Rusk hails "exceptional" commitment
Simon Rusk hailed the commitment of his players as Southampton dug deep to shut out Manchester City with a gutsy performance at St Mary’s.
Saints were forced to defend for the majority of the contest, but stuck to the game plan diligently to deny City clear sights of goal.
Rusk felt the goalless draw was the result of a sustained effort to improve the team defensively since his appointment as interim manager in early April.
“I think it’s actually been a big effort for the last five weeks,” he said. “We were looking for small gains, picking up points along the way – nearly a win at West Ham, nearly a really important point against Fulham, good teams.
“Today, against one of the best teams in the world, we really found a way to have more of a complete, solid, compact performance and I thought we deserved our point.
“I’m delighted for the players, delighted for the supporters – I thought they were absolutely amazing today. Hopefully everybody can enjoy their Saturday night.
“My priority when I took over the team was to limit the opposition’s quality of chance. I felt that’s what the players needed, to grow into games and look for moments from an attacking point of view.
“I think we limited them to not much today, and that’s not easy against a Manchester City team who are in great form with a lot of players back from injury.
“The effort and commitment from the players was exceptional. Today was about self-respect and discipline, making sure we’re all ready to do our job and play with humility and quality, because defending is a quality, concentration level is a quality, and it was the blueprint for our performance today.”
The full-time whistle was met by rapturous applause inside St Mary’s, and a wave of relief from the Saints players, but Rusk insists he remained calm after frustrating Pep Guardiola’s side.
“I like the process of improving the team and working with the team,” he added. “It’s been difficult, there’s been quite a lot of pressure to absorb over the last few weeks in a very, very difficult situation.
“I think my job is to stay measured. Last Saturday was difficult, but you’ve got to go again and we’re still fighting for more points. We’ve got two big games coming up, but I’m calm and already thinking about how we get the team ready for next Sunday.”
