Manchester City vs Southampton match report: Pep Guardiola's winless run goes on as Kelechi Iheanacho saves point

Manchester City 1 Southampton 1: John Stones's error gifted Nathan Redmond the opener only for substitute Iheanacho to equalise nine minutes after coming on

Pep Guardiola watches on as Manchester City are held to a 1-1 draw with Southampton (Getty)

When Pep Guardiola travelled to the Arabian Gulf to discuss Manchester City at the end of last season, he wanted to take total control of the club in a way he had not been allowed at either Bayern Munich or Barcelona. The last few weeks would have strengthened his belief that his grip needs to be ever tighter.

Kelechi Iheanacho’s eighth goal in his last 11 appearances was enough to salvage a point against Southampton and take Manchester City back to the summit of the Premier League but the club’s winless run was still extended to five matches. Their manager is likely to conclude that what City require is more rather than less Pep.

In the pages of the latest edition of Pep Confidential, written by Marti Perarnau, a journalist with unique access to Guardiola’s thoughts, the Manchester City he saw beaten by Real Madrid in the European Cup semi-finals was ageing and ridden with apathy.

Six months on, he watched another City side recovering from a chastening night in Spain – the 4-0 mauling by Barcelona – and the same thoughts must have flitted through his mind. For 45 minutes, Manchester City were something no Guardiola team can afford to be. They were dull and they were ordinary.

They were rescued by two 20-year-olds, Leroy Sané and Iheanacho. The former was the recipient of a fabulous diagonal ball from Fernandinho and he used to it to go past his marker and square for the young Nigerian. This was the 17th shot on target of Iheanacho’s Premier League career and he has now scored from 11 of them. Not even Gary Lineker in his pomp would have boasted those kind of statistics.

The odds were that Manchester City would then force their way past Southampton for a second but they neither deserved nor looked like doing so. This is a better Southampton side than travelled to Old Trafford in August to be well beaten by Manchester United.

In the vast, imposing figure of Virgil van Dijk they possessed the afternoon’s outstanding figure and Southampton might even have snatched back the lead had not Claudio Bravo saved well from Charlie Austin.

Upon kick-off the light shone most brightly on two members of Manchester City’s imperial guard, Vincent Kompany and Sergio Aguero, men who have served so many managers.

Aguero was largely anonymous on his return to the side (Getty) (Getty Images)

Having been dropped for the Nou Camp, the Etihad Stadium waited for Aguero’s response. There was in truth very little to suggest that Guardiola had been wrong to leave him out against Barcelona. Towards the end there was one trademark run from the Argentine that saw him charge through Southampton’s defensive screen, brush off Van Dijk and send his shot fizzing past the post. But there was little else.

Operating as one of three centre-halves, Kompany had a better match. Like Aguero, his place as one of Manchester City’s greats is already secure but he had not started a league game since April – a 1-1 draw at Newcastle. Given the number of times he has broken down painfully in public since, you feared for him now.

Redmond took full advantage of Stones's error to score(AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images)

It was, however, John Stones, the man slated to be Kompany’s long-term successor, for whom the afternoon went horribly wrong. Manchester City were playing ‘tiki-taka’ on the edge of their own area when Stones pointed upfield, turned and then passed the ball behind him. Or in precisely the opposite direction he had indicated.

It fooled Kompany, who had pushed up, and was completely unable to intercept Nathan Redmond as he seized on the error, took the ball past Bravo and shot joyously into an empty net. Five minutes later there might have been that kind of instant redemption that football loves when Stones met a free-kick and volleyed it in at the far post only to be called offside. He was not ready to be forgiven just yet.

Teams

Manchester City (3-2-4-1): Bravo; Stones, Kompany (Navas 78), Kolarov; Fernandinho, Gundogan; Sane (Nolito 90), De Bruyne (Iheanacho ht), Silva, Sterling; Aguero. Subs not used: Caballero (gk), Fernando, Clichy, Otamendi.

Southampton (4-2-3-1): Forster; Martina, Fonte, Van Dijk, McQueen; Clasie (Hojbjerg 67), Davis; Tadic (Boufal 70), Redmond, Romeu; Austin (Ward-Prowse 83). Subs not used: McCarthy (gk), Yoshida, Rodriguez, Stephens.

Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Durham)