It did not need a fortune teller to predict this result and although it should be mentioned that City are beating everyone these days, the manner in which we played was unacceptable.
It is easy to point the finger of blame at individuals, but this was a collective effort, the team played with no passion, no spark, no confidence and no leadership, we went out there like rabbits caught in headlights and got torn apart.
Even good sides get ripped apart by City I the game was over as a competition within the first 12 minutes as the home side took firstly a two goal lead and then followed it by going three up with only 18 minutes gone, Saints settled down a little after that and got some meaningful possession and even scored albeit a penalty, but once again we went to sleep in the final minute of the first half and at 4-1 you even had to consider that we could be on for the Premier League record defeat.
In the second half we kept it till only one further goal till once again another injury time goal conceded that made it truly a rout.
So where did it go wrong, well as I said the whole team were basically collectively awful, in goal I would say that Alex McCarthy put in the type of performance that last season made Fraser Forster the target of the crowd, too many of their goals went under him and he seemed slow to get down and for one of them even make an attempt at it.
Given that City only had 8 attempts on target and scored six, there was the first problem, if the keeper had had a decent game then we could have come away with an acceptable defeat.
It wasn't just McCarthy's fault though and as a team we were poor and chasing shadows, yes some of it was natural given the quality of the City team, but we were playing without and spark, enthusiasm or any belief.
Last season was poor, but even under Mauricio Pellegrino the same players who were out there at the Etihad were matching sides, last season we rarely got slaughtered it was a tale of failing to take chances and then individual errors at the back that led to a poor season, this year it seems that the players aren't responding to the manager.
Of the four summer signings three were on the bench that is not good, but it is not the root cause of the problem, of the starting line only Danny Ings wasn't here last season, seven were in the team that finished 8th the season before and that tells you something.
The problem is not the players quality, it is that to be blunt they are not playing for the manager, Mark Hughes does not seem to be motivating the side in any way shape or form, they seem to lack effort and motivation, they are not finding that extra spark that turns bad games into good ones, last season the bulk of this side held City to 1-1 at the Etihad before another 5th minute of injury tie goal done for them and it was the same story at St Mary's when we only lost to yet another late injury time winner.
This is not the time for panic, those who scream for the whole board to be sacked really haven't a clue why would you sack the Commercial Director for instance who has built up the finances of the club and brought in multi million pound revenue that has enabled us to spend big in both transfer and wages.
The issue at the moment is the manager, as it was last season and from that viewpoint Ralph Krueger's job is only to consider if Les Reed is doing his job, Reed's job is to make sure that he has the right manager in place and he is doing his job. Mark Hughes's job is to get results and we should perhaps remember that Claude Puel got results, this is the Premier League though and all that matters is those results.
Hughes is not getting results and that has to be dealt with now, not left for when it is too late, Les Reed will be reticent to sack Hughes, that will be an admission that he has got the appointment wrong in the first place, but he has to do it.
Ralph Krueger will look at the wider picture with Reed, he will look at the training ground at Staplewood and everything based around that and feel that Reed has done a great job at this club, but ultimately the main part of that job is the manager he either deals with the problem or falls on his sword, if he doesn't deal with it then Krueger has to deal with him.
We as supporters have to stop blurring the picture by blaming everyone and everything, we have to focus on the real issue and that is the manager is not getting results !!!!
Everything else is peripheral