Manchester City once again fail to find a way to defeat Ralph Hasenhütll’s tactically sound Southampton

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Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhüttl set his side up brilliantly to frustrate, stifle and punish league leaders Manchester City, an almost carbon copy of their performance against them in the reverse fixture.

A tactic most managers try to emulate against the champions, but one that is all too often a mere road bump in the attacking surge that is Manchester City.

With two draws this season and a 1-0 home victory 18 months ago against City, how has the Austrian manager been so successful in recent years against what many consider one of the best club sides the world has ever seen?

Hasenhüttl returned to a 4-2-2-2 formation which served him well in the game against City in late September which ended in a 0-0 draw.

It is a system that requires a lot of work from the two attacking midfielders, which in this game was Nathan Redmond and Stuart Armstrong. The two must be resolute and aware defensively, but also need to be able to support the two forwards when the counter-attack is in motion.

With two men upfront, the chemistry between the duo has to be perfect with opposing runs complementing each other to stretch the City defence back towards their own goal.

Just like in the reverse fixture, the majority of possession belonged to Guardiola’s men, moving the ball side to side and making use of the space they were creating with slalom-like runs in behind the red and white backline. However, the league leaders could not find a way through.

Ghanaian defender Mohammed Salisu put in a herculean effort to keep out the City attack for over an hour and threw whatever part of his body he could in the way of a shot to keep the clean sheet intact. 

Much to the credit of the home side, City were limited to pop shots from distance, with only five of their 20 shots even going on target, a very similar scenario to earlier on in the season when the Saints only allowed one shot in the entire game from City which came in the 90th minute.

The opener in this game came from young Kyle Walker-Peters, who scored a beautiful opener with the outside of his right foot following lovely flowing football down the right side that Guardiola himself would have been pleased about. 

What followed was nearly an hour of solid defending and counterattacking with Southampton unfortunate not to secure a second goal.

Raheem Sterling should have converted home an almost open goal shot, but the seemingly endless frame of Fraser Forster managed to get a foot to the ball to keep the forward’s effort out.

Frenchman Aymeric Laporte converted home a header midway through the second half to send nerves down the back of the Saints fans. An eery feeling echoed around the stadium as many home fans feared a City turnaround after that goal.

Salisu, accompanied by the rest of the red and white cavalry, managed to halt the visitors though, and apart from one or two scares from the magical right boot of Kevin De Bruyne, Southampton managed to hold out to earn another huge point against the current Premier League champions and extend their unbeaten home run to eight games.

After the game, Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhüttl spoke about how his team has been able to pick up points in both games this season against City.

“Our last game was a very good model of how to play, I think we did it better then than today. We changed the shame one time in the first time and that did not work and did not help us. So in the second half, we stayed in the 4-2-2-2 and we had a few adaptations (from the reverse fixture) in which positions we want to bring (the Man City players).”

The dropped points open the door ever so slightly for the chasing pack of Liverpool and Chelsea who will look to pounce on the opportunity.

Southampton continue an impressive home record this season with only one loss this season at home and Hasenhüttl can claim another point off Guardiola’s men as the Saints stay 12th in the league.

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