Dan takes a look at Saints defeat at home to Champions League hopefuls Manchester City who came saw and conquered.

Southampton were simply outclassed when they were beaten 3-0 at St.Mary’s on Saturday thanks to second half goals from Vincent Kompany, Leroy Sane, and Sergio Aguero. Saints competed well with their opposition in the first-half and were able to handle them in a half without a shot on target from either side, however it was proven that they were a side fighting for the Champions League as City’s superb play in the second half blew Southampton away who hadn’t really shown up.

City had the first chance of the game when a cross from left-back Gael Clichy went looking for in-form Sergio Aguero but the Argentine couldn’t make clear contact with the ball as his touch put the ball out for a goal kick. Perhaps a header would’ve had more likeliness for a goal in the visitors’ favour.

Aguero missed another chance not too soon afterwards as Kevin De Bruyne’s ball found Aguero in the box, however his low shot went a few inches wide of Fraser Forster’s bottom right corner.

Afterwards it was Southampton’s turn to try and score with arguably the best chance of the game. A clever ball from Ryan Bertrand found Manolo Gabbidaini, who had returned to the starting line-up after groin trouble, on the left wing. The striker managed to find Dusan Tadic but the midfielder ballooned the ball over Claudio Bravo’s crossbar from about 12 yards out.

David Silva failed to score City’s best chance of the second half as Aguero’s deflected pass flew over the Southampton players’ heads to find an unmarked David Silva but luckily his shot hit the side netting instead of the back of the net.

Fraser Forster, who has been in revived form of late, did exceptionally well when PFA Young player of the Year nominee Leroy Sane was put in a one-on-one position attempted to go around the goalkeeper who got a crucial touch on the ball to put it out for a corner.

I think all Southampton fans would’ve been pleased with a 0-0 score line at half-time however City came out the stronger side after the interval as an early corner from David Silva was met by the head of Vincent Kompany who put the ball in the back of the net; Forster will know that he should’ve done better as his attempt to stop the goal was weak.

After the match, Claude Puel was ridiculed by the Saints fans as a double substitution with 30 minutes left saw Ward-Prowse and Gabbiadini be taken off for Boufal and Long which ruined any chance of the Saints getting back into the game.

City had a good opportunity to double their lead as Forster’s close-range save from Sergio Aguero parried to David Silva who’s shot was blocked well by the ankle of Jack Stephens and the ball was cleared by the Saints defence.

Southampton should’ve made them pay and equalise as a perfect cross from Steven Davis found the head of Maya Yoshida but his header was straight at Bravo who caught the ball comfortably.

Then it was Southampton who were made to pay by missing a chance as a fantastic counter-attack from Manchester City saw two vs one as De Bruyne and Sane ran at Cedric. De Bruyne put the ball on a plate for Sane who tapped it into the back of the net to double the visitors’ lead.

Soon after it was an undeserved 3-0 for City as Kevin De Bruyne chipped up the ball for the head of Aguero.

The defeat keeps Saints in ninth spot and it doesn’t ruin their season. City needed the points more and it was more important to take the points from the Hawthorns last weekend than from this game; any would’ve been an absolute bonus. I think that 3-0 flatters City a bit despite a dominant performance in the second-half. Claude Puel’s tactics were wrong, especially with the double substitution.

Too many big players didn’t turn up on Saturday, however Jack Stephens was very impressive and handled a world-class striker like Sergio Aguero fantastically well. He deserves his spot in the team and is improving game by game.

Photo: Action Images

richsaints added 17:37 - Apr 16 So reality check time four home games against top four Chelsea spurs Liverpool city one goal nine against one point board ALLOWED big so called big teams free run to take our best and most promising we could have done a Leicester no problems but all we have is a scrap with WBA and Watford for best of the rest or worse nice one idiots.
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saintmark1976 added 19:26 - Apr 16 What this game showed once again was the extent of the gulf that exists between ourselves and the top six teams. Quite simply we were not at the races right from the kick off. We were bettered in all areas of the pitch from start to finish. To have made a game of it we needed every one of our players to be right at the top of their game and clearly some were not.Add in the fact that once again the manager chose to change a winning team and got the substitutions wrong and it's hardly surprising that we lost.

