Matheus Nunes sends clear message to Pep Guardiola as Man City beat Southampton

Manchester City bushed Southampton 1-0 astatine the Etihad connected Saturday and Matheus Nunes impressed arsenic helium was handed a uncommon commencement against the Saints by manager Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola erstwhile hailed Matheus Nunes arsenic 1 of the champion players successful the world.

It’s taken a while, but possibly the Portuguese planetary is starting to dilatory judge that it wasn’t conscionable Pep connected a wind-up. Manchester City had, aft all, conscionable fixed Nunes’ Sporting Lisbon squad a 5-0 Champions League walloping connected their ain turf erstwhile the Catalan suggested the midfielder calved successful Rio de Janeiro was astatine the apical of the game.

There’s thing rather similar giving idiosyncratic a pat connected the caput erstwhile you’ve conscionable taught them a lesson. Yet conscionable implicit a twelvemonth later, aft Nunes had spent an awesome play with Wolves, helium became City’s 10th astir costly signing erstwhile they paid the midlanders £53million connected deadline time past August.

But Nunes past spent the adjacent 12 months paralysed by the benignant of yips that turned Kalvin Phillips into a tense wreck erstwhile helium was besides asked to beryllium helium deserved to beryllium portion of the finest squad successful the Premier League.

That the 26-year-old turned down the accidental to gain a luck successful the Saudi Pro League this summertime due to the fact that helium felt compelled to decorativeness immoderate concern astatine the Etihad first, was the benignant of connection that Guardiola wanted to hear.

This was lone Nunes’ 4th commencement of the play - and his archetypal successful the Premier League. The lone times helium had antecedently been successful the squad were for games against Watford successful the Carabao Cup and Slovan Bratislava and Sparta Prague successful the Champions League.

If the adjacent fewer months volition marque him oregon interruption him successful Manchester, helium got disconnected to an encouraging start. Asked to play wide connected the near successful the lack of Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku, helium needed conscionable 4 minutes to service up a transverse that was gobbled up by Erling Haaland.

It was the Norwegian’s 14th extremity of the season. Eleven of them person travel successful the Premier League and a 3rd successive Golden Boot already appears to beryllium a formality if helium tin enactment healthy. Haaland would person been disappointed not to person gone location with different match-ball.

Guardiola is large connected assemblage language. When helium was looking for punishment takers erstwhile City’s Community Shield gathering with Manchester United successful August had to beryllium decidedly a shoot-out, up stepped Nunes to look Andre Onana successful the oculus earlier burying his footwear into the apical corner.

The City brag was picked up by TV cameras whistling successful delight. Last Sunday astatine Wolves, Nunes got his ain backmost connected the Molineux fans who jeered his each interaction aft helium came connected arsenic a substitute by celebrating Josko Gvardiol’s injury-time victor similar it was settling a Champions League final.

So, aft scoring against Prague successful midweek, helium was successful the squad again. He could person scored different if his radar had not been disconnected by astir a gait not agelong aft providing Haaland with the aboriginal opener.

When Nunes was subbed disconnected 3 minutes from time, City were starting to look progressively tense arsenic they looked to adjacent retired the unconvincing triumph that took them apical of the table. Russell Martin has insisted Southampton volition play his mode careless of the consequences.

Martin is intelligibly a disciple of the Guardiola schoolhouse of possession. But it’s hard to emulate the champion careless of however consenting your players are to springiness it a crack. Eight defeats and 1 constituent from 9 games doesn't springiness the Saints brag overmuch wriggle room.

They tin instrumentality immoderate content from the mode they defended and kept possession erstwhile City imposed a property that has squeezed the beingness retired of overmuch amended teams. The visitors' attack caused City immoderate anxiousness successful the closing stages without truly giving keeper Ederson excessively overmuch enactment to do.

But if Cameron Archer had flashed his changeable inches little alternatively than against the apical of the crossbar successful first-half injury-time that truly would person fixed Guardiola thing to deliberation about.

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