A terrific second half display from Manchester City saw Pep Guardiola's men leave the St Mary's stadium with a 3-0 win over Southampton yesterday.The victory has given the Citizens a seven-point cushion on fierce local rivals Manchester United in the race for the fourth spot. They now sit third with Liverpool just one point behind them.For Southampton, the defeat leaves them in ninth place in the table 10 points above 17th and the relegation dogfight, but 17 points adrift of United in sixth.That's a proper midtable season and although they had a good showing in the League Cup with a run to the final against United, they haven't been able to put any kind of consistent run together in the league.Since Charlie Austin got injured at the back end of 2016, they haven't had a consistent strike force either.Manolo Gabbiadini arrived at the club from Napoli in January and was an instant hit with the fans after bagging some early goals. He has been boss Claude Puel's main man since.But then there is Shane Long. The Irish forward has been at the club for three years now and his best return was 13 goals last season. This term, he has five in 35 games, mostly from the bench or wide.The bench is where the 30-year-old made his introduction from yesterday, but he would also be withdrawn just 22 minutes later with no apparent injury. Judging by the video below, Long was not happy at all.

The intense staredown between Long and the Southampton management team said it all: They were not on the same page whatsoever.

City were 1-0 up by the time Long entered the fray. By the time he exited, the blue half of Manchester had already extended their lead to three, but no one could point any fingers at Long for those goals.

As Puel brought on Jay Rodriguez for Long - another attacker - how did he really expect that to change the game?

To be brought on and subbed back off again is one of the ultimate humiliations for a footballer and Puel should really know that. If it was just to give Rodriguez a run, then Dusan Tadic or Nathan Redmond should have sat the last 10 minutes.