Southampton 3 Liverpool 1, As Predictable As It Was Unpredictable

 Our good run of results came crashing to an end this afternoon at St Mary's where we were well and truly outfought, outplayed and, most importantly, outscored. When I wrote my preview of the game I had a strong feeling that we wouldn't get anything from the afternoon but I try to be optimistic when I write so I didn't want to share too much negativity before the match itself. Being a Liverpool fan over the last twenty years or so has meant seeing scorelines like this on a semi-regular basis so today's defeat has left me quite disappointed but certainly not surprised.

 Prior to today we'd won four matches in a row, if somebody had said five games ago we'd win four and lose one I'd probably have taken that so I'm refusing to get too disheartened by this loss. Some people are saying our season has been three steps forward then two steps back, which is quite a good analogy but since the turn of the year it's been more like three forward, one back. Progress feels like it's being made which is why there is anger among some Liverpool fans about our performance, we've had poor runs in the past where a scoreline like today's would have been met with more acceptance and resignation than our 3-1 loss has been.

 We went into the game as one of the league's form teams so many will have been surprised by the final score, but Southampton at home have been good against the top sides so I'm not really sure if you could call a 3-1 home win a shock or not. What probably wasn't expected was that we'd show so little in the game.

 Joe Allen has justifiably come in for a bit of criticism for his display but he was taken off at half time and the team was poor for more or less the whole ninety minutes. Picking one player as a scapegoat would hide a lot of the problems from today and isn't worth it, Allen's introduction last weekend swung the game in our favour and it's important not to get on the backs of players too early. Ironically most of the people slating Allen were calling for either Lucas or Jordan Henderson to be brought on, and these were probably the same 'fans' who have handed out more than a little stick to the very same pair of players they now want to see in the team. 

 In my opinion we were never really in the running for a top four spot despite several reports to the contrary in recent weeks. I had (and still have) a large sense of optimism about where the team is heading but I'm very aware of just how far we have to go, and days like today serve as a not so gentle reminder of how much of our journey still remains to be travelled.

 For me the worst thing about our loss is that it comes right before the international break, meaning we have to wait two weeks before we can try to get the performance out of our system. We have an anxious wait to see if our key men return from playing for their countries fit and well, and only a short time together as a group to prepare for our next fixture. I hate the intrusion of international football whenever it rears its head, but most of all after a defeat when I just want the team back out on the pitch as soon as possible to show what we're really made of.

 The other big negative today was Luis Suarez' booking, taking him to a total of nine yellow cards for the season. It's completely inevitable now he will reach ten and miss two games through suspension, I just sorely hope he doesn't miss the games against either Everton or Chelsea. One thing about Brendan Rodgers that impresses me is his willingness to chastise players even if they are the team's star man, he treats everybody equally and if Suarez lets him down and causes him a problem by missing two more games he'll let him know it's not acceptable.

 Right, I think I've got all of that out of my system now, remember folks, one defeat isn't the end of the world, our disappointment is a sign we've made strides forward lately. And the most important thing about a defeat is the reaction to it in the next game. We're too far from the top or the bottom of the table for any one result to put us into crisis so let's take the defeat on the chin, congratulate Southampton as worthy winners on the day and move on.