Manchester City show mortality – but still win by three away

Southampton exposed some Manchester City weaknesses and suffered a three-goal home defeat for their troubles. The Treble really is still on.

In the space of ten second-half minutes, Manchester City were booked for timewasting, booed for timewasting and boosted by timewasting. Nathan Redmond was an unused substitute at St Mary’s but he must have been tempted to take to the pitch at full-time and aggressively tell Pep Guardiola he could do so much better.

Southampton ranged from organised and diligent to threatening and purposeful for much of the first hour of their FA Cup quarter-final, but Manchester City were never behind, had been level for less than half an hour and won by three clear goals away from home. That is the challenge opponents face every week.

Guardiola and his players will know they were in a fight. Adam Armstrong bounced a shot against the upright in the opening stages, moments before Raheem Sterling atoned for an earlier miss. There was a similar rope-a-dope ahead of the third goal: Mohamed Elyounoussi brilliantly gathered a crossfield switch to set Che Adams free, but his shot was saved and Phil Foden slammed a delightful effort in at the other end minutes later.

Home supporters had booed Manchester City players making a theatre of swapping throw-in takers in the build-up to that strike; Zack Steffen received a yellow card from Mike Dean for his troubles after delaying one too many goal kicks.

That underlined the human aspect of a side that can often seem immortal. Kevin de Bruyne noted the “stupid mistakes” that preceded Southampton’s equaliser on the stroke of half-time. James Ward-Prowse did phenomenally to take Ilkay Gundogan out of the game with one touch before rendering Rodri similarly obsolete. Manchester City’s first two lines of defence had been broken down and Elyounoussi’s clever run behind the third was identified and found by Stuart Armstrong. The door seemed shut when Steffen closed the angle and forced him wide, but Aymeric Laporte left it ajar just enough to deflect Elyounoussi’s cross in.

Those moments of imperfection were frequent. Players on both teams embarked on bright, positive runs that ended with an imprecise pass, two yards ahead or behind the intended target, to initiate a counter-attack. It gave the game an air of chaos, a charming sense of flawed brilliance.

Ralph Hasenhuttl might consider that a fair description of his team. Southampton capably nullified their visitors and regularly threatened on the break, yet could not maintain that ferocious pace of pressing for 90 minutes and their two biggest individual mistakes were ruthlessly punished. Jack Stephens’ clearance for the first goal was inadequate; Mohammed Salisu’s tackle on Gabriel Jesus for the penalty was naive.

By the end, both the scoreline and Manchester City’s general demeanour flattered them. Their flowing, one-touch play had returned once the safety net of a healthy lead was reinstated, best encapsulated by Joao Cancelo’s insistence to only pass with the outside of his right foot. Their moments of vulnerability were distant memories, overridden by another victory in this breathless final trophy stretch.

It is worth remembering that Manchester City lead the only leg of that race that can be properly quantified currently. Liverpool winning the Quadruple has cast quite the shadow over the Premier League leaders and their continued attempts to match their bitter rivals’ greatest achievement. They will take some stopping.