I blame Tottenham for this. If they hadn't thrown away three points at Anfield last week we'd have webbed Southampton all over St Mary's. The Saints would've gotten the Wigan and Swansea treatment. Instead, we pick up the three points against Spurs, start talking about some 'new found resilience' and 'chasing down fifth place', and as usual we fail to back it up. Hell, I even saw Steven Gerrard talking about how we need to win every game to get into the top four. The alarm bells were going off in my head all week, but despite the trepidation I had it was still something of a shock watching this unfold.
It really shouldn't have come as that much of a surprise, there's nothing more certain than whenever we start getting a little full of ourselves we'll be bitch slapped back to reality by someone shit. Villa, West Brom, now Southampton. All three of those games came at a time when we'd put a few good results together and got ourselves into position to make a run at the teams above us. It's not a co-incidence, there's a clear pattern there. If we'd won just two of those games look where we'd be, it's pretty sickening.
It's either a case of them believing their own hype or being unable to handle to the added pressure that comes with increased expectation. Maybe it's both, whatever it is though Rodgers needs to get to the bottom of it as it's completely killed what could actually have been a good season. A top four spot could have been ours if we'd been able to find any kind of consistency, but we've got no chance of that now. 5th has gone too, and we even managed to somehow hand back the initiative to the Blues in the battle to be top dogs in the city. That's the worst thing to come from this.
I've been saying for weeks that the two things we need to see between now and the end of the season are to beat one of the sides above us and to put together a good, relatively long unbeaten run. We did the first part by beating Tottenham last week and were on the way to doing the second having won three consecutive league games. Unfortunately the worry is always there that every three or four games we tend to throw in a stinker, and lo and behold here it is. You simply can't trust this team because they WILL let you down, they've been doing it all season.
The first half was an absolute disgrace, the worst we've played all season I'd say. It was embarrassing, terrible, wretched stuff. It's not being overly dramatic to say we got absolutely battered and could easily have let in four or five. Credit to Southampton, they were excellent and I'm not trying to take anything away from them. They played well but there's no way they are anywhere near as good as they looked or they wouldn't be where they are. This was as much about us being shit as them playing well.
It started with the team selection. Joe Allen starting over Lucas seemed very strange, although Rodgers said afterwards Lucas has been carrying a knock. That makes it a little easier to accept, and I'd have been ok with it if we'd been playing a midfield three, but as much I like Allen I don't want to see him playing in a midfield two, certainly not away from home and certainly not when he isn't fit and in need of an operation. It was just asking for trouble, I love an attacking line up as much as the next man (unless the next man is Kevin Keegan), but even I looked at that side and thought it was a bit too top loaded.
That decision to leave out Lucas backfired spectacularly, Allen was woeful and got hooked at half time. We improved when Lucas came on and were generally more on the front foot than we'd been in the first half, but we couldn't have improved by that much as the fact is we lost 2-1 with Allen and 1-0 with Lucas. That tells me there was far more to this than just that initial team selection. Carragher's absence was just as telling, whatever injury it is he has he couldn't have possibly weakened the side more than Skrtel's inclusion did (next time he complains about not knowing why he's been dropped, Rodgers should just pop in the DVD of Southampton's third goal).
It felt like we had more possession in the second half and we looked less vulnerable despite being far from water tight. There was a definite improvement on the first half, but it still wasn't close to good enough. Basically, far too many players didn't perform anywhere near close to the level they have been playing at, and that was further compounded by the initial starting line up selected by Rodgers.
You'll struggle to find a bigger Glen Johnson fan than me outside of his own family, but as good as he is when he's playing well, he does tend to throw in a few games a season where he's just incredibly lethargic and.. for want of a better expression, dopey looking. When he's good, there are few better but when he's bad he's complete dogshit. Sometimes he just looks like he needs a rocket up his arse, and this was one of those days. West Brom was another, which you could argue shows how important he is to our hopes of success.
Johnson was crap against the Saints, but in all honesty the same can be said of most of his team-mates. Lucas did ok when he came on, but aside from him (and obviously Jones who prevented this being an even bigger embarrassment) I'd say Stewart Downing is the only other player who performed to his usual level. That might be a bit harsh on Enrique actually, he wasn't bad and never let his head drop. Everyone else was below par, some more than others (and don't even get me started on Skrtel).
Losing a goal so early didn't help, but it was hardly the end of the world as we had plenty of time to get back into it. We just couldn't get hold of the ball though, and when we did we gave it straight back to them. We had no control of the midfield, the forwards weren't clicking and the defence were a nervous, shambolic mess. Adam Lallana looked like Zidane, he ran rings around us all day. Unless he's a much, much better player than I realised, then that just shouldn't be happening.
The opening goal was terrible, Johnson played everyone onside and Skrtel didn't get tight enough to his man. The second goal was unfortunate, a free-kick deflecting off the wall and beating Jones who couldn't get back across his goal in time. He maybe should have done a bit better with it, but he made some good saves on the day to prevent this from being a complete and utter humiliation. Whilst their goal was fortuitous, it was the least they deserved as they looked like scoring with every attack.
We did begin to settle down as the first half wore on, and Coutinho missed a great chance to pull one back from a rare attack. He went clean through one on one against Boruc and should have scored but hit the keeper with his shot. The game was generally passing him by, whilst Suarez was having to play far deeper than he would have liked as we had no grip of the midfield. Eventually Rodgers switched them, moving Coutinho central and Suarez out to the left. It made little difference.
It was just shambolic, and we could consider ourselves very fortunate to have pulled one back through Coutinho just before the break to go in trailing by just the one. That goal could have been a huge turning point, but we needed to start the second half well and quickly score another. Had that happened we'd have probably ran out comfortable winners. We had a few chances here and there but the better openings were created by the home side. Sturridge wasted our best chance to equalise when he mis-kicked from 8 yards. It summed up his day. In the last couple of weeks he looks like he's gone from 'prove it' mode to 'made it' mode.
As much as he and Coutinho have added to the side in the short time they've been here, perversely it's now causing a bit of problem for Rodgers in terms of how does he fit them into the side whilst still being able to get the best from Suarez and retaining control of the middle of the park. Clearly playing all three as well as Downing leaves us woefully short in midfield, we saw it last week against Spurs and then again at St Mary's. It's looking to me as though one of them has to be left out. The one untouchable is obviously Suarez, and the obvious one for the axe is Downing, but he provides better balance on the right than any of the others, so it's not that straightforward. Rodgers needs to figure that out as it's definitely an issue against any side that is on its game.
It's just completely soul destroying following Liverpool these days isn't it? It's like we're in no mans land. If we were just out and out garbage it'd be less stressful as at least we'd know who we are and wouldn't get our hopes up. This is just horrible though, as it's the hope that makes it so difficult. We'll look good for two or three games, put ourselves in a position to make a run at the teams above us and then as soon as that happens, along comes a Villa or a Southampton.
There'll be another one or two before the end of the season too, as unfortunately this is who we are at the moment. How do you judge where we are? Results like these are the exception rather than the norm, but there are enough of them to raise serious doubts about the mentality of the side. It's clearly not a talent issue as we've seen on a fairly regular basis how well they can play. It just seems like as soon as there's any kind of pressure to get a result they fold. Can't believe we've let Everton get above us again, it's shaping up like last season all over again, only without the Wembley trips.
Star man is Downing, comfortably the best of a bad bunch. Only Jones ran him close, which says it all.
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