Lets be blunt most Saints fans heading up to St Mary' s before the game on Saturday would have been happy if they were told we would only lose 2-1, but in the end we were disappointed not to get a point.
This game was never going to be easy after all Liverpool had won their last 10 Premier League games, a run going back to the start of March and equalling the club record consecutive League wins.
After the errors of Burnley the thought of Sadio Mane and Mo Salah was enough to worry even the most staunch Saints supporter.
As predicted in our match preview there were only two changes to the team that started at Burnley with Ralph Hasenhuttl opting for the experience of Yoshida rather than throwing in Kevin Danso who was on the bench with no place for Jack Stephens there.
Pierre Emile Hojbjerg also returned with the manager opting to go with only one up front, Danny Ings dropping to the bench to make way.
It has to be said that Saints were never going to dominate this game in terms of possession, they knew that Liverpool thrive when attacked thus allowing them to counter attack with pace, Hasenhuttl played the game right in the first half, he kept his team deep and they played Liverpool at their own game.
This meant that in the main the visitors despite a lot of the ball couldn't get their strikers in behind us or catch us for pace.
When we attacked we looked good, Yoshida got in a free header which was well saved by Adrian and Che Adams really should have buried a header from fairly close range, he just had to keep the ball down but didn't.
But all the good work was undone on the stroke of half time, you can deny the quality of Mane's shot from outside the box, but in my opinion it was yet another of those situations when we don't get a block in, too many times we see our opponents pull the trigger and the player marking him does not even attempt to make a tackle, it happened for the first goal at Burnley and it happened again here.
If we thought that we could get back in it after the break we found a Liverpool side with their heads up and resolute, but Ralph Hasenhuttl was ready to make changes, on came Danny Ings and we were going for it, some would say why didn't we start with this formation, but the manager was right to start cautiously and take it from there.
But we effectively put the game beyond our reach with 20 minutes to go, this was a time when leadership was needed and calm heads, we were trying to rush things too much and this was leading to errors, but with a throw in deep in our own half and Liverpool pressing we should have been in no rush, but too many players tried to hurry it up, a poor throw in, an even poorer pass and suddenly Liverpool were two up and cruising or so they thought.
On came Moussa Djenepo for Ryan Bertrand a truly bold move, Djenepo looked good on his debut, he worked hard down the flanks and looked willing to battle for the ball both when he had to defend and when we had to attack.
In the 81st minute the lifeline came out of nowhere, Adrian had the ball at his feet but he dithered and Danny Ings was in quick to close him down and sidefoot his clearance into an empty net.
Saints tried to go for a grandstand finish and almost succeeded when Danny Ings failed to make much contact in the final minute, the chance was not as easy as it looked but it was still one he would hope to score more often than not.
So we ended with a narrow defeat and in the preview I said that this would perhaps be a good result for us, after Burnley we needed to get out of meltdown mode, put that loss and the manner of it into perspective and show that we are a decent team and one that is getting better.
We did that against Liverpool on Saturday and that can now allow us to go into a series of far easier games than this with some confidence, however that is not to say that there is still some hard work to do, we have to cut out the mistakes at the back, which are costing us dearly in these two opening games.
Some on social media have been bemoaning the manager and saying that he should have started with an attacking line up, I think they are wrong, if we had done that then Liverpool had the firepower to rip us to shreds in the first half as they did Norwich on the opening day last week. Indeed Liverpool could have easily been 3-0 up before we scored, a series of misses and smart goalkeeping by Angus Gunn keeping the score down.
Ralph got his tactics right, we needed to restore our confidence and show ourselves we could hold Liverpool and then having done that start to try and attack a little more, last season we did attack and even at 1-1 with 10 minutes to go we were attacking and that ultimately cost us the game.
This time we almost played it perfectly, but it was not to be, to beat Liverpool you have to not only not make mistakes defensively but you have to take your chances.
So a good result performance wise just disappointing that in the end we lost so narrowly, we matched Liverpool in all areas bar possession so we can go to Brighton with confidence that we can now start to get points on the board.
The difference between the Saints side now and a year ago is massive, yes things are not quite perfect, but they are still a major improvement from Mark Hughes reign, we have a stronger squad with the new players looking good, we have a strong manager with a vision, we have players believing in themselves, we just now need to win a few games and march onwards and more importantly upwards.