Saints threw away the game and their unbeaten record away from home by effectively handing the game to Manchester City on a plate in the first 20 minutes.
Saints played as badly as they have all season in the opening 20 minutes at the Etihad, it wasn't just that City started at blistering pace, it was also the fact that Saints did not seem comfortable as a team, nor individually as they continuously gave the ball away and you just can't keep doing that when you are away to a team like City.
This was emphasised with the opening goal, I'm not quite sure why Ronald Koeman keeps interchanging Cedric Soares and Yoshida at right back, but the Japanese defender is just not good enough in that position. Throughout his Saints career Yoshida seems to suffer from these lapses in concentration that have on too many occasions cost Saints dearly and this was one of them, he was caught in possession, didn't take the opportunity to put the ball into the stands when he had it and within seconds Saints were a goal down.
This then saw an awful 20 minutes from Saints, they just could not keep the ball and kept giving it away cheaply, there wasn't just one culprit, even the likes of Van Dijk and Wanyama, normally reliable kept getting caught out.
Towards the later part of the half Saints regained their composure and made sure that the score did not get worse than Fabian Delph's second on 20 minutes and it could have been so much worse had it not been for some good goalkeeping and the odd bit of luck.
With 10 minutes to go before the break, Steven Caulker came on for Jose Fonte who had a nasty cut on the knee, in fairness Saints looked stronger at the back with Caulker in it, no reflection on Fonte, sometimes a change, any change can alter the spirit.
At half time Ronald Koeman reshuffled and brought on Dusan Tadic and that soon looked to be paying dividends, with Shane Long reducing the arrears and Tadic having a great chance saved by the City keeper, for 25 minutes after the break there looked to be a way back for Saints, but with 20 minutes to go Saints were caught out again and were never going to come back from 3-1 down.
So what cost Saints the game ? that is easy a combination of individual error and perhaps changes that didn't need to be made, too many players did not look comfortable out there, they gave away the ball too often and struggled to find any sort of shape.
Saints had more possession than City with 54% and only slightly less chances on goal 12 to the home sides 16, of those we had 8 on target and City 9, the stats were fairly similar so why did we lose so badly.
I think Ronald Koeman had one eye on Wednesday night's game with Liverpool and I also think that he felt he had to use the squad a little more after the jaded performance against Stoke last week.
Sadly it didn't work out, but in the main it wasn't the likes of Romeu, Long or Caulker who let the side down with slack play, but Wanyama, JWP even Virgil Van Dijk and Steven Davis, usually so reliable gave the ball away too cheaply at times.
But Ronald Koeman did have a few questions answered, firstly he should not use Yoshida at right back whilst their is a fit Soares, secondly he should use Shane Long a lot more this was the Irish strikers 5th goal of the season in all competitions, only Pelle and Mane have scored more, but Long has done it in only 4 starts plus 6 appearances off the bench, he has a knack of scoring and is flying for his country.
Thirdly Steven Caulker should be used more, for a player who barely missed a game in the past three seasons, he is suddenly out in the cold, with Yoshida making so many errors you have to ask why, perhaps the manager learn't something yessterday.
A bad day at the office, but many teams will suffer the same fate at City, in many respects it was a free hit, no we have to do what we did last season at this time when we suddenly went off the boil and that is get back to form with venom