Rodgers subdued as Liverpool lose to Saints

Daniel Sturridge – Failed to make an impact

The second half saw Iago Aspas replaced with Raheem Sterling. Aspas was rather ineffective and to be honest, I think Raheem Sterling deserved to start this game, he may have been a bit wasteful with his introduction but Sterling was involved in some of the most promising moments of the game for the Reds and these moments were few and far between.

Another player that was sorely missed for the Reds yesterday was Phillipe Coutinho, post match he ended up being the top trending topic on Twitter in the UK which says it all really. Liverpool desperately missed his creativity and with no full backs either there was literally nothing coming down the flanks. Thank god Suarez returns on Wednesday.

Southampton continued to pressure Liverpool in the second half and their chance came not long before the hour mark via the Bosnian born Dejan Lovren. Lovren rose well to beat a desperate looking Daniel Agger and head the ball home. Liverpool looked dumbstruck and so they should have, it wasn’t like the hadn’t received the warning signs and now Southampton were very much in control of the game.

Enrique was brought onto the field after the Southampton goal, replacing Daniel Agger, but it was probably too little to late from a now disgruntled Rodgers.

Daniel Sturridge for Liverpool had the hopes of Anfield on his shoulders but even he couldn’t find the back of the net on Saturday. The Reds only had five shots in the game, four of which came from outside the area and it was clear that we weren’t going to score like that. A late run from Raheem Sterling towards the box created hope for Liverpool fans but the youngster’s first touch was poor and that was that for Liverpool.

A lot of people who are much more intelligent than me, predicted that this could be a banana skin for Liverpool, perhaps the pessimist was getting the better of them but they were bang on. I was very positive in the match preview stating that I could only see Southampton taking something from the game if they scored first and shut up shop, half of that may have been right but full credit to the Saints. They had no intentions of playing it safe at Anfield and were very deserving of all 3 points.

For Liverpool it’s not quite all doom and gloom yet, obviously this result isn’t an acceptable one, especially after the way we played but the Reds are still on 10 points and are well and truly stuck in the action, with Manchester City to play Manchester United on Sunday, it may not end all too bad this weekend for the Reds. They also face Sunderland next in the league, who are on a sinking ship with captain Di Canio at the moment. So, here’s hoping Liverpool can return to winning ways sooner rather than later.

First up though, the Reds have the small matter of Manchester United in the League Cup on Wednesday.