Another life! Manchester City drew a 2-pointer away game, Guardiola boiled the frogs and cooked himself to death

In the 36th round of the Premier League, Manchester City was visiting St. Mary's Stadium, and the challenge had already secured a relegation quota in advance. After 35 rounds, he only scored 15 points in Southampton. Without mentioning anything, just talking about the strength comparison between the two teams, even the Saints' most optimistic loyal fans dare not expect a miracle to happen. As long as it doesn't lose too ugly.

In the eyes of any fan, this is a game without any suspense. Manchester City can win even if they come on the bench, not to mention that Manchester City still has the need to compete for Asia and the pressure to compete for five.

Since the Premier League quota is officially confirmed to be five in the next season, Manchester City is in the best form among the five major teams, even without one. During the four consecutive championships, Manchester City made efforts in the second half of the season and swept away the championship trophy from its competitors with an unstoppable momentum. Although the tiger is in a tiebreak this season, Manchester City is still terrible in the struggle stage.

When facing the back guard and attacking the poor Saints, what will happen to this game? But no one expected that something really happened. With more than 70% of the ball possession rate and more than 20 shots, Manchester City finally tied with Southampton and lost 2 points.

And this accident naturally comes from coach Guardiola. As the top coach who is the peak and peak becomes the norm, the most criticized thing in Guardiola's brilliant coaching resume is the whole work. Although you must have extraordinary strategies to command the three armies, whether it is to innovate or win by surprise, you must start from reality.

Guardiola has indeed led the trend of tactical theory. From the early passes to the current tightening, from the wingback to the front of the waist guard, he can afford the title of tactical master, but he has repeatedly changed the formation in major games and key duels. The most typical example is in the 2020/21 Champions League final, Guardiola arranged a strange formation without a striker and waist, which caused Manchester City to miss the first time to reach the top of Europe.

Competitive sports are always a result-only theory. For coaches who are good at planning, winning is the whole team, losing is the whole mistake, and no one is exceptional. In this game, Guardiola made a large rotation of the starting lineup, which became the key to the criticism of fans after the game, because there was no need for rotation at all. Manchester City is now 1 game a week, and the lineup can be continued during the four consecutive victories. But to be honest, with Southampton's strength, it is reasonable for Guardiola to rotate, and it is not a big problem to get Haaland, who has returned from injury, to start directly - after all, it is necessary to let Norwegian striker find out his feelings and plan for the FA Cup championship.

But the problem is indeed with Guardiola, he has committed a big taboo - underestimating the enemy.

Manchester City played very slowly most of the time. Although Southampton has been suppressed in the half, it lacks rhythmic changes and tactical diversity. Manchester City's offense is basically centered on infiltration, and most of them are long-range shots. Even so, why bother to arrange for Haaland to start?

The key point is that Manchester City probably wanted to boil the frogs in warm water, and take them away after all. However, it was Manchester City who was really boiled in warm water - because the saints who had been demoted long ago were not afraid of cooking. After more than 70 minutes of consumption, Guardiola woke up from his dream and made substitution adjustments. At the last moment, he rarely sent all the attackers on the court. However, Southampton, which was united, withstood Manchester City's crazy attack in the last moment and completed the second clean sheet of the season. Ramsdale found the feeling of England's goal again.

It is hard to say whether this game will have an impact on Manchester City's five-game competition, but the 2 points that should not be lost are really dragging Manchester City into the vortex of five-game competition - originally, Manchester City could have gotten ashore in this round.