In the preview to this game I pinpointed Saints weakness at the back as having the potential to cost us dearly and sadly I was spot on.
This was a strange team selection from Ralph Hasenhuttl, it was almost as if he had got his dates mixed up and thought we were playing Derby in the FA Cup, in the back four there was no experience of any note with Jack Stephens the senior man in terms of Premier League appearances with 45 starts and 4 as sub since his debut two years ago, even Alex McCarthy has less experience in the top flight.
The back four as it always does battled hard but the brutal truth is that we were all at sea and a shambles and once again we failed to defend to Premier League standards, the first goal saw us torn apart and just as we thought we were getting into the break level we conceded two goals on the stroke of half time, the last of which saw poor marking and the goalkeeper not exactly distinguishing himself.
In the main though we battled hard to stay in the game right up to the end, Manchester City are a class act who rip apart most teams on their day, if you can stay strong at the back then you have a chance, but we do not have the quality to do that as has been shown time and time again.
This leads to frustration in other areas of the team, why did Pierre Emile Hojbjerg commit a needless foul to get a straight red card in the dying minutes, the answer is pure frustration, I know how he feels it is sickening to see what would otherwise be decent performances that should yield something get absolutely zero due to yet another failure to mark at vital times at the back.
People have said that I have something against the likes of Yoshida & Jack Stephens, this could not be further from the truth, the only thing that I have against them is that they are not Premier League quality players, two years ago they were 4th and 5th choice, after VVD got injured they were thrown in as temporary stop gaps and yet they are still there, this is why Les Reed was sacked, a failure to sign quality central defenders.
Ralph Hasenhuttl must be tearing his hair out, he has tried multiple options to solve the problem, he can't because he doesn't have the quality to hand, Saints have to sign an experienced central defender in January or it will be a long season, if they do that then hopefully one of the bunch we currently have might be able to find some form beside them.
There were plus points from this performance in terms of the fighting spirit displayed and the fact that we kept going and didn't let it become a rout, but the same old problems are there and have been there for the past two years, forget sentimentality we need to address this problem now and I think Ralph Hasenhuttl might just do that.