Manchester City suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Southampton in the Carabao Cup last night, as City limped out of the competition 2-0. Southampton were worthy winners, and City’s performance was among the worse I have seen under Pep Guardiola. In my predicted XI, I said City were more than capable of beating the Saints without Kevin De Bruyne. Clearly, I overestimated the quality of the Blues as they failed to muster a singular shot on target. City face United at Old Trafford on Saturday in what is turning out to be a monumental fixture for both clubs, City need a win to put the pressure back on Arsenal and try to build some momentum for the first time this season. United on the other hand can close the gap to the Premier League champions to just a single point.
Here are my player ratings from the embarrassing defeat at Saint Mary’s.
GK: Stefan Ortega- 4/10
Ortega’s first poor performance in a City shirt. His positioning for the host’s second goal was shameful. Eerily similar to Che Adam’s goal against City in the 19/20 season, where Adams caught Ederson off his line and finished excellently. A poor performance from the German.
RB: Joao Cancelo- 4/10
By my own admission, I am a huge fan of Cancelo and think he’s the best left-back in the world. However, he hasn’t put in a single good performance since the return of club football and both Cancelo and Guardiola are to blame in this situation. I wouldn’t start the Portuguese in Saturday’s must-win fixture as I feel he is a liability at this moment in time. Improvements to his positioning, defensive capabilities and concentration levels are needed if the full-back is to regain his position.
CB: Kyle Walker- 4/10
Another odd selection from Guardiola in a season where the number of questionable decisions made by the Spaniard is getting quite concerning. Walker doesn’t have the skill set to play in a back-four system where the Englishman is a central defender. Walker looked shaky when distributing the ball and doesn’t have the radar and wide array of passes that his partner Aymeric Laporte possesses. Walker’s body positioning for Southampton’s opener was poor and summed up his overall performance. A bad day at the office was not helped by his manager’s decision to deploy him out of position.
CB: Aymeric Laporte- 6.5/10
City’s best player on the night. Laporte looked composed on the ball aside from a few rare, stray passes and was dominant on the ground and in the air when tasked with defending. The Spaniard needs to be a guaranteed starter on Saturday with John Stones as they both possess the best defensive abilities and are exemplary on the ball. Another positive performance from Laporte who hasn’t put a foot wrong all season.
LB: Sergio Gomez- 3/10
Woeful. In and out of possession. An unforced error led to Southampton’s opener and a foul throw in the first half was comically poor. Simply not good enough.
CDM: Kalvin Philips- 3/10
City sold Romeo Lavia to Southampton in the summer to make way for Philips in the summer. Ironically, Lavia bossed proceedings last night and was head and shoulders better than the man who replaced him. Philips was lethargic in possession, lost multiple duels and was easily bypassed and exposed City to multiple counterattacks. The Blues become a worryingly worse team when Rodri isn’t at the base of the midfield. Southampton clearly had a game plan to suffocate Philips when the former Leeds man received possession and it worked to perfection. For a man who has something to prove to Guardiola, that performance was shockingly poor.
CM: Ilkay Gundogan- 5/10
A bit of a nothing performance from City’s captain. Gundogan’s carelessness in possession is unfortunately becoming a trend in recent games and needs to be eradicated quickly if City’s fortunes are to turn around. The German was also uncharacteristically wasteful in front of goal and should have done better with his early chance when the scores were level.
CM: Phil Foden- 3/10
Another worrying performance from Foden who is rapidly falling down the pecking order and most likely will not start Saturday’s derby, a killing blow for the local lad who will be desperate to make an impact. However, Foden just hasn’t been anywhere near his best level recently and was a passenger in midfield yesterday. Careless in possession, afraid to take on his man and show a bit of impetus when City needed some inspiration. Foden spent more time complaining and throwing his hands in the air in frustration than he did impacting the game. A childish, petulant performance from a man drastically out of form.
RW: Cole Palmer- 4/10
I had high, high hopes for Palmer and still do to an extent. However, excuses are running thin. The 20-year-old was deployed on his favoured right-hand side but was dreadfully sloppy in possession, looked frightened to take on his man and was all around extremely poor. Palmer’s chances to redeem himself from now until the end of the season are limited as City face Arsenal in the FA Cup and Premier League and Champions League games are too high stakes for Guardiola to entrust the youngster. There is potential there, but whether Palmer will ever fulfil it is a different matter altogether.
ST: Julian Alvarez- 4/10
Alvarez experienced first-hand what Erling Haaland suffers when there is an alarming lack of service. An extremely quiet game in an attacking sense. However, when substitute De Bruyne played an exquisite through ball through to the Argentinian, Alvarez rushed at the opportunity instead of taking a touch and dragged his effort wide. Fans and neutrals alike often misprofile Alvarez’s attributes, despite his size and low centre of gravity, his dribbling, link-up play and passing are quite poor and will need to improve tenfold if the former River Plate man ever wants to start alongside Haaland.
LW: Jack Grealish- 4/10
One step forward, three back. Grealish was back to his usual pass-back antics, holding onto the ball for too long and generally not causing any problems down the left-hand side. In fact, the duo of Grealish and Gomez down the left flank is perhaps the least potent winger/full-back pairing Guardiola has ever deployed. I have no doubt the former Villa man will start the derby, as Guardiola will want control and his side to retain possession, however, the attacking output from Grealish just isn’t acceptable.
Substitutes:
Kevin De Bruyne- 6/10: Tried and tried but not even the Belgian maestro could unlock Southampton’s defence.
Erling Haaland- 5/10: The Norwegian marksman was largely kept quiet when brought on, as City’s chance creation was at an all-time low.
Nathan Ake- 6/10: An instant upgrade on Gomez, Ake was imperious as ever in the air and provided defensive stability that City lacked in the first half.
Manuel Akanji- 6/10: Akanji’s attributes fit the centre of defence City’s better than Walker’s and City were a better team defensively because of it. Should have started the game.
Pep Guardiola- 2/10
This result has been brewing quietly since before the World Cup. A last-gasp penalty against Fulham, dismantled against Brentford, abject against Everton and played off the park last night to Southampton, all games had the same themes, defensively a shambles and void of any creativity. All of Guardiola’s tactical tweaks and adjustments haven’t worked this season and because of this City haven’t had any continuity that is essential in a title-winning side. The Spaniard needs to revert to what his team knows fast, otherwise, City will be looking in their rearview mirror fighting for top four instead of retaining their Premier League crown.