Man City was eliminated from the League Cup

1 year ago

Coach Pep Guardiola unexpectedly lost 0-2 to Southampton on January 11th and stopped at the quarter-finals of the League Cup.

Hot match: https://2sport.tv/match/live-manchester-city-vs-arsenal-1682535600

Southampton's two goals were scored in the first six minutes of the first half and both were superb. Sekou Mara scored a one-touch goal after a cross from Lyanco to open the scoring. Then, Moussa Djenepo scored from outside the box, chipping the ball over the head of goalkeeper Stefan Ortega from a distance of more than 25 meters to secure the home team's win at Saint Mary's.

Southampton is currently at the bottom of the English Premier League and have not found stability since Ralph Hasenhuttl left in November. New coach Nathan Jones admitted that he has not yet won the hearts of fans like his predecessor. But this match will be the one that helps the 49-year-old coach do so. Guardiola's embrace and praise are evidence of this.

Man City controlled the ball 72%, but only had seven shots on goal, none of which were on target. This statistic is far behind Southampton's 12 shots and four on target.

For the second game in a row, Guardiola put the duo Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland on the bench. Notably, England midfielder Kalvin Phillips started his first match after 191 days of moving from Leeds. This is one of Guardiola's tweaks to Chelsea's 4-0 League Cup win three days earlier, along with the return of Joao Cancelo, Ilkay Gundogan, and Jack Grealish.

Man City had a chance first when Mohammed Salisu's loss of the ball created conditions for Gundogan to finish off the post. But Southampton responded with a shot from outside the box by Duje Caleta-Car, which Ortega had to save. After that, the home team scored two goals in a row.

Manchester City have won the League Cup 5 times in the last 7 seasons, but they were unable to break through Southampton's defense in the remaining hour despite making three substitutions, including the introduction of De Bruyne. Shortly after coming on, the Belgian midfielder made an immediate impact with a penetrating pass that set up Julian Alvarez's equalizer. But the World Cup-winning striker missed the target.

In the 56th minute, Haaland came on to replace Grealish, but the Norwegian striker also left no impact. In contrast, Southampton's counterattacks always posed difficulties for Manchester City's defense. The home side was denied a third goal when Che Adams put the ball into Ortega's net in an offside position.

Despite increasing pressure in the final 15 minutes and seven minutes of added time, Manchester City was unable to secure a win. This defeat caused Guardiola to miss the chance to surpass legendary managers Alex Ferguson and Brian Clough as the first coach to win the League Cup five times. Manchester City will now have a three-day break before their next match, a derby against Manchester United in the English Premier League on January 14th.

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