A chance for RK to tested in an area he has not had much experience since coming to SMS, that is picking a team up.

Tadic had a shocker easily the worst Saints player. Shane Long should have replaced him at halftime.

We need a decent striker as backup to Pelle. Mind you Jay Rod is back in the new year. Hopefully he'll still be the same player as he was before the injury.

Lets not get to down the team have been a bit below par the last 2 games but for much or the game there was not much in it. The question people need ask themselves, myself included is -- against the so called big guns is do we do what most teams do and soak up pressure keep your shape and go for the draw with the hope of snatching a sneaky win or as we did yesterday try to play and make things happen as we have been doing all the season so far. Our performance was as much down to city finally turning up for a game at the level they should be. 17 teams would love to have our points lets not beat ourselves up over this learn and move on.

A bit dissapointing but not the end of the world .
I can't understand why spider wasn't replaced by Harry reed? surly his pace and tenacity in midfield would have contributed more than moving Toby up ? And was Jack cork injured ? That said citeh were class in the second half taught us how to finish .
Worryingly again at times pelle looked a bit static,when normally he would be fighting for the ball .
He needs a goal .

let's stop this talk of top 4 now (I don't want to sound down about it, but Man City really put us in our place). Top 6 or top 8 yes, but not top 4

Cork was sick hence not on the bench. Playing Yoshida these days is not good, would have much preferred to see Gardos bought on.

A bad day all round against a top team with unlimited resources so not the end of the world.

Having said the above am I the only one wondering about our keeper? To me he appears to be beaten too often from shots from a long way out and is slow to react to other situations.

I fully agree that we shouldn't get too down. City are a top two side and they paid us the respect of preparing for the way we play and not just assuming they would beat us because they are better. They then played very well.

We lost it at half-time with the substitution + in a funny way I think the sending off cost us the final two goals as we went into a rather incompetent 'attack mode'. A calm attempt to create one or two chances would have at least meant we lost 1-0 at worst.

This result is of course deflating but Man City on that form would have been 3 up at half time against many sides. We do not have the strength in depth to manage three missing players in a key position and I hope one of Spider and Cork at least are back for Weds.

By the way - I watched on TV and was interested to see that the Sky January Window extravaganza has already begun. The commentator was picking out the Saints players that he thought would be amongst the runners and riders. My fear if we do lose the next two is that 'Saints as surprise contenders' will have run its course and 'will the Saints lose all their players in January' will become a more fun story for Sky and all the other media scum and stirrers...

I don’t think Tadic had a terrible game, City just identified him as our main creative threat. You could see that even when they were down to nine men they still pressured him with two players and kept him quiet. I think we’re beginning to get a little found out; if teams keep Tadic quiet then Pelle will be isolated and we don’t have much further creative talent in the team. I think Mané still needs another season to settle before we’ll see his best.

City were a class higher than us yesterday and could have scored three more (penalty shout, clearance off the line, one-on-one with Forster). We defended well up until the goal and then got hit on the break, but it was embarrassing that we conceded two against ten men and that we were unable to score in the seven minutes against nine men.

I thought Alderweireld had a good game when he moved into midfield, his only weakness was his awareness of players around him but you wouldn’t expect a defender to have developed this ability as much as a midfielder. I’ve never been convinced by Yoshida as a premier league CB, but Fonte had a poor game and we gave them too much space for the first goal.

Ultimately though, I don’t think many people were expecting much from this game so hopefully the team will take the reality check from the past two games, we can learn our lessons and get at least a point on Wednesday.

It is good to put this in perspective. Let's remember City's team cost a third of a billion to put together compared to less than 90 million for ours and we all know we are still a 'work in progress'. Then let's remember that for all their cash it still took City three seasons to win the league from when the Sheikh bought them. If our defenders had not been drawn to Aguero like a moth to a lightbulb we would not have left ourselves exposed on the left flank for their second and third goals and we might have scraped a 1-1 draw especially if Mangala has stayed on the pitch. I also think our team played with an attitude of not giving everything to avoid injury when we have three big games in one week. Whereas City went for it big time knowing they have the squad to cope with injuries. Why? Because they knew that to keep Chelsea in their sights they had to win this game. Hence Mangala's sending off and Company getting injured by throwing himself around. I think Koeman will be disappointed with his own choices which maybe explains why he looked so grumpy afterwards rather than sanguine. City did really well to double up on Bernard and Clyne. So why did we not try to go with two upfront with either Mane or Long playing on the shoulder of their defence. That is what got Mangala sent off and Mane was only stopped twice from breaking through by a professional foul. Things will certainly look clearer come Tuesday.

PS i think people are being a bit harsh on Yoshida. With the second or third goal it might look like he did not close down quickly enough but that was because he was already marking another player and was left to try and block the shot from someone else. Players sometimes look at fault when really it is someone else who has not done their job to the extent that they are out of sight.

