The return of Saints fans to St Mary's did not turn out to be a happy homecoming, but it will have shown manager Ralph Hasenhuttl a few home truths about the shortcomings of some of his squad.
This game had a familiar feel about it as the game against Leeds at Elland Road three months ago, Saints had the better of the first half and in the second kept getting caught on the break by Leeds who took their chances when they came.
The starting line up saw Ralph change his line up from Saturday's win over Fulham, Danny Ings was on the bench with 3 games in a week being a little too much for him it seemed and also into the starting line up came Nathan Tella, Moussa Djenepo & Theo Walcott.
But there would be no place for Oriol Romeu who seemingly wasn't quite fit enough to make his return to the side after three months out.
A noisy St Mary's saw Saints dominate in the first half and pen Leeds back, but for all the attempts on goal there would be too few that would trouble the goalkeeper too much although he did have a couple of smart saves to make.
So the game went in still even at half time, but as in the first fixture at Elland Road Leeds would come out a different side in the second half.
Saints still had some good chances but Leeds were looking more menacing on the break, Alex McCarthy looked hesitant and the writing was on the wall when he came, stopped and then went again with Patrick Bamford through, if Bamford had gone down it would have been a penalty but he tried to stay on his feet and was forced wide and Saints escaped.
But it would be the last 15 minutes or so that would see Saints again concede late goals to Leeds and the game taken out of reach and sadly McCarthy has to take a big share of the blame for both.
On the first with Bamford again put through the keeper really should have claimed the ball, it looked simple, but McCarthy didn't go to ground and could only watch as Bamford stuck a toe and nudged it into the net, did the keeper think it was going for a goal kick, no one knows but we do know he was indecisive and failed to make what was a simple block, it old school terms he bottled it.
The second goal deep into injury time just confirmed the result but it saw more lack of reaction from McCarthy, Leeds broke and he made a bog standard save, but as the ball was hit back in he failed to make an attempt to save it ,the ball was side footed along the ground, yes there was a crowd of player but there was no real pace on the shot and the ball went past him barely two feet from him as he seemed to do a little spin, this is when a keeper has to gamble and throw himself, but the disappointing thing was he didn't react.
So not a great performance, but we have to learn from it and I think Ralph will have learnt a few things about his squad.
Firstly in goal, McCarthy is a good back up keeper, but he has rarely been a first choice in his career, he lacks the concentration and reactions that make the difference between Championship level and the Premier League, in the last two games he has conceded three goals, in all of them he has barely made an attempt to stop the ball and remained on his feet, his reactions are not fast enough.
In Ralph's rotation challenge, Fraser Forster has come out the clear winner.
In the centre of defence Jack Stephens like McCarthy is a good back up, but he is not a first choice 38 game a season man, he too lacks a little something, yes he can carry the ball forward, but it is a slow build up and rarely an end product, good club man, good back up, but he wouldn't get in any other Premier League side as first choice and he shouldn't be in ours.
Jannik Vestergaard I think has flattered to deceive a little of late, earlier in the season we succeeded by getting the ball to our wide players quickly and catching teams on the break, Vestergaard can play a good long ball and switch play, but moving the ball out of defence he slows the game down too much and takes the urgency out of play.
Mohamed Salisu had another good game and surely has to be first choice next season, he can read a game and therefore get himself and the team out of trouble with such a clam ease that makes it look well easy.
He can move the ball and pass it and of all our central defenders is the nearest to Virgil Van Dijk when he arrived at St Mary's, Van Dijk arrived having played several seasons at Celtic, Salisu doesn't have that experience yet but will do.
In the centre of midfield we are well served, Ward Prowse again had to play deeper and this affected our build up play, but with the return of Romeu we can get some options to utilise JWP in a more forward role and don't write off Ibrahima Diallo just yet, he has an ability to win the ball and retain it and he has quick feet.
The phrase quick feet is one where I think we can pin down some of our problems, as a player you either have it or you don't , at the back Bednarek, Stephens and Vestrgaard don't have it, Salisu does and Kyle Walker Peters as well, in midfield in the centre we have it in JWP, Stuart Armstrong & Diallo, players who can get the ball and beat a player not with pace but guile and be gone.
Out wide tow many of our players don't have quick feet, yes they can beat a player, but you need quick feet when you have three player hemming you in, how many times do we see our wide men beat one man and then another and even a third in a tight spot, I see the opposition do it to us regularly, but not our own men.
Overall Ralph will be pleased with his squad in the circumstances this season and it is circumstances that mean we will be in the bottom half and not around the top, not a lack of quality.
But we do lack at least two players for next season and I would not be surprised if we had two out and two in, personally I would sell Jannik Vestergaard if Spurs and Leicester are truly interested and i think Nathan Redmond is also a sellable asset, the abuse he get is uncalled for, but this season hasn't been great for him and for a player that has been here 5 years and has produced some wonderful goals and moments not least the goal that gave us a first leg lead in the League cup semi final against Liverpool and a goal at Everton 3 years ago that gave us a chance of escaping relegation.
Sadly he will never succeed at St Mary's whatever he does, time to cash in.
With Nathan Tella coming through and Theo Walcott here for a couple of years we have plenty of wide options, Moussa Djenepo is another that we could take a decent offer on.
So this season will peter out and all that matters now is how much prize money we will get, the game is now at a watershed, in it's history it has always been boom and bust and after almost 30 years of boom I think a bust period is due.
Some fans will not return to the stadiums next season and clubs will have to work harder to get them back, that might result in cheaper tickets and lower wages and transfer fees etc, but we only got appeasement with the European Super League fiasco, we were made to feel grateful for keeping a status quo that sees the rich get richer and the poor poorer.