Perhaps the most glorious victory since our return to the Premier League, wins away to the league leaders don't come very often for any team in the Premier League.

Mauricio Pochettino decided not to ring the changes for the trip to Anfield and keep an attacking line up, but the end result was the same as the last time the two clubs met and Liverpool suffered defeat for the first time since that March meeting at St Mary's.

This was very much a team effort and required every man to put in a shift, the pattern for the afternoon was set, a Saints attack broke down and Liverpool were quickly on the counter, but defensively with Dejan Lovren in the back four and two speedy full backs, not to mention Victor Wanyama, Saints are far better set up to deal with this than they where last season and the longer the game went on the more you felt that Saints could deal with everything thrown at them.

But lets not make the mistake of thinking this was a performance with Saints totally controlling the game, in the first half Saints were tight defensively, but going forward the lacked a little punch, often breaking in good positions but with the attack fizzling out, it also took Boruc at his best, especially from a Steven Gerrard free kick to keep the score level at the break, the Polish keeper also had to be alert on a number of occasions to command his penalty box to make sure that the danger was squashed before it had a chance to develop.

Overall Saints went into the break good value for their money and looking well set out to keep Liverpool frustrated.

But everything changed just after half time,, Saints seemed to have stepped up a gear, initially Liverpool looked in no danger, but a quick throw in from Saints caught them panicking at the back and they conceded a needless corner and this was to cost them dearly, Adam Lallana hit almost the perfect corner, just a little far for the keeper to come, but near enough in to mean that if an attacking player got his head on it, it would cause trouble, that man was Dejan Lovren who held off Agger and headed home to the delight of the travelling support behind the goal.

The question now would be whether Saints could hold out, the home side almost immediately made a change bringing on Enrique for Agger signalling their attacking intent, but Pochettino made a key change on 65 minutes, taking off Lambert and bringing on Steven Davis, Saints suddenly looked to have better shape not just on the back foot but going forward as well and almost immediately nearly doubled their lead with Mignolet having to make a triple save to keep the ball out.

Saints still had to be tight at the back though, Boruc marshalled his troops well and whenever Liverpool put a hopeful ball into the box, there was Boruc to deal with the danger, with 15 minutes to go Saints made another change with Ward Prowse replacing Lallana, this signalled Saints intent to hold what they had and not give anything away, as the game entered its final knockings came the final substitution Jack Cork to rapturous applause from Saints supporters who were determined to let him know that in their eyes at least he wasn't the forgotten man, he replaced Jay Rodriguez who had worked tirelessly all afternoon and was clearly on his last legs with the effort.

The final whistle sparked scenes of mayhem in the away section, as Liverpool fans trooped out dejectively matching the sorry departure of their players, the Saints team ran over to their fans, pushed away stewards who tried to stop them and threw their shirts to the crowd, a magnificent gesture to what had been magnificent supportfrom those who had put in a magnificent performance.

So with the emotions over lets take an overview of the game from a cold hard standpoint now the hangovers from the celebrations have died down, firstly it has to be said that this was a well drilled performance by Saints, although it perhaps does tell you something in that our man of the match would be a choice between Artur Boruc and Dejan Lovren, but apart from the wonder save from Gerrard in the case of the keeper, both were only doing what they were paid to do, defensively we looked good with a midfield that protected the back four well and made sure that Liverpool's midfield couldn't settle and start picking out Sturridge.

Going forward though we were often disjointed until the first substitution, too often attacks broke down because we had the wrong man on the ball in certain situations, ie Osvaldo having dropped deep playing Lambert through for a run at the defenders or Lambert crossing to the far post for Osvaldo, of course we have to make exceptions for the fact that we were playing the League leaders at their place with them having one of the tightest defences in the League, but we just didn't get in enough meaningful chances from open play and again our goal was scored from a dead ball situation with a central defender heading home, the dichotomy of the situation being that whilst we have one of the meanest defences in the Premier with only Spurs having conceded less and only Chelsea being able to equal us, attacking wise we have scored the joint least in the division, bottom of the pile Sunderland having exactly the same goals for total and two more of the bottom four having the same number.

