Saints At Liverpool The Verdict Monday, 8th May 2017 11:02 Was this a poor performance of a well earned hard fought game where we deserved a point, the Saints fans at the game couldn't work out which. Liverpool fans after the game would point to 65% possession for their team and the fact that Saints did not manage one shot on target during the entire game, something that we also failed to do in the home game at St Mary's which ended with the same scoreline. Some would say that this was a masterful stroke of tactical genius of Claude Puel who put out a side who allowed Liverpool to come on to them, gave them no width and dealt with it comfortably. Puel had clearly watched other teams who had come to Anfield and come away with at least a point and decided that the teams who came to play football and try to win the game often came unstuck, whereas those who got men behind the ball and kept it tight prospered. The Frenchman won't find many admirers on the Kop though, their view was of a manager who was in the mould of Tony Pulis and Sam Allardyce. That would not be completely fair, in many ways it was an attacking side, but the truth is we just did not attack enough and even when we did we rarely seemed to do so with any real conviction. Manolo Gabbiadini ran his socks off up front as did Shane Long when he replaced him, but we just could not give either of them the ball in any meaningful position. The game plan was based on the work rate of the central midfield trio who had wave after wave of Red shirts bearing down on them, the job was to protect the centre of our defence and not let them run at us. This meant that although Liverpool had 17 shots with 8 on target, most were tame efforts from distance that Fraser Forster dealt with easily. But we also were almost architects of our own downfall and again both of the games moments of excitement came from a lack of concentration. Generally at the back we were tight, but it is the lack of concentration that lets us down, the first was the penalty, we got caught dozing and all of a sudden it was panic with Jack Stephens clearly moving his arm to change the direction of the ball, a harsh penalty given that it was so high on his arm, but your arm is handball and Stephens clearly moved his arm towards the ball. Fraser Forster's penalty save was top drawer and the keeper would be called into action once more to save his side. In the final minute of the game Forster produced a superb reaction save to keep out Grujic's header, but you have to ask why the Liverpool man had a free header from close range, watch the TV replays and decide for yourself why, either way it was a lack of concentration that caught us out and nearly cost us a point that we had worked hard for. My feeling though was that although it was a good point and one that we needed badly given the congestion in the Premier League table, we were a side who know that we have a weakness in defence and therefore know we need to protect it. This means we are afraid to commit men going forward and that means that few of our attacks have much conviction, it leaves Gabbiadini isolated and rarely with any support, we seem to have to keep 8 men behind the ball at all times even when we are approaching their penalty area, there are no runners from midfield, they are understrict instructions to keep it tight and not get caught. Even at set pieces we have little menace, our central defenders are not big enough to pose too much threat at corners etc, and we have little height elsewhere. This game perhaps epitomises the season, we have a good squad, but we are punching well below our weight, part of it is injury driven, part is the central defensive problem and this clean sheet should not paper over those cracks, i have tried to not criticise either Yoshida or Stephens in this game, but the fact remains that we would not be happy with Les Reed next season if either were our first choice in this position, part is also the fact that we just cannot get any momentum going and that is down to selection. The fact that we can be so comfortable in games yet still almost throw them away shows we are a good side, but something is still wrong. I don't blame Puel for the way we played on Sunday, we had to do it otherwise they could have murdered us, but we really should not have been in this position, if we had dealt with the central defensive problem in January and not gambled on no injuries to Van Dijk then this game and indeed this season could have been a lot different. I cannot remember being less enthusiastic about a game than this one, even at the end when the final whistle went, I felt no real euphoria ( No Scouser jokes please) I felt more a feeling of what should have been. That is not all Claude Puel's fault, perhaps he feels the same way, if the central defensive issue had been dealt with in January then perhaps we would have won this game, certainly we would have been strong enough to try to, perhaps we would have won the EFL Cup and perhaps we might even have taken on Everton for 7th place, the fact that we could still finish 8th shows how close we are to that, but fate and poor management both on and off the pitch has cost us dearly. That's life though, you have to take the rough with the smooth, but I can't hide the fact that we are a top 7 side that is still in the top 10 despite the fact that for the best part of the season it has played like a bottom 3 one. 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