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bstokesaint added 20:02 - Apr 16 Pretty much sums it up Saintmark, although having Romeu and VVD missing is also a big factor against the better teams. Sometimes you just need to take your hat off to a better team. We've had our fair amount of success against Man C in recent seasons. It's disappointing to concede three at home, but it changes little. West Brom lost and we've still got a chance to catch them. Onwards and upwards.

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SaintBrock added 22:13 - Apr 16 My optimism was very clearly misplaced as this was a stinker. The reason we couldn't keep any sort of decent possession was that nobody wanted to hold the ball and take responsibility. Most seemed to want to off-load it to somebody else as quickly as possible and hasty passes usually meant misplaced passes and losing the ball again and that was about it in a nutshell. I've rarely seen Saints collectively have such an off day and very few can take any credit from their performance yesterday. I hope they got the signed shirts hey turned up for! Disgraceful.

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SanMarco added 22:44 - Apr 16 With Romeu out we were always going to be up against it if Man City played well. It was a chance for JWP to step up but it was an opportunity he was unable to take. Yoshi was badly at fault for the first goal, I assumed it was one of our little midfielders who had been so easily brushed off the ball (I don't agree that Forster should have saved it - it was pretty point blank). We all knew once the first went in that others would follow once we went 'chasing' the game - the substitutions were ridiculous - virtually guaranteed we would lose. It is disappointing that we have fallen a long way off the big six sides. In the summer we need to use the VVD money for players in key areas and not bother with fancy dan bit-part players like Boufal. Our midfield is dreadfully light-weight and yesterday none of them could retain possession, yet alone get us moving quickly forward. Chelsea away next and with other tough games to come we need to be realistic about where we are going to finish - 9th or 10th would be pretty good but 8th would be asking too much on yesterday's performance.

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IanRC added 23:50 - Apr 16 Ridiculous decision to drop Clasie and bring in Hojberg, who had a stinker.
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NeilF added 00:56 - Apr 17 I, tongue in cheek, guess Gambiadini asked to come off after getting no service. Time and again he made runs for the through ball or the one over top but the safe pass backwards or sideways pass sufficed. Where is the vision? You also have to look and Leroy Sane and his opposite number Dusan Tadic. One was looking to scream down the wing, the other was looking to scream for a foul. As for Højbjerg, the guy was complaining he was not getting much match play time. I am sorry Pierre but even Puel with his “let’s all play, rotation policy” will have to let him down now. Or maybe not, seeing as Puel let Højbjerg play the whole game and with a yellow card for the best part of that. There was also talk that Shane Long did not want to come off but the coaching staff thought he was injured and subbed him. And to cap a miserable day, Boufall once again showed us another £17 million performance - tongue back in cheek. His confidence looks shot. I saw him on the right, left, and the middle - make your mind up - and also being battled off the ball - at least play with some fight! It is not all about showing us that you have got some magical skills - that boat has sailed ages ago. Man City are a good team but please do not bow to that and let them play their own game. I have just watched the BT post-match analysis and all they talked about was Man City. That says it all.

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LordDZLucan added 07:35 - Apr 17 Any team that presses us high up the pitch manages to get us camped in our own half. Bournemouth did it a couple of weeks ago so it's not just Man City. Basically collectively the team needs to work harder. That was the difference between us and Man City; collectively they pressed us and didn't allow us to play.
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qnehl1 added 08:28 - Apr 17 lets all be honest here, Man City were better than us on Saturday. First half we did well to keep them at bay by keeping a very strong structure, then when we finally get a chance we miss it. We cannot do that anymore against top teams, we have to be more clinical if we are going to progress up the league next year. That one moment was when we lost the game. We easily cut thought them, and after that our mind set changed, we began to try and play a bit more but in doing this we lost our structure which is when Man City starting coming into the game. Those moaning at the double substitution, in all seriousness what would you have done when needing to change the game ?!? yes It would have been nice for Gabbiadini to play the 90 mins, but the guy has just come back from an injury! and JWP was hardly setting the world alight on the right wing.

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