Pep Guardiola’s decision to name an understrength starting line-up backfired as Manchester City were beaten 2-0 by Southampton in Wednesday’s EFL Cup quarter-final tie.
Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Ederson were among City’s substitutes at St Mary’s with Saturday’s league game against Manchester United in mind.
That proved costly as Sekou Mara and Moussa Djenepo – profiting from some poor Stefan Ortega positioning – had the Premier League’s bottom side two goals up at half-time.
The arrivals of De Bruyne and Erling Haaland gave City slightly more of an attacking edge, but they could not find a route back into the game as they suffered a shock exit.
