Hasenhüttl: We invested a lot

Restricting the hosts to just one shot on target, Saints held Pep Guardiola’s side at arm’s length for large periods, leaving Hasenhüttl to reflect on the week’s preparation.

“I’m very proud,” he said. “We had a very, very good week. Everybody in the club and everybody in the team was really working hard this week and I must say we deserved to get something here today, as tactically it was a world-class performance.

“It was the best game since I’ve been here tactically. We changed a lot of times the shape and we didn’t give a lot of chances so you have to do something right otherwise it wouldn’t work.

“All the work we invested this week was for this point and it feels good,” Hasenhüttl continued. “We have tried a lot this season and everything seems to work at the moment because I have a mentality in this team that is willing to learn, is open minded and this is a joy to work with.”

Collecting a fourth successive draw in the Premier League, it looked like it could’ve been more at one stage, when Saints were initially awarded a penalty for Kyle Walker’s challenge on Adam Armstrong in the second half.

However, a lengthy VAR check saw Jonathan Moss overturn both the decision and the subsequent red card that was shown to City’s defender.

Commenting on the moment of controversy and his side’s attacking performance, Hasenhüttl said:

“The decision is taken and if they think it’s a clear wrong decision they have to overrule it, but for me it wasn’t a clear wrong decision but I think he was not brave enough.

“Defensively it is clear we have developed our game, but you can say we have still not won.

“We need the punch to kill the opponent and this is a little missing, but Rome wasn’t built in a day so I’m happy with the level we’re playing at at the moment.”