Man City captain Vincent Kompany respects Saints after hard-fought win

Vincent Kompany Vincent Kompany

MANCHESTER City captain Vincent Kompany believes his side have proved their champion team spirit remains intact after their win over Saints.

City needed to come from behind against Nigel Adkins ’ men to get their Barclays Premier League title defence off to a winning start in Sunday’s season opener at the Etihad Stadium.

The 3-2 success may not have seen City at their most destructive but Kompany felt it was a performance full of the qualities which yielded a first league title in 44 years last season.

He said: “We have always proved to be very difficult to beat at home.

“Maybe we will just get belief out of this. Maybe that is why we always keep coming back and it never seems to be finished.

“I don’t even need to say it loudly.

Last season proved how crucial it (team spirit) was for us, in the last games.

We showed we wanted it as much.

“It doesn’t matter if we have our best game or our worst game, we just keep going.

“As much as I can say we have a lot to improve on still, I can also say we can really all be happy because of great qualities of character.”

City, who were unbeaten at home in the league last season, missed an early penalty but led at the break through Carlos Tevez.

Saints hit back with goals from Rickie Lambert and Steven Davis but City recovered in the final 18 minutes as Edin Dzeko and Samir Nasri struck.

Kompany said: “If everything had gone to plan we would have scored two or three goals before they even got their first.

“We missed a few chances and they used the one opportunity they had very well and the game became very difficult, but I am very happy about the reaction of the team. That is what we needed to see.

“Therefore we are very happy with the win and the result. We have to respect Southampton , they played really well. It is a good result for us.”

Comments(16)

Saintsteve7 says...
10:48am Wed 22 Aug 12

You'll respect us even more when we beat you at St Mary's. We fear no one in this league! Red Army!

ToastyTea says...
10:51am Wed 22 Aug 12

Saintsteve7 wrote:
You'll respect us even more when we beat you at St Mary's. We fear no one in this league! Red Army!
Amen brother, fortress St Marys has no mercy, Champions or not.

saints4eva12 says...
11:02am Wed 22 Aug 12

ma city be afraid be very afraid when you come to stmarys ! ! prideofthesouth . We cant be beaten at home

worried of n e hampshire says...
11:51am Wed 22 Aug 12

good player but no mention of our nailed on pen we didn't get or their offside goal!!!

Barcelona Saint says...
1:03pm Wed 22 Aug 12

We still need a better defence, new CB quick. Our defence has always been suspect and in this league, we will be punished!
Great that we are going to score goals but would be excellent to make it hard to score againts us too.
COYR!

drummernath says...
1:42pm Wed 22 Aug 12

I think from Saturday's performance, I am more concerned about LB than CB. Jose and Hoover did really well.

Jesus_02 says...
1:45pm Wed 22 Aug 12

We do need another CB but just so we have three to choose from.

I saw both make a mistake apiece against City. But I thought to myself...they will learn and get better.

I would just be worried if they got injured

Severntrent says...
3:03pm Wed 22 Aug 12

ToastyTea wrote:
Saintsteve7 wrote:
You'll respect us even more when we beat you at St Mary's. We fear no one in this league! Red Army!
Amen brother, fortress St Marys has no mercy, Champions or not.
I dunno, you seemed fairly merciful when David Norris spanked in that beautiful, beautiful equaliser, effectively denying you the 2 points that may have seen you promoted as champions. More a bouncy castle than a fortress wouldn't you say?

SO50 Saint says...
3:10pm Wed 22 Aug 12

We just felt sorry for you we were going up anyway so thought we would give u one last taste of glory and boy did you lot milk it. How was Colchester?

Velleity says...
3:15pm Wed 22 Aug 12

Severntrent wrote:
ToastyTea wrote:
Saintsteve7 wrote:
You'll respect us even more when we beat you at St Mary's. We fear no one in this league! Red Army!
Amen brother, fortress St Marys has no mercy, Champions or not.
I dunno, you seemed fairly merciful when David Norris spanked in that beautiful, beautiful equaliser, effectively denying you the 2 points that may have seen you promoted as champions. More a bouncy castle than a fortress wouldn't you say?
Ignore him and he'll drift away.

