Pep Guardiola has admitted Manchester City are “unprepared” after suffering a shock 2-0 defeat to struggling Southampton in the League Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Guardiola’s side paid the price for a soft display and never recovered after first-half goals from Sekou Mara and Moussa Djenepo at St Mary’s.
City sit second in the Premier League, while Southampton languishes at the bottom of the table.
But that huge gap was not evident on a wet and windy night on the south coast that Guardiola will want to quickly forget.
For the first time in 16 domestic cup quarter-finals, Guardiola had finished losing and he had no complaints about the result.
“The best team won. We didn’t play well. There are a lot of games you can start badly and beat, but we didn’t,” he said.
“When you’re not ready to play this game, you come in an inch late and don’t score a goal. When you’re ready, you score the goal.
“Today was a bad night, the opponent was better so we have to congratulate them. We didn’t deserve to win.”
City’s surprise exit continued a worrying trend of poor performances this season in games Guardiola would expect them to win, a failure that left the champions five points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Guardiola will demand an immediate response in Saturday’s crucial Premier League derby against Manchester United.
He made four changes from Chelsea’s 4-0 FA Cup third round defeat on Sunday, with Kalvin Phillips handing City his first start since his £42m ($51m) transfer from Leeds last year.
Phillips was branded overweight by Guardiola after returning from England duty at the World Cup and the midfielder barely made the Spaniard eat his words with a largely anonymous display that ended in him being substituted after 63 minutes.
Phillips’ flop was in line with City’s unusually soft display, with their lack of balance and aim visible early on.
– Sloppy town –
Southampton took the lead in the 23rd minute when Lyanco cut off a loose pass from Sergio Gomez and fired a low cross which France Under-21 international Mara swept home for his first goal for the club.
Five minutes later, Mali international Djenepo was allowed to move forward unchecked before curling in a superb 30-yard strike past Stefan Ortega, who was caught too far off his line.
Guardiola sent Kevin De Bruyne on the break and Erling Haaland after 56 minutes, but his lethargic side finished without a shot on target.
Southampton have never won the League Cup, losing the 1979 and 2017 finals, and they will face Newcastle in a two-legged semi-final later in January.
Saints boss Nathan Jones hopes this surprise success can be the stepping stone to silverware and, more importantly, Premier League survival.
“We’ve been through a lot recently, people are questioning a lot of things. It kind of justifies why we’re here and what a team we’re trying to build,” Jones said.
Nottingham Forest earned a final draw against Manchester United after beating Wolves 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at the City Ground.
Following last weekend’s embarrassing FA Cup loss to Second Division Blackpool, Forest are back on the Wembley track as they reach the League Cup semi-finals for the first time since 1992.
They took the lead with a close-range finish from former Wolves centre-back Willy Boly in the 18th minute.
Raul Jimenez grabbed Wolves’ 64th-minute equalizer but Dean Henderson was Forest’s penalty shootout star as he saved penalties from Joe Hodge and Ruben Neves.
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