Pep’s City stutter to top spot
IT will be no consolation to Manchester City fans that the last time Pep Guardiola went five games without victory he ended up winning the Treble. That was in 2009. Guardiola was in his first season in charge of Barcelona and an empire was being built.
His team won La Liga, the Copa del Rey and Champions League following that minor blip in February, kicking off a 14-trophy haul in four years.
City have pinned their hopes on him working more miracles in Manchester, but these things don’t always go to plan. After starting with ten straight wins, Guardiola has hit a snag.
Defeats to Barcelona and Tottenham, draws against Celtic and Everton, and now this, arguably the worst performance of the lot.
While a point against Southampton was enough to send City back to the top of the Premier League table, it certainly didn’t feel like cause for celebration.
There was a smattering of boos at half-time and again at the final whistle, before Guardiola kept his players in the dressing room for almost an hour afterwards.
‘We were drinking Coca-Cola and red wine,’ was his explanation, but it’s safe to say the latest inquest was not convivial.
Worryingly for City, Guardiola for once seemed at a loss to offer any explanation. ‘Five games without winning is because something happened,’ he acknowledged. ‘I have to discover the reason why, and I am going to fight for that.’
He spoke passionately on the eve of this game about his methods, even suggesting he would rather quit than change his ways.
For the first half at least, his players offered little to back him up. City were flat after their 4-0 defeat to Barcelona in midweek.
They were the architects of their own downfall in the Nou Camp, leading Guardiola to lament the individual errors that have cost his team goals during the winless run.
That seemed to have fallen on deaf ears as well, judging by the way John Stones gifted Southampton the lead.
He was exposed on several occasions in Barcelona, and his awful back-pass let in Nathan Redmond in the 27th minute here. Once again City were caught trying to play the ball out from the back, but nobody could have expected what Stones was about to do.
He passed it back towards Claudio Bravo without so much as a glance in the keeper’s direction, and instead knocked it perfectly into the path of Redmond.
Bravo was out quickly but couldn’t prevent Redmond from skipping around him and turning the ball into an empty net.
‘We knew they would give us chances because they only played three at the back,’ Redmond revealed afterwards.
Going forward, City were no better. Sergio Aguero was restored to the starting line-up after two games on the bench but didn’t look his usual self, five days after failing to join in City’s warm-up at the Nou Camp.
He was to blame for a goal being ruled out just when Stones thought he had atoned for his blunder four minutes earlier.
Aguero was offside when he tried to reach Kevin De Bruyne’s free-kick, but it was hard to see how he distracted Fraser Forster before Stones arrived to beat the keeper with a first-time effort.
Referee Mark Clattenburg thought otherwise, only adding to the sense of frustration around the Etihad.
De Bruyne limped off with a calf injury which has made him a doubt for Wednesday’s EFL Cup fixture against Manchester United.
That prompted the introduction of Kelechi Iheanacho at half-time and City improved as a result.
Ten minutes after the restart, Fernandinho picked out Leroy Sane with an exquisite 45-yard pass. The German youngster crossed to the edge of the six-yard box where Iheanacho had got his body across Virgil van Dijk to turn the ball home for his eighth goal in 11 games.
So City go back to the top but that will not appease Guardiola (left). He knows there is work to be done, solutions to find. No one would dream of talking about a Treble right now. MAN CITY (3-3-3-1): Bravo; Stones, Kompany (Navas 78), Kolarov; Sane (Nolito 90), Fernandinho, Gundogan; Sterling, De Bruyne (Iheanacho 46), Silva; Aguero. Subs not used: Fernando, Caballero, Clichy, Otamendi. Booked: Kolarov, Kompany, Aguero. SOUTHAMPTON (4-2-3-1): Forster; Martina, Fonte, van Dijk, McQueen; Clasie (Hojbjerg 67), Romeu; Davis, Tadic (Boufal 70), Redmond; Austin (Ward-Prowse 83). Subs not used: Yoshida, Rodriguez, McCarthy, Stephens. Booked: Clasie, Romeu, Forster. Attendance: 53,731. Referee: Mark Clattenburg. Man of the match: Virgil van Dijk.