There are of course a lot of positives from this performance, far more than negatives, but if we truly want to make that step up, then we have to sort out the goals for column, for those that say that Osvaldo and Lambert can play in the same team, its just not looking like working so far and I think its to the detriment of both men's game, if we sort this out then there is no reason why we shouldn't have a top ten finish, as was shown on Saturday we not only have a good starting line up, but we have the quality to come off the bench and that wasn't something we could always say last season.

ins at Anfield don't come along very often, in my lifetime there have been only 4, so when they happen they should be savoured.

Photo: Action Images

ericofarabia added 11:17 - Sep 23 You forgot to mention the highlight of the day for you and your crew .... meeting me not once, but twice ;-) Hope you had a good night on the town.
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SaintNick added 11:30 - Sep 23 We have the photographic evidence to prove it
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Scummer added 11:58 - Sep 23 That was a fantastic team effort. That was the kind of high pressing that I don't think we saw against below-par Sunderland and West Ham sides. If we maintain that kind of defensive vigilance then I personally think that Dani and Rickie will work each other out and the front four will start to click into place. And that could be very interesting. I look at the next six fixtures and start to wonder how many points we could take from that list. Old Trafford could be another good scalp if we can get the game plan spot on again. This feels like one of the most open years in the Premiership, and it will be very interesting to how it pans out.

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slynch added 12:00 - Sep 23 Saints' back four of JRod, Lambert, Osvaldo and Lallana won this game. Nearly every Liverpool attack petered out in their own half with the four of them hounding down the player on the ball and anyone near he could pass to. The strike force of Shaw, Lovren, Font and Clyne repeatedly pushed forward onto the struggling defence and indeed it was striker Lovren who eventually scored. Whether home or away play the game in their half. When Liverpool did venture into Saints' half it was mainly through Moses whom Clyne marshalled superbly and I thought he deserved man of the match if it wasn't for Lovren scoring. Saying only a few chances were created is not entirely proven by statistics, 12 officially, which is not slouching. But you're right, Davis added a bit of zip converting defence into attack quicker than it had been and may have played himself into a start in midfield. Palace next in the League - they looked dreadful! Even Holloway was at a loss for words. 6 - 0

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SaintNick added 12:20 - Sep 23 Statistically we did have 12 chances, but sometimes statistics can distort, I think Lamberts long range effort in the first half where he shor from 25 yards out and went about 25 yards wide would have been called a chance
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slynch added 12:29 - Sep 23 Statistics as inaccurate as strikers, then!
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1teeminants added 13:05 - Sep 23 Magnificent performance from saints. My only real criticism and i know you wont agree Nick ,is we should never of got rid of puncheon especially as we lack pace and width. He offered something different, he had pace, could go around players and played very well last season. I think we really miss him.
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schatfield added 15:16 - Sep 23 Interested to know what peeps thought of Wanyama in this game? For me, I thought he still gave away a lot of cheap passes. Built like a brick sh*t house, no denying that and does act like he can break up the oppositions forward line, but those passes...
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schatfield added 15:20 - Sep 23 Also, it just doesn't seem to work with Osvaldo (who does look quality) and Lambert playing together.......shoe horn springs to mind, it does look like we need 1 or the other, but not both. Was not surprised to read elsewhere today, that with Lambert needing games and goals for his England chance next year, he could well be linked elsewhere in the Jan window..
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IanRC added 16:27 - Sep 23 Thought Lalanna had a monster of a game, although it was a shame he could not cap it with a goal. Really led from the front with his closing down. Still think the Rickie / Dani pairing could work well. Let's see.
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IanRC added 16:27 - Sep 23 Also really good to see Jack Cork back on the field - a really good team performance.
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SaintNick added 16:38 - Sep 23 I agree with 1teem to a degree in that we have no genuine wideman, Rodriguez is really a forward who has a bit of pace and decent work rate and lallana has plenty of skill but lacks true pace, I personally think we were looking for something a little more than Puncheon could offer in the grand scheme of things, however we should have had a replacement signed up before we let him go out on loan. With regard to Lambert needing games and possibly going out on loan in January, I said this the moment Osvaldo signed, my opinion has still not changed

