- Manchester City was held in a draw by Southampton in St Mary’s
- Ruben Dias sparked a bizarre diatribe to the tactics of the saints and the “dry pitch”
- Listen now: everything is launched! Is Arsenal even close to achieving great things?
Manchester City Ruben Dias defender sparked a bizarre diatribe after his team’s 0-0 draw with Southampton, accusing their opponents of “not wanting to win”.
City missed the opportunity to move on points with Arsenal, second and delivered a frank offensive display against the hosts already linked – who are resigned to a rocky finish – despite the late return of Erling Haaland.
The goalkeeper of the saints, Aaron Ramsdale, was not tried for a large part of the competition, but was finally called in action while he climbed an irritated dias head.
Omar Marmoush then cracked the woodwork with a long -term effort, condemning City to expensive lowered points in the race for the Champions League while the saints assured that they would not descend into history like the worst side of the high -end.
After the match, Dias criticized the obstinate resistance of the local team, believing that they deliberately slowed down the game and did not try to win the match.
He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “It is frustrating, obviously in a moment as this is important. And it’s obviously frustrating to play against a team like this.
Manchester City Ruben Dias defender struck Southampton for not “wanted to win”
City was held at a safe draw in St Mary’s despite the return of Erling Haaland
But Pep Guardiola did not agree with the dias, declaring that the saints can play as they wish
“They don’t even try anything, they just sit down and they don’t even want to win the game. They just want to be there. It’s not good for the show and not good for themselves.
“It’s not good for anyone, but that’s what it is.
“I saw a completely different team the last time we played.
“I don’t know how many times the players have gone to the ground to try to waste time and waste time and waste time. It kills the rhythm of the game.
The defender also targeted the “dry” ground of St Mary, adding: “It is sad that Southampton has time as they do. They just want to stop the game and make it as slow as possible because then the grass that is dry.
“All these things that make the game more and more slow and we have to fight against it, and try to do it as quickly as possible because it is the way to enter.”
Pep Guardiola, however, did not agree with the Verdict des Dias.
Responding to the comments, the city boss said: “No, no, no. Absolutely not. They can do what they want. For many years here, we have faced teams in different approaches and they decided that they had to play. It is up to us to break them.
Dias also put the blame for the city’s frank attack screen on the “dry” surface
The result turned out to be expensive for City in the Race to get a place in the Champions League
“In these terms, the teams have played five on the back several times or six and the attacker went to our midfielder and there is no space, it’s difficult.
“You have to break it and we had the chances, when you review the chances of nothing that we could not mark and it happened.
“Now we are preparing the final and now it’s next time and Fulham.
“We have not conceded a shot on the target and they did not do much, but we must accept the way they play, it belongs to Simon (Rusk) and his assistant coaches. I do not agree with Ruben, we must accept it.
Southampton made a cheeky reference to the explosion of dias, tweeting: “a point without even trying to play” alongside two photos of smiling players after the final whistle.
