Pep Guardiola gets brutal Man City reminder during Southampton stalemate

Two years ago, when Manchester City were on their way to winning the Treble, had a meltdown for the ages at St Mary’s when his team were knocked out of the Carabao Cup.

The paint on the away dressing room walls might be starting to blister again. Guardiola will be furious that his team failed to leave the south coast with a victory that would have lifted them level on points with second-placed just a day before the Gunners go to Anfield.

The bald Catalan doesn’t have much use for a hairdryer - but you can be sure that his players would have been feeling plenty of heat.

Whether the two points dropped will cost City a place in the top five and qualification for the remains to be seen. But if any more proof was needed that the deposed champions are a million miles away from the team they used to be, this was it.

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The visitors had back. started his first game for a month alongside Kevin De Bruyne. But they didn’t lay a glove on a team that had already been relegated and who were in danger of sharing Derby County’s tag of being the worst side in history until chalking up their 12th point of the season.

City have got games against and to get the points they need - and next week they face in the Final. How would love to have similar worries.

City fans of a certain age will be familiar with the story of the Saints’ season: wwo wins in 36 games, relegation confirmed in the first week of April - and just the three managers.

Owner Dragan Solak is a Serbian tycoon who owns telecoms conglomerates and media companies. His wealth is estimated at close to £1.5billion. But he’s no Sheikh Mansour. And even if he was, PSR puts paid to any delusions of grandeur these days.

Southampton were promoted through the play-offs last year with and Ipswich. The fact that the final next month will be contested by one team that started the weekend in 15th and another who are one point and one place worse off illustrates the magnitude of the task facing every new arrival. Leeds, plus one other, you have been warned.

Simon Rusk is the interim boss at St Mary’s once more. Previous experience includes a spell in charge of Stockport in the National League, three months as an assistant at Dundee and a stint instructing the players at how to take free-kicks and corners.

The fact that Rusk was put in charge of the Saints’ highly-rated Under-21 team last summer suggests he knows his way around a training pitch - but he drew the short straw for two games when Russell Martin was sacked just before and again when Ivan Juric followed after the drop was confirmed.

The manner in which his players gripped and grappled at every set-piece suggested they had spent plenty of time being drilled. Rusk had also worked on a six-man defence that even had Tyler Dibling doubling up as a right-back - and the visitors just couldn’t find an answer.

City keeper Ederson was given a touch of the ball when his team kicked off - and that was literally it for the Brazilian. But at the other end, was barely troubled himself until the visitors launched a desperate late onslaught that saw substitute Omar Marmoush shudder the crossbar.

Southampton threw bodies in the way. In the seven minutes of injury-time, many of Rusk’s players were cramping up in agony - and most of the 30,000 loved every single show of sacrifice.

At the final whistle, they had forgotten the reality of Championship football again next season and were singing loud and proud about the Saints going marching in.

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