EPL Monday: Southampton Isn't Going Away; Manchester City Drops Points Again

Round 21 of the English Premier League was eventfully uneventful. The two results with the most ramifications were Manchester City’s 1-1 draw to Everton at Goodison Park and Southampton beating Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford for the first time since Disco was popular. Since there really weren’t any other major flashpoints, let’s look at those two matches in brief.

Speaking of briefs (there’s a nice tidy transition!), the Internet would have melted on Sunday after Dusan Tadic scored his late winner vs. Manchester United when he took off his shirt —and for a split second — appeared like he was going to take off his shorts, too. Moving on.

In recent Premier League seasons, Manchester City notching a draw on the road to Everton isn’t a bad result. City — now two points behind first-place Chelsea — remain unbeaten in 14 games. Since the start of December across all competitions, Everton had only won once, losing six and drawing two, including losses to QPR and Hull City. To put it mildly, Roberto Martinez’s side was struggling on all fronts.

As far as “bad” results go, the only one that stands out on the City 2014-15 resume is losing at home to Stoke City in late August.

However, the Everton result carried a familiar trend new to City — dropping points from winning positions. Fernandinho put City ahead in the 74th minute Saturday and the lead lasted only four minutes until Steven Naismith equalized. The previous league match vs. Sunderland, City allowed the the visitors to twice tie the score before eventually winning 3-2. Prior to that, City blew a 2-0 lead at home to Burnley, drawing 2-2.

Three matches is probably too small to be considered a trend, but it could be mild cause for concern. Overall, City still has seven clean sheets on the season, so it’s defensive record remains above average. Still, if Chelsea edges them for the title those dropped points from winning positions around the turn of the calendar year will be part of the reason why.

Of course Sergio Agüero returned (as a substitute) this weekend from his leg injury and City is primed to add Wilfried Bony after the African Cup of Nations, so perhaps the club’s games won’t be as nip-and-tuck with its offensive firepower restored — wither James Milner, false nine.

As for Southampton — still third in the table, two points better than United — once again it shows how we’ve all been conditioned to the EPL’s predictability. A team outside the usual suspects in a Champions League spot this deep into the season raises eyebrows (mind included) and most figure (again, me too!) it’s only a matter of time before the Saints crash back to mid-table. Southampton, as it has done all year, defies convention.

Sunday, Southampton held a United lineup including Robin van Persie, Angel Di Maria, Juan Mata and Wayne Rooney without a shot on target at Old Trafford, which is fairly incredible.

Anyways, let’s flash back all the way to early December. That’s when the Saints lost four straight to Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and then Burnley. That slide should have signaled the end, right? Instead Ronald Koeman’s team is undefeated in five, beating Arsenal and United while drawing with Chelsea. Given their resiliency, bar a massive transfer raid this month, it would be foolish to write Southampton off the rest of the way. Who figured Southampton at Manchester City on May 24 — the final day of the season — would be such a massive game?

The one thought that stood out to me on Sunday was despite all the changes and summer upheaval, Koeman didn’t need very much time at all to get Southampton going. Granted, Southampton had most of its spine in place, Jose Fonte in defense and Morgan Schneiderlin and Victor Wanyama paired in central midfield, but there wasn’t much of a transition period. It does help, too, that most of Koeman’s transfers — Graziano Pelle, Tadic, Fraser Foster and Toby Alderweireld (injured Sunday) — adapted quickly to life in the PL. Throw in Southampton’s academy producing viable short-term replacement options and the team’s success much more logical to proces. Even so, many managers (cough, cough Louis van Gaal) come to the PL and need a couple transfer windows or months to implement their style and system — Koeman needed a few weeks and did it mostly on the fly.

Tangentially, Koeman’s success as a manager got me thinking why soccer seems to have the most accomplished players who remain active in team management post-playing careers. Koeman won league titles in Spain and the Netherlands along with the European Cup with Barcelona and all sorts of accolades with the Dutch National Team, yet he still manages. As did his international teammates Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten, among others. True, for every Carlo Ancelotti who won about every honor at AC Milan as a player, there’s a Jose Mourinho, whose career was forgettable. Call it the eye test, but to me it feels like there are more prominent/star players in management for soccer compared to most other pro sports.

Koeman, for what it’s worth, led the 1993-94 Champions League in scoring one as a defender. The tournament was shorter back then, with Koeman scoring eight times in eight games. Even so, his free kicks make for a nice throwback YouTube clip:

Yes, that’s Johan Cruyff managing Barcelona in the clip above.

Goal of the Week:

Alexis Sanchez is a bad, bad man. Arsenal’s Chilean star has now been involved in 18 goals this year, the most of any player in the PL. Arsenal took care of Stoke City with a drama-free 3-0 win at the Emirates.

Stat of the Week:

So … Moyes and Van Gaal have the same points total after 21 games. Interesting, right? It hardly tells the whole story, given Manchester United had been undefeated in its previous 10 league games, including seven wins, prior to Sunday’s loss. United are still in a Champions League place too, under the Dutchman.

Fan Video of the Week:

Harry Kane scored, again, but Crystal Palace defeated Tottenham in Alan Pardew’s home debut as manager at charming Selhurst Park, which was ‘Glad All Over’ following the win.

The Table:

Spurs sitting in sixth with a minimal goal differential stands out. Liverpool’s goal differential is now +2 thanks to its second consecutive 1-0 win on the road, this time away to Sunderland making it the first time the club has done that in back-to-back league games since 1976.

Looking Ahead:

Manchester City-Arsenal is the late Sunday kickoff and the clear marquee match of the weekend.