RAHEEM GETS CITY BUT PEP DEMANDS BACK ON TRACK MORE GOALS
THE SMILE was back on Pep Guardiola’s face at the end of a tough few days for Manchester City, as Raheem Sterling’s seventh goal of the campaign wrapped up a first league win in three for his side. But afterwards Guardiola admitted City, held by Manchester United and West Brom ahead of this trip, are not near their vintage best.
Nor close to matching Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool – 7-0 winners at Crystal Palace – when it comes to finding the net.
Guardiola, whose side are seven points behind leaders Liverpool, with a game in hand, said: “We just didn’t have the momentum of goals again – our momentum in front of goal is not good.
“It’s a good result, very important, and we climb a bit but we are still a long way behind Liverpool. They have the momentum. There’s no doubt how good they are right now.”
Guardiola then praised his defence, especially the outstanding John Stones, and complimented Southampton – who are still a point and place ahead of City.
He said: “All four of my defenders were amazing. John is back, his presence was amazing. And Southampton were very impressive. It was uncomfortable for us.”
Liverpool’s 7-0 romp meant both teams were desperate for victory to stay in touch with the champions.
But you would not have guessed that straight off. Only the Saints flew out of the blocks with the sense of urgency required.
To be fair, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s troops always tend to start fast. But the fact it took City 14 minutes to even approach the hosts’ penalty area was a real surprise.
That was when they finally tested Alex Mccarthy through Joao Cancelo’s stinging 25-yard drive.
Yet once the ignition was switched on, a breakthrough seemed inevitable – and Kevin De Bruyne crossed for Sterling to fire home from 12 yards.
Rather than move up another gear – in the way
Liverpool do – and put the game to bed, City instead went into reverse.
Which was in part down to a superb Saints’ response, inspired by the resurgent Theo Walcott.
The on-loan Everton winger came close to his second goal in four days on 21 minutes but was denied by Ederson’s sharp stop.
He then carved out two glorious chances for strikers Danny Ings and Che Adams.
However, Ings – who went off with a hamstring injury before the break – headed his opportunity wide before Adams messed up his.
And from the resulting corner, giant Danish defender Jannik Vestergaard completed a hat-trick of squandered Saints sitters, contriving to put a free header four yards over from six out.
If relieved to be ahead at the break, Guardiola must have been hoping for an improvement in the second period.
Well, it was slightly better but without anything to show for it as their attackers failed to deliver a killer second.
Ferran Torres, up front in the absence of Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus, flashed a shot inches wide before City should have been out of sight.
De Bruyne and Sterling combined beautifully, with the former clipping a perfect pass for Bernardo Silva.
Yet, having controlled it, the Portuguese ace delayed shooting and was unable to bury it when he finally did.
It was not all one-way traffic, though, and but for Stones’ sensational block when Adams was set to tap in Walcott’s cross, Saints
would have earned a deserved share of the spoils
Manager Hasenhuttl (left) said: “We were excellent out there today.
‘‘It was an unbelievable effort that underlined why we were in the top four before kick-off. The level of the game was so high – it was awesome.
“The only thing missing was us taking one of our chances.”