Manchester City 1-1 Southampton
MCI: Iheanacho 55’; SOU: Redmond 27’
Man of the Match: Virgil van Dijk, Southampton
MANCHESTER // After a long 90 minutes for Manchester City, a lengthy 50 minutes for their players. Pep Guardiola kept them in the dressing room for the best part of an hour after the final whistle.
The Catalan did his best to downplay the inquest, suggesting it was anything but crisis talks.
“We speak but it was nothing special,” he said in his news conference.
But City’s strong start has been followed by Guardiola’s joint longest run without a victory as a manager. Just as he did at Barcelona in February and March 2009, he has gone five games without a win.
Southampton emulated Everton in holding City 1-1 at the Etihad Stadium. Like Celtic, Tottenham and Barcelona, they benefited from individual errors that amount to a wider malaise.
City are idealists encountering practical problems adapting to Guardiola’s unique demands and ambitious vision. Their imperfections are increasingly costly.
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“We knew they would give us chances,” said Southampton scorer Nathan Redmond.
City did. “We concede a goal when the opponent did not make anything,” Guardiola lamented. It is a recurring theme.
Sides do not always need to create against City to score. After last week’s draw with Everton, Guardiola said: “There are stones, there are problems.”
He was referring to the rocky road of introducing his style of play, but it acquired another meaning when John Stones fashioned Southampton’s goal.
But City’s commitment to passing out from the back continues to cause them problems. Their willingness to overcomplicate things is the common denominator. Not for the manager, whose belief in his methods is undiminished.
“Today with John and Wednesday with Claudio [Bravo], that is not the reason,” he said.
For the second successive game, they gifted a goal. Stones’ ball to Bravo was under-hit and anticipated by Redmond.
He rounded the Chilean and shot into the unguarded net. Stones thought he had a redemptive equaliser, but he was wrongly given offside.
Instead, City’s leveller came from a specialist finisher. Xavi, the midfielder who played under Guardiola at Barcelona, once asserted that if the Spaniard had his way, he would field 11 midfielders.
He is the manager who fielded no strikers in the Nou Camp on Wednesday.
The merits of a specialist poacher were apparent, however, as Kelechi Iheanacho embarked on a damage-limitation exercise by sparing City a second successive defeat.
City had possession without penetration until his half-time introduction. The Nigerian had a pass completion rate of just 66 per cent but he shows an accuracy where it matters. He had one shot on target and scored one goal.
Guardiola, who threatens to render strikers an endangered species, spent 45 minutes playing with two.
With Sergio Aguero lacking sharpness, the lower-profile member of the attack levelled. Fernandinho supplied a wonderful cross-field ball, Leroy Sane an enticing centre, Iheanacho an inch-perfect finish.
Iheanacho’s propensity to change games means he has the status of an impact substitute. It is a mixed blessing for him, a boon for managers.
Guardiola being Guardiola, he attributed the comeback to a collective improvement, but a winner proved elusive. Southampton defended admirably with Virgil van Dijk outstanding.
“We had a fantastic spirit and a strong organisation,” said manager Claude Puel, whose side have only conceded three goals in nine games.
Yet City were not at their fastest or most fluent. They are short of confidence and crispness alike.
“You are able to win 10 times in a row and after you are not able to win five times,” said Guardiola.
“So I have to discover the reason why and I am going to fight for that.”
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