City 3 Southampton 1
November 28th 2015 54,102
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After the dreadful display against Liverpool this was much better and with Kevin De Bruyne back to form City ran out easy winners over Southampton who were outplayed in the first half. They improved in the second period but an excellent Kolarov goal settled the points. City started with more gusto than usual and when Sterling robbed Yoshida and dashed for goal De Bruyne sprinted into position to score from Sterling's cross to give City a much needed early lead. A diverted Delph shot following a corner gave us the half time lead. It was Delph's first start for City and his first goal and he played well. The visitors reduced the arrears following a strange decision by the referee. He brought back play to give a free kick after too longer a gap and from the free kick Long scored with a header from the cross which I think Hart would have come for. City went off the boil and Caballero had to make some saves to keep us in the lead. With twenty odd minutes to go a great cross from De Bruyne to Kolarov ended with the Serbian shooting past the keeper and City were home and dry. Although Yaya Toure made a few good passes he is far from his best but at least we have Silva back now and he got a great welcome when he came on for Sterling on 75 minutes. Aguero
Delph started and Aguero continued up front. Silva and Navas were on the bench
Southampton brought a good number of fans with them
There were quite a few empty seats at the start
City nearly scored in the opening minute........
....when a shot from Sterling was pushed out by Stekelenburg and a defender .....
pushed the ball back to the keeper who almost picked the ball up....
..but he avoided the indirect free kick by kicking the ball away
On 4 minutes Aguero is brought down by Wanyama
The ref has a word with the offender
The ball hits the post and bounces down....
..and in the end the keeper manages to get the ball from the Kolarov free kick
on 8 minutes Sterling gets the ball from Yoshida and crosses for De Bruyne to score
Kevin had dashed from midfield to get into position for the cross and fully deserved the congratulations of players and fans
Another defensive error let in Aguero but the keeper manages to save
At a corner Otamendi and Van Dijk clash....
Then Otamendi is fouled but the free kick by Kolarov is blocked
At a corner a Fernandinho header is cleared for another corner by a defender or was it a handball!
Though City appealed the ref gave a corner but when the ball was half cleared Delph shot from the edge of the area and his shot was nicked by Van Dijk past the keeper
So City were two up after just 20 minutes and it was celebrations all round
A minute later and Van Dijk hits the bar with a tremendous shot that had the City keeper well beaten
On 28 minutes the Southampton fans started to cheer when they thought a free kick had gone in but it had just gone wide
The rain continued to pour down and on 40 minutes Long had a shot saved by Caballero
Just before half time both Sagna and Van Dijk had to have treatment
Three minutes into the second half and Southampton broke away down the right wing but when the attack broke down the referee awarded a free kick for an earlier foul by Kolarov
Following the free kick a cross was met by Long who headed past Caballero to score for the visitors
At last the Southampton fans had something to cheer about
The City goal is under pressure as Caballero first saves from Tadic and then Long shoots...
...and did Fernandinho handle it - the Southampton players appeal - but no penalty and maybe City are lucky
Tadic shoots but Caballero pushes the ball out and City clear the danger
On 69 minutes Sterling passed to Bony who gave the ball to De Bruyne who spotted Kolarov on the far left and put across a great ball.....
and Kolarov took the pass and hit a super shot into the corner to make it 3-1
Should be game over now but you never know with City
Kolarov points to his assister while one City fan has an arm in his face!
Caballero is kept busy as Southampton continue to press
It was good to see David Silva back in action
Sagna takes a good pass from Kevin but scoops the ball over the bar
City back on top and everyone homeward bound
Team
Caballero 7: Sagna 7.5, Demichelis 6.5, Otamendi 7, Kolarov 7.5: Toure 7, Fernandinho 7.5, Delph 7.5 (Fernando) De Bruyne 8, Sterling 7.5 ( Silva) Aguero 6.5 ( Bony)
