report Man City 4-1 Southampton
theguardian
Manchester City's Samir Nasri gives unlucky Southampton no way back
You could say this match added insult to injury. Southampton gave Manchester City a start by conceding the most stupid of penalties after just two minutes, diligently clawed their way back into the game to equalise deservedly through a penalty of their own, despite seeing Jay Rodriguez carried off on a stretcher at the height of their dominance. The forward fell awkwardly and damaged his right knee badly enough to jeopardise any World Cup plans the watching Roy Hodgson might have been forming, then in the four minutes added to the first half for the treatment Rodriguez received on the pitch City scored twice to take the game away from the visitors. Considering the first of those goals involved one of the worst line calls of the season, with David Silva at least two yards offside when he received the ball to set up Samir Nasri, Southampton could consider themselves doubly unfortunate.
Mauricio Pochettino's team had only themselves to blame for the opening goal, however. When Edin Dzeko went past José Fonte in the area the centre-back hung out a leg for him to trip over in a manner rarely seen outside playground kickarounds. Yaya Touré accepted the opportunity to put City ahead from the penalty spot then disappeared into anonymity with the rest his team-mates as Southampton begun to run the show and the crowd fell into subdued silence.
The excellent Adam Lallana missed a good chance to equalise midway through the first half when he raced through to meet a dinked pass from the equally impressive Rickie Lambert, only for his first touch to let him down in front of goal. Rodriguez showed better control in bringing a high ball down on the half way line, but without a City player in close proximity his leg buckled on landing and he departed in evident pain.
City were sluggish and uninspired, and though Dzeko did hit the bar with a powerful header just before Southampton levelled the scores, he should probably have done better from Nasri's well-flighted free-kick. The penalty Pablo Zabaleta gave away against Jack Cork was not as outrageous as Fonte's earlier infringement, though still an easy decision for Chris Foy to make.
Lambert beat Joe Hart from the spot with a confident accuracy that could only have impressed the England manager in the stand. Then, just as the board went up showing four extra minutes, City found their attacking focus.
Silva may have been demonstrably offside from Dzeko's flick but it was still a better passing move than the home side had put together in the previous 45 minutes, with Touré, Dzeko and Silva linking effortlessly for the last to leave Nasri a tap-in with an unselfish square ball. If that was hard on the Saints worse was to come, when Nasri showed good awareness to free Aleksandar Kolarov for a run down the left and a cross that Dzeko met perfectly on the six-yard line.
The second half was bound to be anticlimactic after that, though there were a few high points, notably the home supporters paying Southampton a back-handed compliment with a chant of "We're going to buy all your players".
Dzeko saw a shot saved by Paulo Gazzaniga then put the rebound over the bar before making way for Álvaro Negredo, who had a chance of his own on 70 minutes but could not find a way past Fonte. Touré was correctly booked for a dive in the area before City found a way to score a fourth by legitimate means, Jesús Navas sending over such an inviting cross from the right that even though Negredo could not quite reach it at the near post it still provided a far post opportunity for the recently arrived substitute Stevan Jovetic.
Southampton were lucky to escape a rout in the end, with Negredo shooting at Gazzaniga and Touré striking the foot of a post. They hardly deserved that after bossing the first half, though this was a day when nothing went the visitors' way.
You could say this match added insult to injury. Southampton gave Manchester City a start by conceding the most stupid of penalties after just two minutes, diligently clawed their way back into the game to equalise deservedly through a penalty of their own, despite seeing Jay Rodriguez carried off on a stretcher at the height of their dominance. The forward fell awkwardly and damaged his right knee badly enough to jeopardise any World Cup plans the watching Roy Hodgson might have been forming, then in the four minutes added to the first half for the treatment Rodriguez received on the pitch City scored twice to take the game away from the visitors. Considering the first of those goals involved one of the worst line calls of the season, with David Silva at least two yards offside when he received the ball to set up Samir Nasri, Southampton could consider themselves doubly unfortunate.
Mauricio Pochettino's team had only themselves to blame for the opening goal, however. When Edin Dzeko went past José Fonte in the area the centre-back hung out a leg for him to trip over in a manner rarely seen outside playground kickarounds. Yaya Touré accepted the opportunity to put City ahead from the penalty spot then disappeared into anonymity with the rest his team-mates as Southampton begun to run the show and the crowd fell into subdued silence.
The excellent Adam Lallana missed a good chance to equalise midway through the first half when he raced through to meet a dinked pass from the equally impressive Rickie Lambert, only for his first touch to let him down in front of goal. Rodriguez showed better control in bringing a high ball down on the half way line, but without a City player in close proximity his leg buckled on landing and he departed in evident pain.
City were sluggish and uninspired, and though Dzeko did hit the bar with a powerful header just before Southampton levelled the scores, he should probably have done better from Nasri's well-flighted free-kick. The penalty Pablo Zabaleta gave away against Jack Cork was not as outrageous as Fonte's earlier infringement, though still an easy decision for Chris Foy to make.
Lambert beat Joe Hart from the spot with a confident accuracy that could only have impressed the England manager in the stand. Then, just as the board went up showing four extra minutes, City found their attacking focus.
Silva may have been demonstrably offside from Dzeko's flick but it was still a better passing move than the home side had put together in the previous 45 minutes, with Touré, Dzeko and Silva linking effortlessly for the last to leave Nasri a tap-in with an unselfish square ball. If that was hard on the Saints worse was to come, when Nasri showed good awareness to free Aleksandar Kolarov for a run down the left and a cross that Dzeko met perfectly on the six-yard line.
The second half was bound to be anticlimactic after that, though there were a few high points, notably the home supporters paying Southampton a back-handed compliment with a chant of "We're going to buy all your players".
Dzeko saw a shot saved by Paulo Gazzaniga then put the rebound over the bar before making way for Álvaro Negredo, who had a chance of his own on 70 minutes but could not find a way past Fonte. Touré was correctly booked for a dive in the area before City found a way to score a fourth by legitimate means, Jesús Navas sending over such an inviting cross from the right that even though Negredo could not quite reach it at the near post it still provided a far post opportunity for the recently arrived substitute Stevan Jovetic.
Southampton were lucky to escape a rout in the end, with Negredo shooting at Gazzaniga and Touré striking the foot of a post. They hardly deserved that after bossing the first half, though this was a day when nothing went the visitors' way.
