Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola took a dig at defender John Stones after his blunder that gifted Southampton their opening goal at Etihad.
City’s new £47.5m summer signing John Stones’ foolish back-pass found Nathan Redmond, who clinched the opening goal for Southampon and put the Saints on the driving seat at Etihad.
Another new signing Kelechi Iheanacho came to Man City’s rescue as he scored the much needed equaliser that helped Guardiola’s side to stay at the top of the points table.
While commenting about Stones’ blunder, Guardiola said: “The way I want to play is not to pass to their striker!”
Before Stones’ foolish stance, Man City had to deal with Claudio Bravo’s red card against Barcelona in Champions League as Guardiola’s men suffered a 4-0 humilation against the La Liga giants.
Bravo had struggled to make an impact on his City debut against Manchester United at Etihad and now the Chilean goalkeeper has drawn huge criticism after another huge blunder when he stopped Suarez’s chip yards outside the box when Man City were behind by a goal.
The new Man City manager made a good start to his debut Premier League campaign with his side sitting at the top spot in the league table. However, Guardiola has now drawn huge crititcism for being too bold after suffering a 2-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur, followed by a 1-1 draw against Everton, a humiliating 4-0 defeat against his former club Barcelona in Champions League and a 1-1 draw against Southamton on Sunday.
Manchester City have failed to clinch a win in their last 5 games and Guardiola explained: “It makes it hard for us, yes. Today with John and Wednesday with Claudio Bravo — but that is not the reason.
To make things worse for Man City – Kompany was replaced in the 78th minute in his first game after recovering from a serious groin injury.
On the other side of the coin, Redmond explained that Southampton played full out and took their chances after learing the teamsheet.
He said: “We knew they would give us chances because they only played with three at the back.”