Saints went to the Etihad Stadium and secured their first point in the five attempts at the home of Manchester City since returning to the Premier League in 2012.
Let's make no bones about it, Saints were on the back foot from word go, they were up against a side that man for man would be classed as better than any man in the Saints line up, they conceded 65% possession to the home side, yet kept their discipline and on reflection kept City down to relatively few decent attempts on goal, indeed they only had three of fourteen attempts in total on target.
Saints job was to keep their shape and it should be remembered that we had our second choice right back and third choice left back who was making his full Premier league debut coming on the back of 3/4 of a game last week.
But Claude Puel is a master of using his squad to its fullest ability and he again changed the line up.
But one constant this season has been Oriol Romeu who was given Sky's man of the match and rightly so, those that said that the loss of Wanyama would be catastrophic have been proved wrong and Romeu has stepped up to the plate, not only is he strong in the tackle, but he is mobile and uses the ball well, it has to be said that if Wanyama had played in this day he would have undoubtedly have won a lot in the middle, but would he have also given it away a lot, what Romeu does it win it and pass it well and therefore keeps the pressure off the side.
Another star was Nathan Redmond, again some said that he was not as good as Mane, but he is starting to make people reconsider, he was full of running and took his goal well and caused problems all afternoon.
But this was not about two players it was about all of those that got on the pitch, yes it was backs to the wall, but sometimes as a team you have to grit your teeth, dig in and hope that you have a bit of luck and this was one of those days.
Sofiane Boufal again came on and this time perhaps showed a little more to show why he is the club's record signing, he showed some nice touches and ability to use the ball and this was not an easy day to make your Premier League debut.
So Saints were worth the point, perhaps Manchester City fans will disagree, but being good for a point or a win isn't all about dominating games and having the lions share of chances, it is about the overall performance and the standard of the team you are playing affects that.
We cannot deny that City are a better team, indeed this point took them to the top of the league, but we showed that we are again a force to be reckoned with in the Premier League, we are slowly but surely getting used to our manager and his system, but this game showed that our players are starting to flourish under it.
A team effort with one or two outstanding performances, but without the efforts of every player, those outstanding performances would have been worth nothing to us and we should remember that.