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Man City’s Embarrassing Defeat to Southampton Leaves Players Facing the Exit
- Updated: May 2, 2016
This wasn’t just a defeat or a setback to Manchester City’s top-four ambitions—it was yet another example of Manuel Pellegrini’s side getting torn to shreds in embarrassing fashion.
Tottenham Hotspur have done it. Liverpool have done it twice. Stoke City did it. You can now add Southampton to the list of sides who have comprehensively dismantled this City team and left their fans wondering just how much work it will take in this summer’s transfer window to return them to their best.
The 4-2 scoreline flattered City. Only Kelechi Iheanacho’s instincts inside the area gave their supporters anything to cheer, and even that is tempered by his gross misuse this season.
The 19-year-old is a nailed-on star, but Pellegrini, for whatever reason, has used him sparingly. Thirteen goals in 1,033 minutes of football—one every 79 minutes—is a fine record, yet he has found himself behind the hapless Wilfried Bony for large chunks of the campaign.
STAT ATTACK | The numbers from #saintsvcity. #mcfc pic.twitter.com/TVspMdVorz
— Manchester City FC (@MCFC) May 1, 2016
Where does one start with an autopsy? City were a shambles from the first minute, when Dusan Tadic turned Pablo Zabaleta inside out and created an opening. Zabaleta never recovered. The club’s most loved player has suffered a spectacular collapse this season and, surely, his days as a Premier League defender are over.
An ambassadorial role awaits the Argentinian at some point in the future, but his top-level playing days appear to have gone. Pep Guardiola will want youth and energy at full-back when he takes over in the summer. Zabaleta doesn’t fit the mould.
Their centre-halves, Nicolas Otamendi, £28 million, and Eliaquim Mangala, £42 million, were a shambles. Wrong side from corners and throw-ins, a lack of concentration that allowed Southampton’s forwards to run off them too easily—it was a performance that would have made Titus Bramble and …
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