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CITY ARE MADE TO SCRAMBLE

Winning streak comes to an end as Saints survive two late and long VAR reviews

By Rob Draper CHIEF FOOTBALL WRITER AT ST MARY’S STADIUM

AT times, Pep Guardiola resembles King Cnut, protesting to the world that his team is not, in fact, infallible, the title race is never over in January (reader: sometimes it is) and that Premier League opponents are in fact decent sides rather than hapless victims for City to humiliate in a televisual entertainment fest.

Manchester City dropped points yesterday for the first time since the clocks went back in October. Twelve successive victories have ensued since they lost to Crystal Palace. And then this. So routine have City made winning look, you felt like laying into Guardiola, asking him how long could this fiasco go on, whether he had considered resignation and just what on earth was wrong with his team?

Cnut famously allowed the tide to envelop him to prove to his counsellors that he was no god who could hold back the sea. And so Guardiola dropped points at Southampton to demonstrate that football is more complicated than City sometimes make it look.

He bore his inquisition with reasonable humour but was exasperated to be told his team had played badly in the first half.

‘Absolutely I disagree with you,’ the City manager said. But Pep, what about the excellent Kyle Walker-Peters goal on seven minutes, the times City were sliced asunder by Oriol Romeu through balls into Armando Broja? So, those latter chances were just offside, but proved City were playing a risky game.

‘It was a goal and then two actions which were offside,’ he explained with all the patience of a professor addressing dim-witted, feckless students.

‘You have to understand that peoples can cross the half-way line. We are good but not good enough not to allow them chances that are offside, that are not even chances! To concede just two chances in 90 minutes is more than good. It was an exceptional performance.’

Ah, but the Premier League title race, Pep. Maybe it is not over after all. All Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool team have to do is win their two games in hand, match City win for win until April, win at The Etihad and they will be a mere three points behind with six to play. What about that Pep?

‘What can I say? I have told you before, that even if we had won today, it’s not over. In January?

There are many games to play. I know how difficult it is so I didn’t need to win or lose or draw today to know how difficult it is.’

He is right of course, yet there is for neutrals a chink of light that there might be a title race. For Southampton did so much more than survive here. They thrived at times, they might even have won this game and they were again a credit to the tactical plan of Ralph Hassenhuttl, who greeted the final whistle as though a victory had been secured, as well he might. Points against Manchester City are hard won.

‘The first 10 minutes were exceptionally good,’ said Hassenhuttl. ‘We did everything we wanted to do but they have more gears than we have and when they switched to the next gear, we cannot follow. They have 11 points ahead and they could also say: “well, we take the point”. But you always have the feeling that they hate to drop points.’

Then he reflected: ‘By the way, we dropped two points today.’

And in a way they did. They might have won. They did however survive two late and long VAR reviews, one for a potential penalty for a foul by Mohammed Salisu on Kevin De Bruyne, which was deemed outside the box and another for a potential red card for a foul by Stuart Armstrong on Aymeric Laporte.

And they deserved it. Southampton threw everything at this game. They managed to cause a significant amount of mayhem for City with just 26 per cent possession. This was as good a first-half performance as we have seen against Manchester City. There was the sight of James Ward-Prowse and Oriol Romeu, utterly disciplined, both lovely passers of the ball, dominating midfield when they had possession and frustrating the visitors when they did not.

There was Nathan Redmond putting in a shift tracking back to make the 4-4-2 work. At one point late in the second half, he was to be found on the edge of the Southampton box, blocking a shot as Kevin De Bruyne sized up what looked to have the making of an exquisite equaliser.

There was a sneakiness and guile to Southampton as well. Such as when Jan Bednarek planted his studs on Jack Grealish’s ankle. He received a yellow card but it was the third time he had tried something like that. Romeu hauled the City man to his feet, suggesting that this was elaborate play acting — it was not — and a shoving match ensued.

And then there was the goal. Romeu was just superb in midfield in that first half and his cross-field ball to Walker-Peters on the right was sublime.

Walker-Peters then combined with Redmond but what really made the moment was the manner in which Walker-Peters took the return ball, controlling with his left and then striking with the outside of his right through a forest of players, to give it just enough swerve to beat Ederson and curl inside the post.

When City did show themselves at their best, Fraser Forster stood tall. Phil Foden did superbly down the left to roll a ball into an unmarked Raheem Sterling. With time and space to finish from eight yards, he flunked it, seemingly intimidated by the sight of a huge Forster in goal.

Southampton did not stop at half time, either. A Ward-Prowse corner on 49 minutes saw Ederson having to react smartly to save an excellent Bednarek header. Then they broke City’s lines again on 52 minutes, Broja again running in behind the centre backs. This time Laporte managed to recover to block his shot and force a corner. Yet from the ensuing Ward-Prowse corner, the ball broke for Broja again, two yards out. His header rebounded off the post.

But league leaders City were level on 65 minutes. Guardiola had cited Ward-Prowse as the best free-kick taker in the world prior to the match.

But this really was something else from De Bruyne. He floated the ball over the Southampton defenders and into Laporte’s line of sight with millimetre-like precision.

Running on to the ball, Laporte headed home firmly for 1-1.

So Ward Prowse might be the best at set-pieces, but De Bruyne’s not bad, is he?, Guardiola was asked. ‘Absolutely not,’ he replied. ‘He’s the second best.’ And finally we had a smile from the City manager.

Football

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2022-01-23T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-23T08:00:00.0000000Z

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