You have to give some credit to Southampton, they played well, got in our faces, took chances. They've already pushed City at their own ground this season, so they deserve a bit more respect then they're getting.
I think there was just a lot of miscommunication today. Cleverley didn't click with Kagawa and was just way too eager to push forward and did so too early. He went almost as soon as one of our players got the ball which inhibited our build up play as Southampton pushed up high. Carrick can't cover every player and because Clev went forward so quickly, they could mark Carrick and force the defenders to make a riskier pass, or simply close down Carrick who had no one nearby to pass too as his partner was gone.
To be fair though we're playing a brand new midfield combination, had to attackers who have only played with each other once and are new to the team. It's going to take some time to click in to gear, it's not like we've just added 1 player or anything and the rest of the team is the same. It's not helped by a lack of a solid defence atm. Rio and Vidic were both shaky, putting pressure on the team and not being able to help the fullbacks who were targetted aerially. Additionally I thought they were slow on the ball.
But like I said it was a tough game and players are still getting to know each other. Some of the reaction is ott when you put thinkgs into context such as the defenders still coming back from injuries, new players. We still dominated the ball and when we calmed down, had clev and carrick actually in the midle together we looked pretty comfortable on the ball. We really lacked a leader if anything today, someone to tell Cleverley to hold back a bit and calm the players down.
There was still some decent stuff here and there, it's just going to take a bit more time for players to gel with each other.
