Pep Guardiola’s heated exchange with Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke was the subject of much intrigue on Saturday night, and a lip-reading expert has revealed the Manchester City manager’s jibes about “crying” and being a ” baby”.
The visitors suffered a fourth successive defeat for the first time under Guardiola in all competitions, and perhaps more pertinently dropped a further three points in the ongoing title race.
Meanwhile, Liverpool continued their progress with another victory over Unai Emery’s Aston Villa to move five points ahead of Guardiola and company.
Erling Haaland had opened the scoring with his 15th of the season to put City on the path to victory and end their poor run, but substitutes Joao Pedro and Matt O’Riley had different plans, scoring for the Seagulls in the way to a declaration wins.
However, after the match, Guardiola was seen deep in conversations with Van Hecke; It is not unusual to see the City boss address one of his own players after the final whistle, even after a win, but this time it was one of Brighton’s key players.
Pep Guardiola (left) was seen talking and gesturing with Jan Paul van Hecke (right) after Brighton beat Manchester City 2-1 on Saturday night.
This came shortly after Van Hecke clashed with Manchester City striker Erling Haaland.
Speaking after the seismic victory, the defender, who had been involved in a fight with Haaland in injury time, explained that Guardiola had congratulated the Dutchman and his team, and also spoke of a foul at the end of the match.
However, lip reading expert Jeremy Freeman has shed new light on what the pair said to each other full-time.
Freeman suggests that Guardiola asked Van Hecke a series of questions: “Are you kidding?” followed by “Are you serious?” and ‘Don’t do that.’
Van Hecke, according to Freeman, seemed confused by the questions and did not offer much of an answer.
Guardiola is believed to have continued: ‘You asked… to cry’, and then: ‘Are you crying?’
He went on to ask if the defender was “proud of it”, but this time the Brighton star replied: “Sure.”
Freedman claims that Guardiola then comments: “Fair play on that…” and Van Hecke, apparently confused by this, asks “Why?”
The City boss then speaks into Van Hecke’s ear, after which he adds: “No, come on, darling… No…
Brighton substitutes Matt O’Riley (left) and Joao Pedro (left) scored the Seagulls’ goals.
Guardiola praised Van Hecke after the game for his aggressive defense against Haaland
‘No, let’s applaud’
‘You played a good game. I still like to congratulate you’
Van Hecke’s response is then difficult to understand, although it is believed to suggest that both sides played a good match, although it is not clear.
But any hostility seems to have disappeared by the end of the conversation, when Guardiola ends with: “Congratulations, anyway… Enjoy your night.”
In the match, Fabian Hurzeler’s team achieved their fifth victory of the season and, after the weekend’s action, finished the last round of matches in sixth place, level on points with Arsenal. Chelsea and Nottingham Forest.
City, meanwhile, are going through something of a mid-season slump, although few would still rule out the four consecutive champions achieving one of their iconic winning streaks that reaches into the teens.
When asked about the incident after Saturday’s game, Van Hecke tried to play it down, saying: “We were just talking about the foul at the end of the box. He asked me what happened in the box and I explained it to him.
‘He congratulated me. I said they had a great team. He is a great administrator.
“You see how his team played at the end of last season when we lost 4-0.”
The 24-year-old added: ‘I felt like the whole game I was in the rondo. I just have a lot of respect for him.’
Guardiola praised the Dutch defender saying: “He is aggressive and a really good player.”
He also addressed the incident in his post-match press conference, saying he told Van Hecke that he should stand up in his altercation with Haaland, pointing out how he had aggressively defended himself against him during the match.
Guardiola’s team has four defeats in a row for the first time under his mandate
City will have the chance to get back to winning ways after the international break when they host Tottenham, who also suffered a shock defeat to Ipswich this weekend, while Brighton travel along the south coast to Bournemouth.
Guardiola has made it clear that he still expects his team to recover to relaunch their bid for a fifth consecutive Premier League title.
“That’s what it’s always about: not being complacent when you win a lot,” he said.
‘We know how difficult it is and how nice it will be when we win again. Right now we are not at our best moment, it is obvious. But we’re still in November: we’ll recover as best we can.’