Rodri says Man City ‘have to raise the level’ after Brighton collapse | OneFootball

Manchester City midfielder Rodri says his side need to “raise the level” if they harbour any hopes of being competitive this season.

Pep Guardiola’s men threw away a goal lead against Brighton to lose 2-1 after Brajan Gruda’s 89th minute winner saw Fabian Hurzeler’s side claim their first win of the season.

City have now lose two of their first three league matches, after losing 2-0 to Tottenham last weekend.

Rodri, who was starting a Premier League match for the first time since suffering his ACL injury last season against Arsenal, believes the Citizens need to raise their standards after a disappointing start to the season.

“Disappointed because we are Manchester City and we come here to win, but this is the reality,” Rodri said. “We are not at the level for a long, long time.

“The only way to come back is to look to ourselves. We started well but the second half we dropped a little bit. Then at home they have pressure and we make two mistakes and it’s 2-1.

“We are missing the level. I don’t know, call it how you want. It is a matter of the team and the changes, new players have to adapt, and of course when you change the team that much it is difficult.

“This is our reality, it is not for excuses and we have to see this is not the way to achieve things. let’s go to the break and refresh the mind.

“I do think that we had control of the game and we were not our best. We did not create our best match but today we should win because we concede were two big mistakes and counter attacks.

“Some of the mistakes we are doing are kids mistakes, you are not concentrating and paying attention. The reality is that we have to raise the level if we want to compete.”

City will face rivals Manchester United in the Manchester derby immediately after the international break.