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Southampton V Manchester City The Verdict Sunday, 11th May 2025 10:44 Perhaps the most surprising result no just in Saints season, but perhaps the entire Premier League as the men in red & white stripes got the point that means that we are not the joint worst team in Premier League history. Typical Southampton, coming into form just as the season draws to a close, but all joking aside this was a battling performance where Saints made and also rode their luck with a spirit that has rarely been seen this season. Simon Rusk did do something different, he brought in James Bree, Welington & Tyler Dibling into the starting line up, but that was surprising to Saints fans more than motivational that we might get something out of this game, most pre game talk was about the lack of a striker up front and how we would line up.
The truth was that it was a 3-4-2-1 formation, that saw Sulemana as the lone striker, he was on a hiding to nothing, but truth was that he looked lost and unsure just what to do and where to be. I don't like to slag off a Saints player in this performance, but how did he last 88 minutes, Ross Stewart came on and showed that he may not have played much in two seasons at St Mary's and not shown what he can do yet, but his short cameo showed that he knew the job he needed to do. The stats don't make good reading, we only had 28% possession and I would have said a fair proportion of that was when we were technically in possession of the ball as we took goal kicks and throw ins. We only had two attempts on goal all game, none of them on target, but perhaps the most telling stat was that City only had 26 attempts but only 5 on target, in many respects they overplayed far too often, they didn't seem to want to have a pop at goal unless they are in or around the 6 yard box, we sat back and soaked it all up, although it needed a battling performance and a lot of luck.
The total of 13 blocked shots perhaps tells the pressure Saints were under and how deep that we had to defend. Pep Guardiola might be a great manager, but he lacked a bit of tactical nous in this one, he played his usual game, pushing us back and that meant that we never got exposed for pace, if he had dropped his own side deeper and opened out the game and given his attackers a chance to get one on one with our back 3, then he might have got a hatful. But instead when City did run at us they were running into traffic, no clear runs on goal, if they got past one man there was always another behind to take on. The fact that City only had 5 shots on target, 4 saved and another cleared off the line shows how little they were allowed the time and space to get clear attempts on goal.
This was a true team effort, literally everyone put in a shift, I have criticised Sulemana and he was perhaps the only one that you could level it at, but in his case he was a lost soul being played out of position and rarely actually getting the ball in an attacking position, he just didn't know what he should be doing in most situations. The rest of the team certainly knew the task in hand and stuck to it, Aaron Ramsey only had 4 saves to make, mainly in the closing stages as City suddenly realised time was running out, but that stat doesn't tell the story of the other things he had to to as City tried to get the ball to Haaland in the penalty area, when they did Ramsdale was often off his line to deal with it and catch or punch under pressure.
In front of him were a red & white wall, who battled for everything and finally restored some pride to themselves and indeed the fans. The crowd were magnificent, as the second half progressed the Saints fans sensed that something special was about to happen and the noise grew in all parts of the Stadium, a Manchester City fan came up to me in the pub after the game and was complimentary about the passion shown by our supporters, how much we backed the team and kept them going even though we had nothing really to play for. This performance although not great in terms of the fact that we barely got out of our own half was pleasing and showed that we have players who although perhaps not up to the consistency needed in the Premier League will be good enough in the Championship next season.
But for the moment what was important was not the performance but the fact that we got that point that releases us from the stigma of being the joint worst ever Premier League team in terms of points total. In truth it was something that perhaps did not need celebrating, but it was a release for all those present, after such an appalling season it was nice to achieve something and just revel in the moment, even thought it could not be described as a glorious one. So this was an unexpected result, but a pleasing one, the last 20 minutes were agonising, but for once we had something to play for and we were focused. A day where something happened that we had forgotten the feeling of for much of this season and that was pride in our team, the attendance figure was that of a sold out crowd, the fact was that in certain areas of the ground there were empty seats, I assume that they were those of season ticket holders who stayed away, that is their choice, but I do feel sorry for them, as having watched a load of dross for most of the season, they missed out on a rare moment of pleasure watching Southampton FC this season. All Photos Via Reuters Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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