Why Man City's build-up can often appear slow and their passing ponderous and backwards

Manchester City defeated Brighton 3-0 on Wednesday evening to return to the top of the Premier League table, yet there was an air of dissatisfaction among City fans both online and sitting inside the Etihad Stadium.

Pep Guardiola's side put in a solid - if not remarkable - display to bring an end to a three-game winless run, and showed that despite suffering the exertions of four gruelling battles with Liverpool and Atletico Madrid over the previous couple of weeks, they are still very much in control of their own destiny.

Yet during a first half that saw Brighton defend extremely well and limit spaces for City to exploit, there were plenty of grumblings about the way Guardiola's men were conducting themselves.

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Online - and even on TV - fans and pundits lamented City's 'slow' and conservative passing, and called for the Blues to up the tempo and stop playing backward or sideways passes. In the stands, there were audible groans and sighs every time the ball went backwards, or when Kevin de Bruyne made a run into the channel that wasn't met with a pass.

Admittedly, it can be frustrating when there's clearly a defence-splitting ball on but the player in possession either misses it or decides to play it safe. After all, one of the key principles of Guardiola's football is to attack and score plenty of goals.

But the way in which Guardiola wants his team to do this does not involve leaping at every half-opening that may appear in an opponent's defence. Pep wants his side to dominate the opposition, and the best way to do that is by keeping possession of the ball and moving forward as a compact unit by passing the ball. That means that the average