MAN CITY AT ST MARYS

A win for Saints would be fantastic.......a point would keep us in second place for the moment and I suppose a draw would be a reasonable result. Lose, and we drop to third. I have a feeling we might win......please please please let me be right, please!

I think our first real big test. Although we lost to Liverhampton and Spuds in both games we really should have come away with a point but think City will be a real challenge especially Augerio. Should be a good atmosphere and would certainly think capable of scoring against City but will need a stronger midfield than we started at Villa.

I will go for a draw but a game cannot really call, can see us winning but also losing if City play like they did in the last 10 minutes mid week.

A win would really be good.

Oh dear, what a depressing afternoon........not so much that Saints lost, more that they played so poorly.   As our old friend Mr. Hoddle said on Sky:   "Southampton were well under par today",  I couldn't argue with that......in fact to be honest I think their standards have been deteriorating over the last few games.

A few random thoughts.....

1.  Why was Jack Cork not even on the bench (surely we needed him to replace Morgan Schneiderlin today)?  Is he injured?  Has there been some conflict we haven't heard about??

2.  When Morgan was withdrawn at half-time (supposedly injured), why did RK choose to replace him with Yoshida?   I thought RK had a lot of confidence in Gardos, shouldn't he have been the man to plug the gap in defence when Toby was moved forward?

3.  I just knew City were about to take the lead some 20/25 seconds before the first goal, when Clyne gave the ball away cheaply twice in quick succession.  OK, the goal was not directly down to him, but it seemed to me from the team's body language around that time that Saints were accepting that they were second best.  

4.  I thought Yoshida was quite a lot to blame for City's second and third goals.

5.  I do not really blame the defence for our deterioration in form in the last few matches.   I put the lion's share of the blame on the front three.   For some reason Pelle, Tadic and Mane appear to have lost much of the sharpness they were showing a few weeks ago, their link-up play and co-ordination as a unit, and also their individual performances seem to have deteriorated a lot, hopefully just a temporary blip.

6.  Today, for the first time, I consciously missed Lambert and Lallana.  I believe that with them playing we would have got a different result.

I put the above post onto an Echo website page.....

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/11635703._/?


Interesting to read the comments of a number of fans.

well Mike some questions asked today of the squad and a few came up well short. The Cork issue seems he was ill yesterday so hopefully will be fit for Wednesday but doubt he will start in front of Davis. I to thought surely Gardos should have been the obvious choice, Yoshida has shown that he is simply not good enough for the premiership and thought he was poor.

Tadic and Mane were both very poor, not willing to commit to tackle and seemed frightened of the opposition, Pelle simply didn't get any service but needs to be more selfish and if no support look to go for goal more. Also would have liked to see Reed got 10 minutes on the pitch, I know Mayuka is a striker but he again has shown so many times he is simply not consistent or good enough for the league, at 2 down game was over so Reed could have got some game time and his energy would have been well received.

Really didn't start well allowing City the space to dominate the opening sessions but at least we defended well but the midfield was being over run and Mane never came back to help and Tadic did not do much either.

Wanyama was booked after 5 minutes and a terrible decision, Toure went on a run but Vik caught him up and great tackle, a terrible decision and a terrible performance by Jones as referee who has made several bad decisions this season and Wanyama booking another, he followed that up with booking Auegero who thought Fonte had played ball first but replays suggest not but it never looked a dive. Ref was frightened to do anything else.

Although City looked bright they tended to over do it a bit, Toure had a long range shot that was comfortable for Forster and after 20 mins saints started to get more of the ball in the middle and gave as good they got. Against the run of play we nearly took the lead, Morgan knocked the ball over the top, Pelle had a chance but didn't get enough power and shot was blocked and follow up from Davis saved and unable to scramble the ball home, That sums up city look good going forward but a simple ball over the top can cause chaos, unfortunately saints didn't create enough.

City nearly took the lead when Joetvic was free on left side of box , his shot was partially saved by Forster but going in but Alderweld saved on the line, corner came to nothing. Pelle then had a great flick on from a corner at near post but no one from saints had gambled and if they had been at far post would have been a tap in, a problem with Mane at corners is he goes missing.

Second half we started brightly with Toby having a decent shot over and Tadic had a shot easily saved before we went behind to for me a soft goal. Ball in our box from a corner then played back to Toure to shoot past an unsighted Forster. A known tactic so why didn't we have someone outside the box, when defending corners we have everyone in the penalty box, Fonte's lunge a sign in the wrong place.

Long came on after 65 min for Mane, who casually jogged off, can some one tell him when we are losing and making a sub he should run off, not like he would have been tired from his exertions! Long was involved when he hustled through and brought down by Malanga who was yellow carded and then off as his second, again Jones bottled it was Long was through and Malanga last man, straight red. Unfortunately Tadic took the free kick and like his set pieces all day was poor not clearing the wall. really would like others to get a chance at free licks, Bertrand, Cline, Toby or strike the ball well so please tell Tadic until he improves take a back seat. Saints then gave away a poor second Davis lost the ball in his own half , not for the first time, and ended up with Lampard scoring. Saints could have got one back when Long made a run down left side and whipped in low cross that Pelle sliding in couldn't connect with, who knows what might have happened if that had gone in. But not content with making enough mistakes Tadic gifted the third with a terrible corner straight to City player who break away and end up scoring, Yoshida really need not have been of the pitch.

So a very disappointing result and performance, credit to City as they have a physical side to their game and we didn't . Tadic Mane were passengers today, Davis bottled out of a couple of tackles and only Wanyama came out of the midfield with any credit and Toby did well as CH and in the middle, a lesson there to keep him at CH. We have played our best with a combination of 3 from Cork/Schneiderlin/Davis/Wanyama. Without 3 of those the midfield doesn't not have enough work rate to allow Tadic the freedom.

Forster 6 arguably not really at fault for the goals though he was a bit slow getting down to Toure shot.
Cline 6 didn't get forward much and seemed not at his best
Fonte 6 lucky not to give away a penalty and dived in a couple of times
Toby 7 best defender and did okay in midfield
Bertrand 6 again didn't get forward much but more often than Cline
Wanyama 7 a few misplaced passes but his work rate was far superior to rest of side.
Schneiderlin 6 shame he went off second half as a key player
Davis 5 not a good game, pulled out of tackles and no where near what he can do, not fit for 90 mins
Tadic 5 little creativity and went missing for large parts, terrible set piece delivery
Mane 4 pretty awful really, no tackling. gave the ball away and never looked to take on his marker, frightened to get hurt
Pelle 6 not a great threat but service was awful.

Subs
Long 6 at least made a few things happen
Yoshida 5 showed again not good enough,
Mayuka 5 one chance towards end when showed he has no clue what he is doing

Reed?
Gardos? Why didn't they get on?

Thanks for another brilliant report Matty, you earn a much higher rating than any of the team today!!

Thanks Matty. A crap result but an excellent and heartfelt report. There'll be better days mate.