When a team loses the aura of champions, it can go absolutely.
Opponents suddenly look at them and wonder what on earth once seemed so intimidating, how on earth a bunch of players in these shirts, could seem so unbeatable. At half-time, Manchester City led, and seemed comfortable in their lead against opponents who had never got going. By the time Brajan Gruda calmly rounded James Trafford and dumped Rayan Aït-Nouri on his backside before rolling into an empty net, a Brighton winner had come to seem almost overdue.
Seconds earlier Trafford had made a remarkable save, stretching back and to his left to claw away a deflected Jan Paul van Hecke shot.
Fabian Hürzeler, the Brighton manager, must take credit for a quadruple substitution on the hour that transformed the game, but just as striking was how vulnerable City became to balls played in behind their defensive line. The structure that once gave them a stifling control has vanished almost entirely.
The sense for Brighton had been of performances having been rather better than results. Although they conceded an injury-time equaliser at home against Fulham and then lost at Everton, where they missed a penalty and twice hit the woodwork, they have won the xG convincingly in both games. While Brighton beat City at home last season, it was always likely that this would be a trickier afternoon – and yet Tottenham had shown last week how this City can been pressured, something Brighton never managed in the first hour.
