Pep Guardiola
Russell Martin’s Saints are set to visit Etihad Stadium on Saturday. The hosts are eager to extend their streak to 52 home matches unbeaten in 90 minutes. Manager Pep Guardiola has encouraged the 38-year-old opposition leader to maintain his high-possession style despite facing criticism from pundits.
Pep Guardiola said: “They will have success, when this happens you always have success sooner or later. They will know you are not a big believer. We almost had a bad result at Wolves and look what happened. We struggled to win. Southampton have had good moments, I saw games against Brentford and against United, the first hour against Leicester. These starts were really, really good. They have good moments and they have courage to play. And they have a keeper like Ramsdale. Always after a Champions League game, I prefer to play against teams better in the table because you are focused. The big mistake we can do is watch the table. It is our job to convince the players that we are in a good way and that the reason why we didn’t win is this reason or this reason. It is impossible to convince the players if you try to show them something you don’t believe in yourself. Their plan is there and they will try to do it. I have seen their games and (Southampton) always have moments. They are brave with the ball, without the ball I don’t know what will happen. We will have to see if they defend deeper or not. If you make a good process, then they have to defend deep. How long will they stay there, I don’t know.”
Above Martin’s desk at Staplewood, there is a Guardiola quote which reads: “When we win, the game model seems good and is not questioned. But bear in mind, we won’t always win. That is the moment when we will have to trust the model more than ever because the temptation to move away from it will be very strong.”
