low block.

Like every match, Pep Guardiola tried