Southampton boss Mark Hughes has slammed his side following their lacklustre start during Sunday’s 6-1 defeat to Manchester City.

The Saints were one-nil down inside just six minutes after Wesley Hoedt scored an own goal. However, it was 3-0 by 18 minutes after strikes from Sergio Aguero and David Silva.

Danny Ings’ penalty did restore some pride but the south coast outfit soon found themselves 4-1 down when Raheem Sterling scored at the end of the first half.

Sterling and Leroy Sane struck in the second 45 minutes to add to Hughes’ misery and the former Fulham boss was left very frustrated at the full-time whistle.

“That is the game gone right from the outset,” he said.

“Any other work you have prepared and the game plan you want to implement goes out the window.

“It is difficult when you are down. You can’t over-commit because Man City have the ability to run over the top of you and it gets even more embarrassing.

“The disappointment for us is that if we were a little bit resolute, and better defensively collectively, not just the guys at the back, I thought we caused them problems going forwards.

“It could have made the score-line a little more palatable, we were never going to win after the start we gave them.”

The Saints moved closer to the bottom three as a result and they are now 19.00 to finish bottom of the Premier League.