Manchester City manager, Manuel Pellegrini, has hailed the vast potential of his charge Kelechi Iheanacho.
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Southampton’s Senegalese midfielder Sadio Mane (L) celebrates after scoring past Manchester City’s English goalkeeper Joe Hart (down) during the English Premier League football match between Southampton and Manchester City at St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton, southern England on May 1, 2016.
City boss Pellegrini made eight changes from Tuesday’s goalless Champions League semi-final first leg draw with Real Madrid, gearing up for Wednesday’s return at the Bernabeu.
“The first 45 minutes we played great football”. City got another consolation goal from Iheanacho, who curled a fine effort from the edge of the box straight into the far top corner.
“I always try to select a team we think will win the game”, Pellegrini told Sky Sports.
However, there were few signs City could build on that goal after the break and Southampton asserted their dominance 12 minutes after the restart when Mane hooked the ball home after Virgil van Dijk had met Steve Davis’s corner and headed against the bar.
City dropped a spot to fourth, three points behind Arsenal with two games left, and Southampton moved up to seventh.
With Manchester City’s top 4 place being threatened by their neighbors, they found themselves behind 2-0 to Southampton.
To pick on Raheem Sterling may seem a little unfair-the England worldwide was not alone in producing a below-par performance for Manchester City.
Southampton manager Ronald Koeman said: “Sadio was focused and clinical”.
“Maybe if we played on Saturday, we’d have another option for this game, but playing with too many players too often makes it hard to always get a result”.
“We’re very pleased with the performance and how we started the game, and then in the second half we knew they would start quick but we were prepared for it and we got the goal”.
“I always say the best way to prepare the next game is to win and that’s why we did so well before Paris Saint Germain and Real Madrid, we won our games before in the Premier League”.
“I didn’t expect that performance, especially in defence”, he said.
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Man City did manage to settle after a fast start from the home side, but Mane sent a low strike just wide of Hart’s post in the 11th minute after a sloppy piece of work from Fernandinho in the middle of the park. We need two more wins.
