There were no real surprises in the Saints line up to take on the giants of Manchester City, the only real surprise came at the end of the game when the scoreboard still read 1-0 to the home side.

There weren't many Saints supporters who travelled up to the North West on Saturday who had much hope of anything other than a straight forward win for the home side, indeed at least one Saints fan had taken pre emptive action to dull the post match pain by placing a £10 bet on City to win 10-0. That would have netted him £2,000 at the 200-1 odds offered.

The first big question though was what the starting line up would be and the first question was whether Jack Stephens would be restored to the starting line up straight away, that was never really going to be a question just a given and that was the case at 1.45pm.

Elsewhere in the side the only other change from the side that started against Leicester was Joe Aribo dropped to the bench and in came Adam Lallana.

This in itself was strange, after the defeat against Leicester, Russell Martin when asked about why Lallana had not been used in that game and the defeat at Arsenal, he said that they were not Lallana's type of game, insinuating that a fast paced opposition were a lot of hard work would be needed, would not be Lallana's game.

So to see him in the starting line up against City, in what would be for most sides the toughest away game of the season was a very strange turnaround from the manager.

The game could not have started worse, with barely 5 minutes on the clock, Jan Bednarek allowed Erling Haaland to get in front of him and fire the ball home from close range, the game has barely started and already we have made a defensive error to concede a goal.

At this stage the 10-0 bet and £2,000 was looking a distinct reality for at least one lucky punter.

But in fairness we dug in and made sure things didn't get much worse, did we play well ? I wouldn't quite go that far, in truth City should have scored more, we relied on some stoic defending, some great goalkeeping and a couple of bad misses from the home side, to keep the score very respectable.

The travelling Saints support stayed with their team and the feeling in the stands was that Saints were not only taking on 11 City players but the referee as well, the home side seemed to get away with a lot more than the visitors and certainly the booking of Flynn Downes was harsh.

We did have the odd chance though and the best was Cameron Archer's run and shot which crashed against the bar, some would say he should have played the ball across for Tyler Dibling who was unmarked, but the truth is Archer was well placed to take on the shot and passing to Dibling would have been more difficult.

Dibling was replaced at half time for Adam Armstrong, again this change showed the puzzling side of Russell Martin, a week earlier against Leicester bringing on the hard battling Armstrong was to most an obvious substitution given we were defending a lead and needed to close down the game, but it was never made and the likes of Tall Paul & Sulemana, two players who are yet to make a real contribution to the club nearly two years after joining were preferred to an experienced team member.

At the Etihad Martin's substitutions were a little better and well timed, Aribo for Lallana on the hour mark was the right moment as Lallana had done his job and it was time for a rest,

Russell Martin kept the shape of the side till the 87th minute, unlike previous games when multiple substitutions and changes damaged the rhythm of the team and cost us dearly.

In the 87th minute on came the aforementioned Tall Paul and Sulemana, I could see the logic of this, we were 1-0 down and had done a job, at least Martin tried to perhaps snatch a point instead of hanging on to 1-0.

Overall though, despite the fact that we got zero points out of this and Brighton's late capitulation to Wolves meant we dropped to the bottom, the fighting spirit showed that there is still hope.

But there is still this nagging thought in the head, that this game was despite Russell Martin's team selections and not because of them.

On another day City could have got 4 or 5, from a footballing perspective we were always second best, but from a battling for our lives view point this was 9/10.

Now comes two games that will define the season, Everton at home and Wolves away, quite simple we cannot afford to lose either of them and in truth we have to win both, if we are to try and drag ourselves up the table.

Palace beating Spurs on Sunday, now means that we are 5 points from safety, at present there are 6 teams that could potentially go down, but this could very easily narrow down over the next couple of weeks, indeed defeat against Everton would leave us 11 points behind them.

So we have got the City game out of the way, now we have to start picking up points, Sport Republic have taken a big risk with Russell Martin, they have gambled that he can win these next two games, if he doesn't then we are in big trouble.

All Photos Via Reuters

davidargyll added 10:04 - Oct 28 If anyone needed an example of despair and hope, Saturday’s game epitomised it. Yes it was a more spirited performance. But so what? Because as expected we lost, not thrashed but ZERO POINTS…AGAIN!!! And basing even a grain of hope on it is like looking for flying pigs, only less probable. The way we played underlines why THERE IS ZERO CHANCE OF ANY LONG TERM IMPROVEMENT UNDER RUSSELL MARTIN AND WE MUST GET RID OF HIM NOW! And the reason is very simple: the way we defended after going one down was good and of course we might even have got a point had the bar not got in the way. But the fact remains that RM is incapable of instilling that do or die mentality into his squad FOR THE WHOLE GAME so necessary against any team but particularly against lesser clubs than Manchester City. Furthermore, a quality manager gets his players to BELIEVE: here we are a quarter of the season gone, we have ONE LOUSY POINT, and there is zippo evidence that RM has the ability to do this. I just hope, in the time during the (totally unjustified) apparent stay of execution he has been granted until the next international break, SR are making inroads into finding out who is available. I also sincerely hope that Rasmus Ankersen is on a final warning if not worse, as IMHO a lot of our failings lie at his door. He has legged over Dragan Solak something rotten over all his Moneyball theorising; it may have worked a few years back at Brentford, and maybe still does in the Championship, but now all teams, and particularly those in the PL, look at stats as a matter of course and any edge we just might have had has gone. PS. Re Pep’s praise for our manager. Another sign of a good manager is always - outwardly at least - respecting your opponent. Never kick people when you are on the way up/ at the top etc…

