Southampton’s under-23 side slipped behind Manchester City in the Premier League 2 table with a 3-0 loss at Staplewood today.
Manchester City dominated the game from start to finish, and were fully deserving of the comprehensive scoreline.
The Saints had first-team centre back Florin Gardos in defence, but the Romanian international was unable to make an impact on the game – at least in the way Martin Hunter would have wanted.
City forward Paolo Fernandes scored the first two goals, in either half. Both were angled finishes with his left-foot passed Harry Lewis, who had no chance with either strike.
Gardos’ return from injury was not the dream come true he was looking for. The central defender diverted a cross into his own net to make it 3-0 before being taken off on 60 minutes.
Substitute Jonathan Afolabi had a good chance at the end of the match, but fired over the bar after being slipped through on goal by Callum Slattery.
Here are our Southampton player ratings from tonight’s match…
Harry Lewis: 5
Although none of the goals were glaring mistakes from Lewis, he could have done better with two of them.
His kicking was not great, and he looked shaky from crosses.
Not a great performance from the young shot-stopper.
Yan Valery: 6
Decent display from Valery at right-back. He was composed on the ball, but was not able to get forward as much as he would have liked.
Florin Gardos: 5
A nightmare return from injury for Gardos.
Three goals against his side, including the own goal he scored.
Maybe he needs a few more games to get up to speed after such a long time out injured…
Ollie Cook: 6
Cook made some decent challenges during the match, but was left looking silly after the three goals went in.
He’s certainly played better in a Saints shirt.
Jake Vokins: 6
The young left-back will be disappointed with his efforts for the third City goal, but he had a good game on the whole.
He made some good tackles and was assured on the ball.
Alfie Jones: 6
Jones had a fairly average game in midfield, and later on in defence.
Did nothing of note in the game, should have tried to get involved in the play more when Saints had the ball.
Thomas O'Connor: 6
As with Jones, the game seemed to pass O’Connor by.
He didn’t look like he could keep up with the City midfield, and had little to no impact at either end of the pitch.
Mdlalose: 7
Mdlalose was one of Southampton’s better players during the game.
He had a superb first-half, committing defenders and playing good passes. However, he faded out in the second half and was unable to have the desired effect in the end.
Callum Slattery: 7
Along with Mdlalose, Slattery was one of the more impressive performers.
Slattery was clever with his passing, and created a number of chances for his teammates during the match – including a cracking through ball for Afolabe toward the end of the game.
Tyreke Johnson: 5
Johnson had no effect on the game at all. He failed to hold the ball up against the City defence, and was not involved in the play throughout the match – virtually invisible.
He will be really disappointed with his performance.
Harley Willard: 6
Willard did do some good things out wide, but not enough to earn himself praise.
He was brought off towards the end of the match, and rightly so as he was having little effect on the match at all.