Three Takeaways from the Victory Over Southampton
By David Crook
Man City Square have re-watched the full Manchester City victory over Southampton and have identified three things we noticed.
When talent doesn’t work, hard work will
There are river valleys cut through bed rock which have been carved by water over millions of years, as cascading water gradually wears away the bedrock. There was a similar feeling against Southampton where City had to increasingly rely upon attrition. City wore down their opponents by repeatedly making the same moves and as Southampton tired, City made their war of erosion count.
Of course the first plan for City is always through brilliance alone. And for much of the game the side was afflicted by their own quest for precision. No ordinary goal would do – it felt as though only a special goal would be tolerated by our side, hence we continued to pass where we should have had shot.
There a number of great sides in history who have suffered from the same issue. We want every goal to be a work of genius, like the most accurate game of rondo ever, in the smallest and tightest of spaces where only magicians such as David Silva can emerge with the ball. The longer the match went on, the less likely the brilliance seemed to be. Mild panic began to ensue. What if we never scored?
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From the sidelines we could hear Guardiola, urging the side to stick to patterns, to have urgency but keep working, keep being patient. Do not panic.
So City, passed Southampton into a fog of tired limbs and then seized control. Willing to settle for an ordinary goal, it came from a cross along the ground and was easily turned in. The second was all about that positioning on which they work so hard.
I thought it was refreshing that City found a different way of winning because as this long season drags out, we may need to find some other ways too.