Pep Guardiola warns ‘one of the best teams in the Premier League’ on course for upturn in form
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola and playmaker Bernardo Silva both believe Southampton have shown they are well capable of getting themselves out of trouble if they are able to keep up the effort they put in even in defeat at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Erling Haaland’s early strike gave City a 1-0 win, but they were frustrated in their efforts to find a second goal to kill off the game with Southampton doing a better job than most sides do in nullifying City by holding onto the ball well and defending energetically and well whenever they lost possession.
City still carved out chances to extend their lead, but the way the visitors went about their business led Guardiola and Silva to go out of their way to offer words of encouragement to a side rooted to the polar opposite end of the table from Man City, who went top with their victory ahead of Liverpool’s clash with Arsenal on Sunday.
Newly-promoted Southampton remain without a win and have just one point from their first nine games of the Premier League season, leading to speculation over the future of manager Russell Martin.
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But Guardiola told BBC’s Match of the Day: “The way they play, they are so demanding. Normally in two or three actions, for three or four seconds you have the ball…they defend with the ball. People believe defending means ten men behind the ball, but you can defend with the ball, and they are really really good, one of the best teams in the Premier League.
“Big big credit to them. It’s not because we were sloppy or we were flat – I didn’t have that feeling.”
Bernardo Silva added: “Even when we had our chances to end the game with a second or third goal we didn’t do it, and we made it more difficult for us.
“But credit to Southampton as well. They made it very difficult for us to press them. Their patterns are really good. In my opinion they deserve a lot more than what they’ve got until now in the Premier League with just one point.”
Southampton will host Stoke City in the League Cup on Tuesday evening before welcoming Everton to St Mary’s in the Premier League on Saturday. They will then travel to face 19th-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers in their final game before the international break before facing a punishing run of fixtures against Liverpool, Brighton, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Tottenham.