Severntrent says...
3:46pm Wed 22 Aug 12

Velleity wrote:
Severntrent wrote:
ToastyTea wrote:
Saintsteve7 wrote:
You'll respect us even more when we beat you at St Mary's. We fear no one in this league! Red Army!
Amen brother, fortress St Marys has no mercy, Champions or not.
I dunno, you seemed fairly merciful when David Norris spanked in that beautiful, beautiful equaliser, effectively denying you the 2 points that may have seen you promoted as champions. More a bouncy castle than a fortress wouldn't you say?
Ignore him and he'll drift away.
I prefer the term 'waft' away

SaintDon13 says...
4:09pm Wed 22 Aug 12

I wonder if we had nicked a point off them whether he would have been as complimentary? Hypothetical I am afraid.

CEH393 says...
4:22pm Wed 22 Aug 12

Severntrent wrote:
ToastyTea wrote:
Saintsteve7 wrote:
You'll respect us even more when we beat you at St Mary's. We fear no one in this league! Red Army!
Amen brother, fortress St Marys has no mercy, Champions or not.
I dunno, you seemed fairly merciful when David Norris spanked in that beautiful, beautiful equaliser, effectively denying you the 2 points that may have seen you promoted as champions. More a bouncy castle than a fortress wouldn't you say?
Ha,ha they could have a new quiz here! Spot the bitter Skate :-) I love seeing their fans comments, if they were happy with their tax dodging outfit they wouldn't feel the need to gripe at a well run club like the Saints jealousy is a hard pill to swallow :-) COYR :-)

Rocket 1 says...
5:26pm Wed 22 Aug 12

CEH393 wrote:
Severntrent wrote:
ToastyTea wrote:
Saintsteve7 wrote:
You'll respect us even more when we beat you at St Mary's. We fear no one in this league! Red Army!
Amen brother, fortress St Marys has no mercy, Champions or not.
I dunno, you seemed fairly merciful when David Norris spanked in that beautiful, beautiful equaliser, effectively denying you the 2 points that may have seen you promoted as champions. More a bouncy castle than a fortress wouldn't you say?
Ha,ha they could have a new quiz here! Spot the bitter Skate :-) I love seeing their fans comments, if they were happy with their tax dodging outfit they wouldn't feel the need to gripe at a well run club like the Saints jealousy is a hard pill to swallow :-) COYR :-)
Oh, and so sweet to see Lee Barnard get the equalizer at the "Fish Factory" on Saturday.

OSPREYSAINT says...
6:07pm Wed 22 Aug 12

Severntrent wrote:
Velleity wrote:
Severntrent wrote:
ToastyTea wrote:
Saintsteve7 wrote:
You'll respect us even more when we beat you at St Mary's. We fear no one in this league! Red Army!
Amen brother, fortress St Marys has no mercy, Champions or not.
I dunno, you seemed fairly merciful when David Norris spanked in that beautiful, beautiful equaliser, effectively denying you the 2 points that may have seen you promoted as champions. More a bouncy castle than a fortress wouldn't you say?
Ignore him and he'll drift away.
I prefer the term 'waft' away
As in, waft away the fishy stench?

Saint Chris says...
6:55pm Wed 22 Aug 12

drummernath wrote:
I think from Saturday's performance, I am more concerned about LB than CB. Jose and Hoover did really well.
Agreed, they did very well but still could be caught out on counter attacking teams for when spiderman and the rest of the midfield move up a bit against teams we are expected to control.

Against Man City the midfield sat deep which helped them very much and I think Fox was a little more exposed but his defensive skills aren't adequate for this level. New CB and LB preffered ahead of a marquee signing like Ramirez.

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