Manchester City were “abject” in their 2-1 defeat at Brighton and produced one of their worst second-half performances to throw away the lead, Jamie Redknapp has claimed.

Brighton pummeled City with late goals from Joao Pedro and Matt O’Riley to steal the points after the visitors missed a litany of first-half chances despite Erling Haaland’s opener.

It means Pep Guardiola has lost four games on the trot for the first time as City boss, and the result left the champions two points behind Liverpool ahead of their clash with Aston Villa.

“This is one of the worst halves of football I’ve seen from a Pep Guardiola side. They were abject. They didn’t defend, they didn’t win individual battles, they didn’t get the ball forward,” Redknapp told Sky Sports at the Amex Stadium.

“In the first half, they looked excellent. The problem was that it should have been 3-0 up. In the second half, when Hurzeler made the substitutions, only one team was going to win it.

Jamie Redknapp has criticized Manchester City for their “shoddy” performance against Brighton

City squandered chances and conceded two late goals to slump to fourth successive defeat

“Once the game starts running away from you, you look at the characters.

‘Who will dig? Who will do that challenge?

“Who’s going to get on the ball when you need it most? Who will calm this team down? There was no one to do it.

“The two central defenders, it was very difficult. (Kyle) Walker and (Jahmai) Simpson-Pusey, they are not a regular partnership and it shows.

“They looked like a bunch of foreigners.” The goals summed it up. They were really poor goals from City’s point of view.

— But all credit to Brighton. They were fantastic.

Brighton moved up to fourth in the Premier League after the win and are just four behind City.

Fabian Hurzeler’s substitutions paid off as Pedro and O’Riley came off the bench to score.

Redknapp felt City had no one to “dig in” and keep his team-mates “calm” as things fell apart

Redknapp: Kyle Walker (pictured) and Jahmai Pimpson-Pusey looked like a ‘bunch of foreigners’

The champions’ frailty without Ballon d’Or winner Rodri in the middle of the park is quite a contrast to previous seasons, where they conceded an average of less than a goal per game.

City lost 2-1 to Tottenham in the Carabao Cup, 2-1 to Bournemouth in the Premier League, 4-1 to Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League and now 2-1 to Brighton, the first of these games to take place at home.

Redknapp added: “It can be fixed but it won’t be the same. There’s no way they’re going to lose those four games if Rodri plays. The second half they lost a bit of advantage. They lost individual battles.

They didn’t have that spark to get back into the game. Now it’s about showing some character. They cannot continue as they are. That back four when I saw it at the start of the game, I was scratching my head. Guardiol and Simpson-Pusey didn’t work.