Manchester City are human after all. Either that or Ralph Hasenhuttl has a cheat code on how to take points off them. Twelve consecutive victories would not become 13 at Southampton, which gives a chink of light in the title race.
How can you not take pleasure from watching this City team? Even when drawing, here was pure and utter dominance of the football. Wave after wave. We should just enjoy watching greatness before our eyes — it will not be here forever.
Marvel at the superiority, how they play the game. Those 11 men on one side operating at the absolute maximum most weeks. Young kids should be sitting down with a notepad when they have City on.
Manchester City were unable to extend their winning run to 13 games against Southampton
City showed they were human after all - or Southampton boss Ralph Hassenhuttl (right) has a cheat code on how to get points from them!
Southampton forward Armando Broja (left) showed how getting physical can upset City
Pep Guardiola's side unlike his rivals rarely give opponents a sniff of a chance
I can understand and empathise that nobody wants teams getting rolled over every week in the Premier League. But what I cannot agree with are suggestions about a lack of competitiveness that has been creeping into conversations over the last few weeks and months.
There is a surprise at how City have been able to pull away over the last month or so. That comes from their own relentlessness in results, coupled with the other two teams slipping up.
It had been toing and froing — which is, of course, what we want — until the start of December.
But runaway leaders are not exactly a new phenomenon, either, and neither are dominant clubs. We have had those for years and years — think Liverpool in the 1980s, Manchester United in the 1990s. Next year the gap will be closer, although this one is not over just yet.
There is certainly a difference to City that makes them unique. Sometimes when you watch Liverpool it can probably be a bit more exciting, because they are giving up chances. The opposition have a sniff.
While Manchester City didn't get the win we should still marvel at their superiority
With City, you are lucky if you are allowed the ball for any period of time. Liverpool are so explosive in the way they cut through with pace and power. By contrast with City, it is wave after wave of keep-ball. Squeezing the life out of teams. Making them suffer with their manipulation of a football.
Hasenhuttl said before the weekend draw that he was hoping for 35 per cent possession and that speaks volumes for how the rest of the division have struggled to contend with Guardiola.
Southampton played really well. They always carried that threat going forward and made sure they were affecting the game as high up the pitch as possible. Armando Broja, on loan from Chelsea, is obviously a handful, a brutish striker who can make defenders think.
These are the sort of guys needed if you are taking anything off City. And Southampton under Hasenhuttl are more adept than most.
This result will not serve as a major issue for Guardiola, who has been at pains to say that the
