Southampton boss Russell Martin admitted he trained his players specifically to stop a Manchester City star, but the plan didn’t work out.
Manchester City climbed to the top of the Premier League with a 1-0 win over bottom-placed Southampton on Saturday. While it was a narrow victory, Pep Guardiola’s team dominated the match and could have easily won by four or five goals if Erling Haaland had been more clinical with his headers.
Haaland did manage to score the crucial goal, bundling the ball home just five minutes in from a pinpoint cross by Matheus Nunes. Despite their control of the game, City struggled to add to their tally and had to fend off a late push from Southampton, who sought an equalizer.
Southampton manager Russell Martin expressed pride in his team’s performance but lamented the space left for Haaland during his goal, especially after training hard to defend against him. Martin told BBC MOTD, “The gap for Erling Haaland is too big. We worked on trying not to leave him one-v-one too often in the box, but he’s the best in the business at that.”
He continued, “I’m proud of them. The courage they had and the build-up was incredible. We had some big moments and more chances than most teams when coming here. The character to play the way we want after going 1-0 down early was impressive. If we’re going to lose, at least we did it in a way we can be proud of.”
Despite their victory, Manchester City hasn’t won a domestic match by more than a single goal since defeating West Ham 3-1 on August 31. They are currently top of the table, but their performances lack the relentless scoring of previous seasons, even against the league’s bottom teams.
This could indicate the growing quality of the division, as even lower-ranked teams can now compete with City. However, it seems more like an issue of their own making. Guardiola’s side has not been clinical enough in front of goal and remains susceptible to quick counterattacks, which could pose a significant problem when facing tougher opponents.
Leave a Reply