Sourced from Mirror.co.uk article
Southampton 0-3 Manchester City: 5 things we learned
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Manchester City leapfrogged Liverpool to go third after cruising to victory at Southampton.
City turned on the style in the second half to bag all three points with all their goals coming after the break.
Captain Vincent Kompany headed City in front from David Silva’s corner in the 55th minute.
Leroy Sane then rounded off a slick City counter also involving Sergio Aguero, Silva and Kevin De Bruyne to make it 2-0 in the 77th minute.
And Aguero got in on the act three minutes later when he headed in De Bruyne’s cross.
Here are five things we learned…
At one stage during the first half Southampton could hardly get out of their half as Manchester city played keep ball, racking up the passing stats just as Pep Guardiola no doubt likes.
In the second half they added pace, ruthlessness and were clinical in front of goal to deservedly bag all three points.
After Vincent Kompany’s first goal since August 2015 two moments of City class ensured they ran out easy winners as they carved Southampton apart on the break to make it 2-0 before Sergio Aguero headed in a third from an excellent Kevin De Bruyne cross.
Pep Guardiola reached a Manchester City landmark though perhaps not the sort he would have had in mind at the start of the season.
The Spaniard’s four alterations to his starting XI made it a staggering 100 for the season.
Raheem Sterling, John Stones, Fabian Delph and Aleksandar Kolarov were the men to drop out this time in Guardiola’s latest reshuffle.
All the changes this season have made it pretty clear that Guardiola doesn’t know his best team though he could also have had one eye on next week’s FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal.
The Italian hardly got a kick on his return to the Southampton team after missing the last three games with a groin injury.
But his popularity among the home fans after his prolific start to his Saints career was underlined when Claude Puel’s decision to take him off after an hour was roundly jeered.
Despite being isolated and starved of service for most of the game Gabbiadini still set up Southampton’s best chance.
Dusan Tadic skied it over early on. Had that been the other way around the south coast side would almost certainly have taken the lead.
He had let in the last seven he had faced before today and not stopped a shot since January. But when he saved Maya Yoshida’s header in the 73rd minute that horror run finally came to an end, sparking sarcastic cheers from his own fans.
In truth, serious questions would be asked if he had let it in. It was a routine save. And Southampton will be kicking themselves for not testing him more because he still looked nervous every time the ball went near him.
His distribution, the one quality Pep Guardiola signed him for, was dodgy and often delayed as he took an age to make up his mind, spreading panic in the City defence. He looked less than convincing from a couple of high balls chucked into his box too.
Southampton rookie Jack Stephens is keeping experienced Uruguayan defender Martin Caceres out of the side.
On this evidence you can see why. Stephens, 23, stood up well against was Sergio Aguero one of the
toughest opponents he could face, frustrating the Argentinian countless times with perfectly-timed interceptions, the best in the 73rd minutes when he was one-on-one and back peddling towards his own
goal as City broke.
One sprawling block to deny David Silva was also vital. And despite being relatively inexperienced he seemed to be
doing a lot of the leading of the Southampton defence.
But there was a valuable lesson too as he let Aguero out of his sights just once and he headed in City’s third to take some of the shine off his performance.
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