Guardiola recognises key Man City improvement
Key marginals are not often exciting and Manchester City do not have anything as obscure as a throw-in specialist to shed some attention on them, but their improvement in attacking and defending set-pieces has been a key aspect of their success so far this season.
Carlos Vicens and the first team coaches have put effort and intelligence into what has long been a problem area, and the change has been significant.
Despite all the talk about the quality of James Ward-Prowse ahead of this game, City still have the best record in the league of just one goal conceded from set-pieces this season. Not only that, Aymeric Laporte headed home a Kevin De Bruyne to increase their already excellent record from dead balls at the other end.
Guardiola was straight over to his coaches when the goal went in to recognise the work that has gone in.
Laporte revels in the moment
This has been a tremendous season for Aymeric Laporte, who has roared back into being a first-team regular again on the back of a successful Euros with Spain to put the disappointment and frustration of the previous year behind him.
He put in an outstanding block at the start of the second half to keep City in the game at just 1-0 down, and then lost his man from De Bruyne's free-kick to power home an equaliser.
The centre-back enjoyed his celebration, and he had completely earned it.
City all business
While Laporte had his moment, it was striking when City scored how muted the rest of the team were. The focus was less on celebrating the fact they were level but on getting back to their half and restarting the game.
That shows the mentality of the team - the same attitude that saw Bernardo Silva running to get the ball back in the first half when the Southampton keeper and ballboys were hesitant - as they were determined to give themselves every opportunity to improve their position in the game.
That attitude is what delights Guardiola most.
VAR under the microscope again
De Bruyne was denied a penalty as City pushed for a winner and Stuart Armstrong avoided a red card minutes later.
Nobody in the stadium knew why.
It is debatable whether the decisions were correct but it is unacceptable that communication for fans is so bad after so long. It is no wonder so many are fed up of it when they see the game stopped for minutes at a time to privately evaluate incidents that may not have been noticed and then rule on them without public explanation.
