v Southampton

[93:2012]

Ederson, Walker, Dias, Ake, Cancelo, Fernandinho (C), Gundogan, Bernardo, Sterling, Jesus, Grealish

SUBS | Carson, De Bruyne, Torres, Mahrez, Foden, Mbete, Palmer, Lavia, Wilson-Esbrand

3 0 City C’mon City

[gavin]

Glad Sterling is getting a start. Will be nice to see Foden start again soon.

[gavin]

Frustrating first half. Need more cutting edge.

[Stephen Paul]

Not playing well at all

[Rowley Birkin QC]

We look slow witted and sluggish.  Southampton working much harder. ( And they have a penalty now)

[Rowley Birkin QC]

VAR on our side for a change. Now come on City!

[Stephen Paul]

Love Var

[Rowley Birkin QC]

We're still a bit shit though.

[93:2012]

No striker no cutting edge.

Shit bias refereeing.

[Hesperus]

Very sloppy today. Passing in midfield was poor , even the easy ones. Can’t really explain it, very slow, no urgency. Maybe Southampton deserve credit but we should be doing better. Lack of shots on target and the lack of creativity is concerning.

Good to be back at the stadium though.

[Stephen Paul]

Sterling,touch like an elephant

[Stephen Paul]

Could have easily lost this match

[lee]

Gundogs passing was poor but he was not the only culprit

[gavin]

Poor all round really. Huffed and puffed but failed to create enough.

[Neil Mcnab]

Missed  seeing the game, pundits saying we were leggy. I know we can have European hangover. Did Pep want it tightened up and it backfired?

[Rowley Birkin QC]

I suppose we have to give Southampton some credit. They did a good job of pressuring our back line and central midfield - forcing hurried passes and errors. City didn't seem capable of raising their effort and intensity to match, and we struggled to move the ball forward through the middle a lot of the time.  When we did threaten the final third Southampton always got plenty of bodies behind the ball - and only two (or was it one?) shots on target speaks for itself.

Our sluggish ball movement across the back just invited Southampton pressure, and they must have sensed we were just one error away from conceding. We could easily have lost that game.

Watching our difficulties moving the ball through the middle, I found myself wistfully thinking of David Silva...

[Stephen Paul]

I take it Stones is injured

[Hesperus]

Yes and Laporte 🙁

[gavin]

Yes, it is sad that we can't quite find the fluency in moving the ball from side to side now David Silva has gone. We struggled to stretch Southampton yesterday because of it. There's few conductors quite like him. The statue outside captures his poise well.

[Hesperus]

Agreed Gav and the statue of Silva is really impressive. I was sceptical when I first heard but both his and Kompanys are really good. I’m going to start rubbing Silvia boot for luck before the game. Didn’t do it yesterday so it was my fault we were rubbish.