Ruben Dias has criticised Southampton for not simply bending over and letting Manchester City score eight goals at St Mary’s.
Southampton somehow managed to hold Pep Guardiola’s men to a 0-0 draw in the Premier League on Saturday, picking up the all-important point that takes them to 13 — one more than Derby County’s record low set in 2007/08.
As expected, the Saints parked the bus and hoped for the best — something Man City defender Dias is absolutely fuming about.
Speaking after the goalless draw, the Portuguese defender held back the tears as he criticised Southampton for ruining “the show”.
“In a moment like this, every point matters and it’s obviously frustrating to play against a team like this,” Dias said.
“They don’t even try anything, they just sit and don’t even want to win the game, they just want to be there. And it’s not good for the show, it’s not good for themselves, it’s not good for anyone. But it is what it is.
“The funny thing is we do what [Aaron] Ramsdale did once and straight away it’s a yellow card, he does it 20 times and it’s just play on.
“And obviously this slows the game and it just helps them consistently…
“But anyway, we had our chances, we tried to get in, tried to be versatile, tried to be flexible, that’s our job. But it was not easy to get in.
“We’re used to this kind of adversity but normally the other team is at least trying to win, or trying to play.
“Today was quite the opposite and there was not even a sparkle of them trying to do anything. They were just sitting around. And obviously it makes it more difficult to get in.
“Without being disrespectful and trying to respect the referees as much as we can, but we try and [say to the referee], ‘Listen, this is just going to slow down the game. This is not what anyone wants, who is watching, whoever’.
“And obviously we know we’re in a circumstance where we have to attack and they have to sustain, but the way they wasted time today, in some way the referee needs to help us control that time-wasting; people going down for nothing, for no reason. And it happened the whole game. It is what it is.
“It’s sad that Southampton waste time the way they do and they just want to stop the game and make it as slow as possible because then the grass that is dry and all those things that makes the game slower and slower and we have to fight against it, and try and make it as quick as possible because it’s the way to get in.”
Dias continued: “I saw a completely different Southampton the last time we played. Yes, we can make them go down, but not like this.
“I don’t know how many times players went on the floor just trying to waste time, and waste time, and waste time.
“I mean, it kills the rhythm of the game. Obviously we still go against it and try and look for our chances, we have to do what we must. But it’s just frustrating.
“We always have to do better. It’s obviously not easy to get into a team that behaves this way, it’s just too many people, even shooting outside the box it’s just loads of people everywhere.
“We try and we must be better, we must be more dynamic, more quicker. It was also not easy to be quick because the pitch was just dry with the sun, it was hot. But we need to be better.
“Everything is still on the table and we’ve got to fight for what we want. Period.”