Manchester City 1-1 Southampton, 2016 Premier League: 3 Things We Learned

Manchester City are back to the top of the Premier League thanks to a 1-1 draw against Southampton on Sunday, thanks to goals from Kelechi Iheanacho and Nathan Redmond for Saints. The Citizens had a poor first half with quite a few mistakes, but were much better in the second half and earned a point against a strong opponent.

The game was very quiet in the first 15 minutes, with both teams feeling each other out at the start, and both defenses looked strong in the beginning. City started to dominated slowly, and with intricate passing began to find spaces in the attacking half. But whenever Saints had the ball, the looked dangerous, and they were ready to capitalize on any mistakes.

And that mistake happened with John Stones, who tried a back pass to the goalkeeper but left it too short, and Redmond picked up the loose ball, dribbled past Claudio Bravo and scored the opener.

Stones made up for his mistake with a goal after a very good cross from De Bruyne, but the goal was ruled for offside, which was laughably wrong as Stones was CLEARLY onside at the time of the cross. Saints' goal and City's disallowed score destabilized the hosts, who struggled to get any sort of control of the actions for a few minutes. In the final moments of the first half, though, the Sky Blues improved and began to create a few half-chances.

At halftime, a loss that should have been a draw, but City still needed more quality to come back and win the game.

Guardiola brought Kelechi Iheanacho in at halftime in place of De Bruyne, and that substitution looked very strange at first, but it had a good effect on the Citizens' performance. The hosts looked better going forward, and Sergio Agüero had more freedom to move outside the box and influence the plays a lot more. Leroy Sané and Raheem Sterling switched sides in order to find the Nigerian in the box with crosses, and that game plan worked.

Just ten minutes in, Fernandinho found Sané with a fantastic long ball, and the German played a nice low cross to Iheanacho, who tied the score and gave City plenty of time to find a winner. City began to pressure a lot more and forced Fraser Forster to make some very good saves, and the second goal looked set to be scored.

It didn't however, and once again the Citizens will leave disappointed. It should have been a win, and now it's five straight games without a victory.

Man City: Bravo | Stones, Kompany (Navas), Kolarov | Fernandinho, Gundogan | Sané (Nolito), De Bruyne (Iheanacho), Silva, Sterling | Agüero

Goal: Iheanacho (55')

Southampton: Forster | Martina, Fonte, Van Djik, McQueen | Clasie (Hojbjerg), Romeu, Davis | Tadic (Boufal) | Redmond, Austin (Ward-Prowse)

Goal: Redmond (27')

3 Things

1 - In Pep We Trust

Pep Guardiola had to hear a lot of criticism since the loss to Barcelona, and even though the first half against Southampton wasn't very good, the second half display showed that Pep Ball works. We're just three months into the Guardiola Era and there's no way they can play like Peak Barcelona or Peak Bayern Munich in just three months. It'll take time, but his way of playing worked again on Sunday. Just give him some time and Pep will make this team incredible.

2 - Ilkay Gundogan is starting to dominate

The German followed up his display at Camp Nou with another very good display at the Etihad, completely bossing midfield and helping both the defense and the offense, and even though the win didn't came, Gundogan was a big influence in the game. What a signing.

3 - Vincent Kompany may not be that good anymore

The captain started a Premier League match for the first time this season, and it was painful to watch the Belgian. He was slow, misplaced easy passes and was always late on his tackles and challenges. Kompany has been a giant part of City's success over the years, but the millions of injuries have taken a toll on his body. We may never see Monster Kompany again, and that's sad.