Manchester City are not ‘boring’ – they just set out to eliminate all the things you love about football…
Aymeric Laporte of Manchester City celebrates after scoring a goal to make it 1-1 during the Premier League match between Southampton and Manchester City at St Mary's Stadium on January 22, 2022 in Southampton, United Kingdom.
By Sam Lee Jan 24, 2022 13
Boring isn’t it, staying in and watching Manchester City with your life?
Not for them, they like it.
And the ‘neutrals’ might have enjoyed it a bit more than usual on Saturday night, because hosts Southampton put in a fantastically dogged and disciplined display that really stretched Pep Guardiola’s league leaders.
There was a sense of jeopardy throughout; the fear, from a City point of view, that Che Adams or Armando Broja would get in behind and add a second goal, or James Ward-Prowse would conjure a winner from a set piece.
But in reality, City did what they often do. It wasn’t the best example of it, because they didn’t win and because Southampton still played so well themselves, but they managed a difficult game pretty well.
It was put to Guardiola after the 1-1 draw that his team had not been at their best in the first half.
“I disagree with you absolutely,” he contested. “We played really well. Maybe 15, 20 minutes we were maybe not aggressive enough, but the last 20, 25 minutes were excellent and the second half was excellent.
“We made an excellent performance over 90 minutes against a top side.”
It was one of those examples where outside perceptions differ wildly from Guardiola’s, and another one came along very quickly.
Was he surprised Southampton created so many chances?
“It was the goal and two actions that were offside, so, no more chances,” Guardiola replied. “The clear one was set pieces from an exceptional taker (Ward-Prowse). We are good but not good enough to not allow them. We came here to St Mary’s and to concede two chances in 90 minutes is more than good.”
And when you think of it like that, he’s not wrong.
It’s a big reason why people have been calling City ‘boring’ recently, actually.
Some of that can be put down to rivalry, or the money, and that’s unavoidable. But there is a modicum of truth in the accusation, because Guardiola sets out to eliminate all of those things we love about watching football.
Counter-attacks, set-pieces, end-to-end football. The classic ways that smaller teams upset the big boys, the things that decide Champions League knockout ties. He doesn’t want any of that.
Think back to the relatively scrappy 1-0 away win over Brentford, a team set up for fast breaks and balls into your box, just after Christmas.
“If you attack quick, they will attack quicker, and in these attacks they finish really good, they create free kicks, corners, and in these kind of set-pieces they are the best,” Guardiola said following that one. “That’s why we played perfectly the game we should play today.”
If you’re turning on the TV for a City match looking for an upset, you’re not going to come close most of the time.
That day at Brentford, City played at a slower tempo, they kept the ball high up the pitch and closed off any spaces to counter-attack. No ball in their half = no set-pieces into the box.
“I know people like these types of games, but for us it’s not good,” Guardiola said. And that’s the nub of it, really.
They did not cow Southampton like they did Brentford or so many others, but Guardiola’s assessment showed yet again why this City team are so ruthless. They want to dominate, they know how to do it and, as much as anything, they execute it so well, often beautifully.
It was not quite so magnificent on Saturday. City may have ridden out their early struggles, but they were certainly in a game.
Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side made their evening so competitive in all areas, from the first minute to the last, performing brilliantly in all areas. Mohammed Salisu put in one of the Premier League’s best individual performances of the season.
Southampton might have provided other teams with a blueprint of how to play against City, even.
They made life difficult for them, just like they did in a goalless draw in October’s reverse fixture. Their two forwards stopped balls going in to the City holding midfielder — Fernandinho at the Etihad, Rodri on Saturday — and then, when the ball did make it through, pressure was applied and options were cut off. Their work-rate was phenomenal, at times hunting in packs to win the ball back, at times dropping off and blocking off the spaces City like to play into.
That was in both games, and the proof that City did play well at St Mary’s is that they coped much better with that scrutiny. After that October meeting, Guardiola lamented their passing from the back, but here they coped well despite their opponents improving on their first performance.
Having gone behind to Kyle Walker-Peters’ early goal, some shaky passing under pressure and the offside flag coming to their rescue twice, City got a grip of the game.
They pegged Southampton back not only with their possession but their defensive aggression, with Ruben Dias regularly making challenges within 30 yards of Fraser Forster’s goal. The pressing, not least by Kevin De Bruyne, matched Southampton’s efforts.
It wasn’t complete control and it certainly wasn’t another procession, but Guardiola is right, his team did limit the type of chances that looked like they would flow at the start of both halves.
The fact that City’s approach can be praised, to an extent, should only serve to highlight how well Southampton played. Their performance, from the coaching to the implementation, belied the gap between the clubs both in the league table and the Forbes money list.
On the way out of the ground, one Southampton fan asked his friend to rate their team’s performance out of 10. Nine was the answer, and fair enough.
They gave City one of their biggest tests of the season, for the second time, and yet they didn’t create that many chances. Which goes to show how difficult it is to go toe-to-toe with Guardiola’s behemoth, and that’s probably the wider point.
But at least it wasn’t boring.
