City top Premier League pile despite winless run

Manchester City produced the worst 45 minutes of Pep Guardiola’s reign as they hosted Southampton at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The first half was disappointing in the extreme, punctuated by poor decision making and sloppy passing; it was exactly this that caused them to go in at the break trailing by 0-1.

Their display in the second period was better, though they have clearly fallen away from the blistering displays that saw them win their first 10 games of the campaign. The improvement saw City equalise and push for a winner, but they could only muster a 1-1 draw to leave them without a win in five games.

So, what was wrong? City’s sloppy play was in evidence very early on. So many times, passes were wayward. The worst offenders were often the players most relied upon for assured distribution – Kevin De Bruyne, Fernandinho, John Stones – all were guilty of giving the ball away. That said, it is oversimplifying things to suggest that it was always the bad pass that was culpable for the loss of possession. It wasn’t.

Right across the park, the Blues were guilty of poor movement and, at times, almost no reading of the game. On too many occasions, whilst in possession of the ball in deep positions, the gap between the player with the ball and the nearest teammate ahead of him was far too big. It is somewhat harder to probe and pull your opponents out of position to open up space when the ball consistently has to travel so far between teammates. City were lacking options and it largely their own fault. Southampton had no need to go hunting in packs or play with intensity, they just needed to be alert enough to step in and intercept the inevitable sloppy pass that interrupted so many attempted build-ups.

John Stones was guilty of the worst misplaced pass in the opening period. In the 27th minute, he attempted a ball that was presumably meant for Vincent Kompany but instead acted as an ideal through ball for Saints’ Nathan Redmond. He promptly rounded Claudio Bravo and placed his shot into the net to give the visitors the lead. It was a dreadful error and one that the young England star will just have to hold his hands up to. His critics will see it as proof that he is guilty of overplaying from the back when the truth is he simply just misjudged the ball.

Guardiola made a change at the break and it proved to be an effective one. Kelechi Iheanacho replaced the surprisingly lacklustre Kevin De Bruyne and just ten minutes after coming on, he’d proven it to be a good decision. Fernandinho spread the play with a glorious pass out to the left that found Leroy Sané; the young German held it up nicely before picking out Iheanacho in the box and his first- time finish drew City level.

From there on in, it was the home side who dominated the game. However, unlike in the early games of the season, that dominance all felt a bit toothless. Raheem Sterling was buzzing out wide and trying to find a route into the box, but Southampton defended tightly and City continued to lack the quality of movement to break through them. Sergio Agüero is struggling at the moment – he was anonymous for large parts of this game and when one of the best strikers in the world has an off day, your chances of scoring decrease significantly.

On occasion, City still show signs of the inertia that gripped for them for the last two years under Manuel Pellegrini’s tenure. One would not expect them to be slow to push forward with Guardiola at the helm, but they were in this match. One would not expect sloppy passing and poor movement from a Pep team, but that’s what was served against the Saints.

The good news? With no wins in five – three of which were league games – the Blues still sit top of the Premier League. Title rivals Arsenal and Tottenham both dropped points this weekend and that will leave City frustrated that they didn’t capitalise, but the big picture is still looking pretty good.

With Manchester United to come in the EFL Cup on Wednesday, the idea of this winless run extending is somewhat unpalatable; it would be a great game in which to start the resurgence in form.