KOMPANY KEEPS CITY ON TRACK FOR A TOP-FOUR FINISH
One hundred changes later, City are starting to look finished article as captain scores first goal in two years
CLAUDIO BRAVO made a save, Vincent Kompany did something even rarer and Sergio Aguero nailed his 11th goal in as many games.
A lot has gone wrong for Pep Guardiola this season but finally a day when it all went right.
This wasn’t quite a sunny stroll in the south-coast air, but it was good. Very good in fact, and that counts for something in a campaign that has delivered Guardiola’s worst performance as a manager in Europe and thrown up plenty of sticky moments on the home front.
That City are out of the title race in mid-April is horribly damning for a club with such grand intentions and personnel.
But here they did what they were meant to do so much more often, which was play with pace and aggression and make progress.
In the sense of the table, that meant jumping over Liverpool and into third place.
In terms of milestones, it meant a first save for Bravo in eight league games and a first goal for Kompany in 608 days and, more importantly, no obvious twinges or pulls.
Kompany celebrated his goal like a mad man, having only recently returned from another debilitating injury. Who could blame him?
That strike set a platform from which Leroy Sane and Aguero scored the second-half goals that buried Southampton. Guardiola allowed himself a few smiles and that was fair enough as well.
His mythical status as a manager has inevitably been called into question but plainly there are signs that City, with a few additions, will have a serious run next year.
A few more defenders, possibly a new keeper, not much else.
Guardiola’s tweaking has shown how unsure he has been this season. While Antonio Conte has made 31 changes to his Chelsea side this season, Guardiola has made 100, including four more for this one. Kompany returned for only the second time in two months after missing the win over Hull with another of those niggles of his.
Nicolas Otamendi, Fernandinho and Kevin De Bruyne also came in, with Aleksandar Kolarov and Raheem Sterling rotated to the bench while John Stones and Fabian Delph were out with minor knocks.
Guardiola also went with Bravo ahead of Willy Caballero for the second straight game.
He had indicated in the week that the goalkeeper position would now be as vulnerable to chops and changes as any other, but presently the pendulum is favouring a Chilean more adept at catching criticism than footballs. The stats before this one read that he had kept out none of the past seven shots on his goal and hadn’t made a league save since January 2.
Inside the first eight minutes, Guardiola’s side created three chances, each for Aguero. The first and third were volleyed wide and the second, after he turned Jack Stephens, was dragged off target. None were easy.
Southampton settled and created a couple of openings, most notably when Kompany lost track of Manolo Gabbiadini and his cross found Dusan Tadic near the edge of the area. He shot over the bar.
A moment later Bravo almost played himself into trouble by taking extra touches when under pressure from Gabbiadini.
If that was a questionable exhibition of the footwork that Guardiola evidently admires, it was balanced to an extent by the short, move-building passes from the back for which the manager sacrificed Joe Hart. Indeed, one of those started City’s best chance of the first half, with the ball worked from back to front until it reached Aguero on the left. The Argentine chipped to the far post and David Silva somehow missed the target from inside six yards.
On City pushed and a minute later appealed for a penalty. Leroy Sane went clean through and appeared to be tripped by Fraser Forster but only a corner was given.
Guardiola looked peeved but replays were inconclusive.
It had been preceded by a Jesus Navas drive that Forster tipped over and from the corner, taken by Silva, Kompany won the header.
It was sufficiently close to Forster that he ought to have done better. But in it went.
Southampton chased a retaliation but achieved little beyond bringing City fans to their feet with 20 minutes remaining, courtesy of a weak header from Cedric that Bravo saved. The keeper’s name was chanted for a full minute.
Then City closed the door with two goals in three minutes. First De Bruyne led a break and squared for Sane to make it 2-0, then the Belgian floated a perfect cross for Aguero to bury with his head.