Pep Guardiola: ‘Unprepared’ Man City deservedly beaten by Southampton

Below-strength
City
were
defeated
2-0
by
the
Premier
League’s
bottom
side
at
St
Mary’s
Stadium
through
goals
from
Sekou
Mara
and
Moussa
Djenepo.

City
made
five
changes
for
the
contest,
which
followed
three
days
on
from
an
FA
Cup
third-round
win
against
Chelsea
and
precedes
Saturday’s
derby
against
Manchester
United.

The
visitors
failed
to
register
a
single
shot
on
target
for
the
first
time
in
a
game
this
season,
while
their
overall
tally
of
seven
shots
is
also
a
new
low
for
the
campaign.

After
City
suffered
defeat
inside
90
minutes
of
an
EFL
Cup
tie
for
just
the
third
time
in
30
matches
under
Guardiola,
the
Catalan
coach
accepted
his
side
were
second
best.

“The
better
team
won,”
he
told
BBC
Sport.
“We
didn’t
play
good.
We
didn’t
play
well
in
the
start.
There
are
many
games
you
can
start
not
good
but
recover
and
we
didn’t
do
it.

“When
you
are
not
prepared
to
play
this
game,
you
arrive
one
inch
late
and
don’t
score
a
goal.
When
you
are
prepared,
you
score
the
goal.

“Tonight
was
a
bad
night,
the
opponent
was
better
so
we
have
to
congratulate
them.
To
win
games
you
have
to
deserve
it
and
tonight
we
didn’t
deserve
it.”

Kevin
De
Bruyne
was
brought
on
at
half-time
as
part
of
a
triple
substitution,
while
Erling
Haaland
entered
the
fray
soon
after,
but
neither
could
make
an
impact
for
City.

Defeat
for
City
was
just
their
fourth
in
28
matches
this
season,
and
their
first
since
returning
to
action
following
the
World
Cup
break.

While
it
was
a
hugely
disappointing
outing
for
City,
Southampton
celebrated
back-to-back
wins
for
the
first
time
under
Nathan
Jones,
who
had
been
under
pressure
following
a
poor
start
to
his
tenure.

Following
Southampton’s
second
win
in
16
meetings
with
City
under
Guardiola,
Jones
wants
his
players
to
push
on
in
their
battle
to
avoid
relegation
from
the
Premier
League.

“We
want
to
be
hard
to
beat.
This
has
to
be
our
benchmark,
the
level
we
attain
to.
We
had
a
lot
of
good
situations
today.
It’s
a
step
in
the
right
direction,”
he
told
Sky
Sports.

“I’m
really
proud
of
the
players,
of
myself
and
the
coaches.
We’ve
gone
through
a
lot
recently,
people
questioning
a
lot
of
things.

“That
goes
a
little
way
to
justifying
why
we’re
here
and
what
team
we’re
trying
to
create.
I’m
really
proud
of
the
club
tonight
and
how
we’ve
come
through
a
tough
time.”