Well the dust has settled after yesterday's match and it was the result that the press and media band wagons have been craving for for weeks. Our wheels have now fallen off big time and I'm sure it is only a matter of time before we are relegated !!!
One bad result doesn't make a bad season. The key factor here is how we learn from this and move on.
Too many players had very poor games, partly due to their performances individually and partly because City stuck to their effective game plan. There was such a gulf between the two teams and individual performances, I just hope it gives some of our players the reality check that should have taken place after the Villa game.
We were totally lacklustre and created virtually nothing. We were scared stiff of Aguero and were like rabbits in headlights for large periods.
We didn't help ourselves at all and were responsible for giving the ball away far too cheaply all over the pitch - AND for all 3 goals !! 1. Clyne firstly (just like at Villa for their goal) and then Wanyama who gave it straight back having just won the ball. 2. Davis. 3. Tadic with 7 to aim at in the city box assisted the city breakaway goal by picking out a blue shirt perfectly from a corner. Bertrand also gave Aguero his breakaway chance by losing the ball and falling over.
Anyway enough moaning. Nobody played well. What we can learn from this game is how quickly, accurately and effectively City broke away. How accurate their passing was and how they foul. If there is any danger they snub it out. Yes they should have had a couple more cards, particularly when Pelle got shoved into the TV camera, but they were far more professional in their approach.
We need to be more direct at times, move the ball forward more quickly and be more willing to take people on. We have the skill and pace to do this, but Mane and Tadic in particular have failed to produce for a few games on the bounce now and obviously results are reflecting this.
I hope RK gets them in today and shows them where we went wrong. Then we can put the City result behind us and get some tactics together for Wednesday night, where we will be up against someone as effective as Aguero in Alexis Sanchez.
Hopefully Morgan and Jack will be back for this one and we will get confidence in the knowledge that we have already been to the Emirates and won this season.

We have faith in Koeman, so let's bounce back in style on Wednesday.

JUST FOUND OUT THAT OUR WEDNESDAY NIGHT GAME, AWAY TO ARSENAL, IS BEING SHOWN LIVE ON BT SPORT. IF YOU DON'T SUBSCRIBE TO THIS INTERNET PROVIDER, FIND A PUB THAT IS SHOWING IT AND CHEER THE LADS ON TO ANOTHER WIN AT THE EMIRATES !!

A fair report, 1st half tho' City better we held on well and gave them the odd fright.
The second half loss of Morgan led to Toby playing midfield and in the first ten minutes of the 2nd half was our best period.
Yoshida didn't do much wrong but why wasn't Gardos brought on? Can't see him staying if he never gets a kick of the ball and he has lots of promise.
Man City scored when the game looked pretty even and the Lampard goal were both by bad defensive mistakes, a rarity thankfully. the last goal was pure magic and well worked.
We were a little like Sunderland under Saints attacks in the final ten minutes but take heart, Sunderland have recovered and so will Saints.
It's just one game, one hiccup and for the majority of the game Saints were not that bad.
Lots of players in attack looking non effective. Tadic has never looked happy playing on the right (since Mane arrived) and Mane has not played well for weeks. Isn't it time that Isgrove was given a chance, in pre season games he did not look out of place.. Pelle needs better service from byline attacks
Finally Man City were an exceptional side, powerful in all positions and Saints were never allowed to settle. So we are third, not bad eh!

City played it perfectly. They sat back will 11 men behind the ball pretty much from the off and looked for quick transition on the counter and with numbers. You could see how the game would pan out; if we didn't get that first goal. I thought Alderweireld was very good coming into midfield but where was the option of Gardos or as mentioned above Cork?
I have to say though it was a very disappointing atmosphere inside St Marys. Not like it usually is when the big team turn up. When the team aren't up as they weren't Sunday, we as fans need to drag them up from the stands. Maybe its the sign of the times (sitting pretty high up in the league) or just a Sunday afternoon sell out crowd thing, but Monday weeks game vs Man Utd has to be better from the fans; it can make a difference to performance.

Firstly I felt yesterday shows how we have come but also how far still to go. Also illustrates how important MS is to the team, I have to say I feel all fans should get their head round him leaving next summer. If we don't make Europe in either tournament, and bearing in mind the recent comments on how the club conducts transfers, I would struggle to begrudge him a move. It would be sad but he has given us 6/7 great years. The most important lesson of yesterday is depth of squad, as well as we competed in the first half yesterday comparing the bench of both teams sums it all up.

Still let's look forward to the Emirates I don't think we have any reason to be fearful following the Capital One cup result.

Reluctant to say anything against our excellent manager but was very surprised at the lineup against Villa last week (and I think we paid for it) and again disappointed with the decision to replace Scheiderlein with Yoshida this weekend. Scheidlerlein is obviously a massive player for us but we had 2 established international centre midfielders on the pitch and, in Reed, a very promising England Under 20 midfielder on the bench. What a moment this would have been for his energy and enthusiasm in a midfield where we already had a numerical advantage anyway.

The decision to disturb the centre back pairing and play Alderweild like a fish out of water in midfield just seems bizarre. The Southampton Way is about trusting the academy players and giving them the chance to prove they are good enough when the situation arises. Was very disappointed to see us try to jam a "safe" square peg into that round hole.

Very tough game on Weds but we can approach it as a bit of a freebie - no-one expects us to get anything but we start with a point and hopefully we can leave with at least one too! We've already done it once this year. Keep the faith.

Yes we were a bit outclassed with their speed and muscle, but that was the first time I have seen them come out and play with determination like that all year. You could say they wanted to show us up, but it is more like a reflection of the fact they took us seriously.

IMHO the game turned on us losing MS. I thought we looked pretty good in the second period of the first half and were certainly giving City problems. As other have said, where we struggle is quality on the bench. Look at the players City had available to them.

The game did not hinge on the substitution of Morgan but on MC scoring goals after dreadful lapses of concentration and poor ball retention by the players left on the pitch..No need to name them but replays clearly show how we lost.