Pep Guardiola insisted he was “impressed” with Saints’ quality and added: “Ralph is doing an excellent job.” The Manchester City boss watched his team seal a 1-0 victory over the St Mary’s side on the South coast thanks to Raheem Sterling’s first-half winner. Assessing the contest on Amazon Prime post-match, Guardiola said: “Firstly, I must say how impressed I was with Southampton and there is a reason they are where they are.
Pep Guardiola said “You can see the quality with their build up, the four guys in the middle, the two central defenders and they put a lot of fast players into the high pressing and they play really good. We come from an uncomfortable situation, but it is good to get the three points. We created chances, but we have to survive being solid and put our desire and heart to do the rest. They (Southampton) put a lot of players inside, they provoke you to be narrow. It’s difficult. They don’t allow you to be compact, that’s why they are so good. That’s why they’re creating problems. They have the best free-kick taker I have seen in my life in (James) Ward-Prowse. Their position in the table, Ralph is doing an excellent job.”
