Southampton At Liverpool The Verdict Sunday, 9th May 2021 10:47 Sadly it was another defeat for Saints, but it was a performance with a spirit that has been lacking at times over the past 4 months and although this season will peter out into disappointment, there are some positive points to be taken from this game. From the start you could see this was a Saints team with purpose, they played with a determination throughout that has often been missing, it was end to end stuff and Saints matched Liverpool throughout the game in terms of chances and whilst no blame can be attached on either of the home side's goals to Fraser Forster it was poignant that the Sky man of the match was Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson. Nathan Tella looked lively in the first half especially and caused the home side problems and James Ward Prowse and Stuart Armstrong worked tirelessly in the centre of midfield, chances were being created at both ends but it was Liverpool who took the lead and again you could say we switched off for just a second in defence and the home side took advantage, it was a goal in many ways similar to the goal scored by Leicester last weekend. But Saints didn't give up and continued the fight throughout the game and had their chances but just couldn't take them, Che Adams and Nathan Tella both having good efforts. Right up to the 90th minute the game could have gone either way with Ralph Hasenhuttl throwing on both Michael Obafemi and Moussa Djenepo for fresh legs, but although there were moments the final goal of the game went to Liverpool and it was harsh on a Saints side and gave the result a more comprehensive feel to Liverpool than it actually was. Liverpool themselves did have more purpose than they have had of late, but Spurs defeat earlier in the day suddenly gave Liverpool a chance to leap above them into the top six and Leicester defeat on Friday an outside chance of a Champions League spot, suddenly once again Saints were in the wrong place at the wrong time, but we stood up to the task. So a disappointing night for Saints in terms of the result, but I have always been a person to take the positives out of any situation, Ralph Hasenhuttl has to move forward and get this awful season over with. The fact that we could still take on a Liverpool side without our top scorer and defensive midfield player out of action showed we are progressing, no one argues that we need to improve the squad and that is essential in the summer. Last night will have shown the manager a few things that he will want to change, personally I do not think the partnership between Jan Bednarek and Jannik Vestergaard is a good match, if Spurs or Leicester as rumoured are interested in the Dane then if the price is right I would take it, the replacement is already at the club in Mohamed Salisu. The performance of Nathan Tella perhaps suggests that we do not need to make Theo Walcott's loan move permanent next season, all football clubs are going to be strapped for cash next season, Walcott's wages will not be as high as they are now at Everton but they will still be substantial, in the last few months Tella has done more than Walcott and he might just be the better option next season. This game is now over, we have four games left where we are now playing just for the prize money per place, we play Crystal Palace on Tuesday and follow that up with the home game against Fulham on Saturday, two games that we can win and in doing so move up a place or two. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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