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Peterx added 10:40 - Oct 28 It's clear we have to start with the class of Lallana for all games that he is fit. It's also clear that Fernandes has the engine to last the game so leave him on. Aribo for Lallana should be the midfield sub after 60 barring injury in future in the PL...please! Also despite Fatawu giving a masterclass against Manning, he (Manning) is definitely an option if we play a back 3 and if opposition don't have a Fatawu class wing, as he seems effective in a slightly more advanced role and where he is not an out and out defender. So in summary I would suggest we keep that back 5 for at least the start of the next PL game with Downes, Lallana and Fernandes in midfield.

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JoeEgg added 11:13 - Oct 28 Well Martin has done it again! Praise indeed from the great man himself - Guardiola. A similar feel to the Arsenal game. What a great shame we cant produce this kind of performance against the teams that we need to beat at the bottom. ,Everton and Wolves will provide the decisive test. If we win these games then Martin will be here for the duration - perhaps until Guardiola decides our Russell should be his successor at City! Nick has referred to several recent quotes from Martin which the manager then appears to immediately contradict. Against Everton and Wolves we are going to need to score goals and this could prove to be his nemesis.. Clearly after one 'surprisingly' good loss Martin will be at his arrogant and self-important best. Lets wait and see what Everton and Wolves have to say on the matter!!!!

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Saintaxidriver added 11:31 - Oct 28 A one nil defeat is flattering. If they had been a bit sharper it could easily have been four or five and at times our passing at the back looked good but was in fact dicing with death. No team is going to win many matches with a defense like ours and Martin (lovely guy tho he is) doesn't have the ability to improve that. Owners need to bring in someone who can get us organised or we will be so far adrift by Xmas even eleven points will be beyond us.

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JoeEgg added 11:36 - Oct 28 Sorry for a second contribution - but would thoroughly recommend a read of A1079 comments on the thread 'My take on yesterdays game'. Everyone is entitled to their own take on our current situation but this guy makes a whole of sense and a very interesting read! Thanks A1079!!
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NicNacs added 12:24 - Oct 28 We defended better but offered nothing going forward, 45th minute before first shot. Yes, you could say a bit harsh as it was against City, but it is the same story most games. Shots win games as well as good defending, we continue to play out and get pressed into mistakes, but lack a quick transition and are not creating enough.
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underweststand added 13:46 - Oct 28 Yes Lallana needed to play but he's not a 90 minute player. We should respect that. Dibling got the attention he deserved early season, but he is still very young and can't be expected to shine in every game. In this instance, the HT change was a good decision as he wasn't in the game so much. Archer unlucky but it's such moments that decide matches. Haaland may have had an off-day, but he was careless in many of his attempts and it was good defensive work from all of our back line when needed, goaline clearances, headers etc. Even after all the midfield changes we kept the momentum, but had too few chances. Disappointing result. We deserved better. One point would have been justice.

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landsdownsaint added 15:11 - Oct 28 All I saw was Haarland have an off day ( for him) … all Peps doing is subtly praising his own influence on Russell Ball when he spoke highly of him .As I see it we’d stand more of a chance of 2 wingers & tall Paul & that’s bad enough! I really can’t see a win coming & certain for relegation. We had some horrendous results with Ralph but their was allways optimism theirs none of that atm . Ralph got the sack for far less than the current regime

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HythePeer added 15:19 - Oct 28 After your grumpy old man preview they turned out to be no better than Leicester.
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bryanK added 15:37 - Oct 28 Battling performance and if we had a few points on the board we would generally be fairly pleased with the result. However we are in a dire situation and regardless of RM moaning on about the media and supporters who believe he should be sacked d day still looms. SR have obviously edged their bets in sticking with him but it is clear finance and RM 3 year contract is behind their lack of action.

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Whatsforpud added 17:02 - Oct 28 Possibly our best ever lose !!
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IanRC added 20:38 - Oct 28 Admittedly a much better defensive performance but I still cannot see why Stephens has to be shoehorned in everytime. I think what Bernardo Silva might have been trying to say is that if the officials done their jobs in the Arsenal and Leicester games amongst others we might be in a better position. Even in this game the Downes booking was ridiculous, doubtless we will get an apology from the pgmol shortly but as in the Leicester game it will be of no good to us. Needless to say the Everton and wolves games are now critical but even losing those may not be enough for Sports Republic to get their act together based on performance thus far.

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