So far in the FA Cup this season Ralph Hasenhuttl has changed his team and played a virtual reserve side, however now things are getting serious and Southampton fans will accept nothing less than our best side giving it's all.
In the hour before kick off in the last round Saints fans were not very happy with Ralph Hasenhuttl after reading the team he had selected to take on West Ham United, that all ended well, but Manchester City are a different proposition.
To put it bluntly this is our last chance at glory this season, 3 straight defeats have seen us hold 10th place in the Premier League, but the chance of qualifying for Europe is surely gone with Tottenham Hotspur currently sitting in 10th place a full 13 points ahead of us with a game in hand.
That means in the Premier League all Saints have to play for is 10th place, yes that will be a landmark moment for Ralph Hasenhuttl who has battled through some difficult times in his 3 years or so in charge at St Mary's, but ask any Saints fan and they would trade a top 10 finish for an FA Cup semi final or dare say it the Final in May.
Manchester City are the best team in England at the moment, perhaps Europe, yes Liverpool are open and attacking, but City are far more clinical, they pas and pass and pass and don't shoot till they see the whites of the keepers eyes.
You cannot afford to let them have any advantage, you have to dig in and fight from the first to the final whistle and given the strength of their squad, you cannot afford any passengers.
In the previous rounds there was an excuse for the multiple changes in the Saints team, the games were sandwiched between Premier League games and we still has something to play for, be it making sure we pulled clear of relegation back in January or the slim chance of a top 7 finish when we played West Ham.
But there are no such excuses this weekend, when City trot out at St Mary's it will be a full week since we played our last game and our next game isn't for another 13 days when we travel to Leeds United.
Saints supporters are realists, they know we start this game as underdogs, indeed that is the status of every team that City will play in the remainder of the season, this being the case we ask one thing of our manager for this game and that is play your best side !
Surely that is not too much to ask, football these days is very polarised, there are the have & the have not's, so when we get a chance for some glory we should take every advantage we have.
I have always been in the Ralph Hasenhuttl camp, I have always appreciated the constraints he has had to work under and in becoming the longest serving Saints manager since Chris Nicholl some 31 years ago he has brought some stability to the club.
But he faces enough challenges in winning football games without making it harder for himself by mixing and matching his squad.
In the last round he spoke of giving fringe players a game, I could understand that to a degree, but if he wants to do that now, he can use the Premier League to blood a few youngsters, there is little to play for there, but everything in this game.
So the message from Southampton supporters to Ralph Hasenhuttl is clear, play your best team and make sure that when the final whistle goes, whatever the result we know that we have given it our best shot and left nothing on the pitch.