Man City must improve in goal scoring, Maresca says after Brighton defeat
Manchester City coach, Enzo Maresca has bemoaned his team’s lack of firepower following the 1-0 defeat to Brighton at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
The Cityzens suffered a second consecutive Premier League defeat after a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa last week.
Man City recorded a total of 25 shots on goal, but they were unable to find the net.
Maresca was frustrated with another underwhelming performance in front of goal.
He lamented: “It’s a strange feeling. We created enough to win the game. But at this moment, it is like this.
“We are not scoring goals. Hopefully we can be more lucky in the future.
“We spent most of the game on their side, especially in the second half, in their box and sometimes you need to be a bit more clinical inside the box.
“I thought the reaction was good. We were in control, especially the second half but again, at this moment, it’s like this and we need to just improve and move on.
“It’s right to analyse game by game and in the last two games I think we deserved something more than two defeats.”
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The Italian manager admitted that the team could have done better against Brighton.
Maresca added: “This is just nine games. We are there. We were not thinking to win all the games at all, it’s normal and that’s why we need to understand what we can do better and try to win games.
“In the last two or three games it’s happened many times [defensive lapses] but we need to analyse how to do better and move on.
“In this moment, we are second in terms of goals scored in the Premier League so that means we are scoring.
“[But] we are conceding silly goals and we can avoid that. Hopefully we can avoid that in the next game.”
Brighton are the highest-scoring team in the Premier League this season with 24 goals, and they have now beaten Arsenal and Manchester City this season.
Bart Verbruggen made seven saves against Manchester City, the second-most in a Premier League game this season, preventing 1.74 goals.
Manchester City failed to score in a Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium for the first time in 24 games (0-1 vs Brighton), suffering back-to-back league defeats for the first time this season.
Up next for Man City is a clash against Nottingham Forest next Sunday, while Brighton will face Brentford a day earlier.
The win moved Brighton up to third on the Premier League table.
