In a season which has seen Southampton uniformly
showered with plaudits, Mauricio Pochettino will perhaps be more encouraged by
Saturday’s display against Manchester City than any of the headline-grabbing
results his side have recorded since August.
With first-team mainstays Boruc, Wanyama,
Clyne and Schneiderlin all sidelined by injury the Saints starting lineup was
an unfamiliar one, and coming off the back of a midweek defeat to Aston Villa the
home fans could be forgiven for fearing the worst prior to kick off.
Defensively they had looked decidedly fragile in the absence of their Polish
keeper, while their makeshift midfield had lacked the its usual authority
during Wednesday’s setback.
Hopes of avoiding a fourth successive
defeat were quickly dented when City took the lead on ten minutes; Kolarov’s
overlapping run took Chambers out of the game and his cross somehow dissected
five Saints defenders and fell to Aguero, who comfortably finished past
Gazzaniga. In recent weeks Manchester City,’s strikers have been scoring freely
and this pattern looked like continuing as they threatened to breach the Saints
goal again in the opening quarter of the game. Kolarov glanced a header wide
from Nasri’s corner, while Zabaleta’s pull-back was badly wasted by Aguero who
spooned his shot over the crossbar.
As the half wore on, however, Southampton
began to assert their own attacking style on the match, and the visitors
struggled to retain possession of the ball under pressure from their hosts.
Jack Cork and Steven Davis may lack the physical presence of those they
replaced in the lineup, but their energy and distribution were slowly turning
the balance of play in Southampton’s favour.
Davis, Cork and Ward-Prowse all threatened
with shot from outside the area, while Lallana and Rodriguez’s positive running
were always a worry to the City defence. Luke Shaw was finding more and more space
on the left, and when he was afforded time to cross he brilliantly picked out
his side’s other young full-back Calum Chambers, but he was just unable to
direct his header inside the far post.
These encouraging signs reawakened the home
support and noise levels had increased accordingly, only to be sent off the
scale by the sheer quality of Southampton’s equaliser five minutes before the
break. Lallana and Davis combined neatly to release Osvaldo who was being
tracked closely by Kompany on the left-hand side of the penalty area. The
Italian twisted and turned, shaking off the attentions of Kompany and two
further defenders, before curling an audacious effort over the not
insignificant frame of Pantillimon and back under the crossbar in the far top
corner. It was an immaculate finish, and the perfect way for Osvaldo to
ingratiate himself to a fan-base whose patience with his start to life in
Southampton had been wearing thin.
Southampton continued to stifle their
illustrious opponents in the second half; Cork, in particular, impressing as
increasingly he was winning his duels with Yaya Toure in the centre of the
pitch. Rodriguez came close from a Ward-Prowse corner before racing onto a
loose ball in front of the City penalty area and ghosting past three defenders,
only to be thwarted by an excellent Pantillimon save, and Osvaldo’s composure
failed him with the follow-up. Saints’ record signing came closer with his next
effort, a snapshot from a narrow angle, but was eventually replaced by Lambert
to appreciative applause.
At the other end, Aguero, frustrated by a
lack of clear openings, managed to evade Fonte with twenty minutes remaining
but dragged his left-footed shot wide of the far post. In truth, the Saints’
defence had looked comfortable throughout the second half and neither side
seriously threatened again as an entertaining game drew to a close.
Their away record may have hamstrung City’s
title-bid thus far, but they may come to look back on a point at St Mary’s as a
positive result, despite the home side’s injury list. Saturday’s game
demonstrated a hitherto unseen strength in depth in Southampton’s squad as they
comfortably contained City with a team that contained four 18 year-old academy
graduates at the end of the match, with another waiting in reserve.
The next test will be supplied by a visit
to in-form Newcastle next week, but Pochettino’s squad will be buoyed by a
result the manager described as ‘psychologically significant’; injuries or not,
this is a side that can go into any game with hopes for maximum points.
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