Manchester City 6-1 Southampton: Three key players

The Citizens completely dismantled a Southampton side that was coming off two clean sheets to the tune of a 6-1 victory at the Etihad on Sunday afternoon.

Southampton and Mark Hughes thought they were headed in the right direction drawing with Bournemouth and Newcastle in consecutive games.  Then they met  a top of the table side and recognized there is so much more work to be done to get where they need to be.  The 6-1 drubbing could have been much, much more, but what is lost in the scoreline is the Saints did well to create opportunities on net.

The opening twelve minutes set the tone for the entire game, with a Wesley Hoedt own goal, and Sergio Aguero tap in to put City up two.  It was 3-0 another six minutes later and before Southampton ever woke up.

Ryan Bertrand’s pass to Danny Ings which set up the penalty provided a ray of hope.  However, Southampton were happy to throw it all away, allowing a game-killing goal just prior to the halftime whistle, exemplifying the lack of discipline within the team.

If you were a Saints fan who stuck around to watch the second half, you were actually rewarded with some decent attacking play, but more of the subpar clinicality that has haunted the team during the start of the season.  Ings could have knocked home a rebound following a James Ward-Prowse strike, and Shane Long had two chances that most Premier League forwards would have capitalized on.

The result puts the team and fans into an internal struggle that will be difficult to climb out of.  With a shining light in the background that recognizes we still remain above the bottom three.

Here are three key Southampton players from the game, no matter how difficult it may be to label them “key.”