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brynjarg added 18:55 - Sep 23 Away from home against a Big Team a controlled win is marvelous. Looked like the attacking play clicked after the goal. Something to do with self confidence? Happy to see Davis getting a chance to impress. He's a positive player to my eyes, and obviously in form. Optimist for next match!
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wazzosan added 07:05 - Sep 24 For me the jury is still out on Wanamaya. He did make a lot of wayward passes and and his first touch isn't great. If we got him for 4mil I'd be happy but paying 12? Still, it could be worse. Liverpool payed 16mil for one of their defenders and he was rubbish. Osvaldo looked very promising early on with a lot of classy flicks. However, near the end of the second half he started to look more like a one trick pony. I thought he should have held the ball up more instead of trying flick-ons at every opportunity, most of which didn't pan out. Ballsy decision by Poch to take SRL off in the second half but I agree with it. In fact, I don't like playing both SRL and Dani together. I'd much rather play one up front, I don't care who, and have the other on the bench. Very interested to see who plays tonight in the cup...time to try out some of the players who haven't been getting much game time recently. I'm looking at Ramirez in particular...time to step up. I still think we are still missing a pacey winger. Someone like Redmond from Norwich who can run at players. Also, we should have put in a bid for Lukaku, that kid has it all, pace, power, skill...and proven at this level. I don't know how Everton got him.

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Whatsforpud added 08:43 - Sep 24 Noticeable that there are always fewer comments on here and elsewhere when things have gone well. So look forward to a several pages of them after the Palace game then!
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NorwegianSaint added 09:05 - Sep 24 Good article again. I had just one slight disappointment and it was mentioned before. Wanyama is giving the ball away too easy. His first couple of games looked great but he has been our weakest link the last two games. Cork should have a start v Palace. That little moan aside, what a great weekend, these are the days that make memories. there are thousands of Liverpool supporters here and I have proudly wore my Saints shirt.... I did also enjoy picking up my £60 bet on a Saints win :-)

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NorwegianSaint added 09:25 - Sep 24 To me there seems to be two different types of play in the Premiership, the fighters and the players. We struggle against lower teams as these are the fighters but we play well against the Players. This showed last year by beating or playing well against the players from Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Man U, Everton but losing or poor results verses the fighters from QPR, Sunderland, Wigan, West Ham, etc We need to find two game plans and then our teams dreams could come true. We need to give Holloway a good beating after he slagged us off when we beat his Blackpool singing "premier league ya having a laugh!"

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jannersaint added 11:16 - Sep 24 Norwegian Saint:- I wonder if our tactics fail against the lower teams because they play more direct. Cause our team to be turned from high positions. Against Liverpool we faced a side that often overplay from the back and as a result get closed down and make mistakes. In similar situations west ham were clearing their lines. I agree with comment that pitch was right to bring Lambo off. If only he'd done something like that against west ham it would have changed the attacking phase of our game.

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thingummy added 15:41 - Sep 24 I could only get tickets in the Liverpool end. It was an interesting perspective and we deserved to win. Our back 4 plus Boruc looked fantastic. While Lovren will get plaudits (deservedly) Clyne is such a good defender ..... he is so difficult to beat. I agree that VW gave the ball away but he destroyed the LFC midfield. Their crowd were howling every time he took the ball off them - he bullied them. He needs to learn the Cork trick of retaining possession. He will learn. Our midfield put in a fantastic shift and, more generally, when we don't have the ball, everyone seems to know what they should be doing. We also look better when the opposition actually wants to attack Our forwards were incredibly sloppy in the 1st half. Osvaldo gave the ball away too often while SRL looked lost next to him. SRL either needs to come short to receive the ball or peel off to the back post to take the crosses from full backs. DO passing for Ricky to run on to the ball will never work. We looked much more effective once we had scored and SD came on. Suddenly we looked capable of holding the ball further up the park and breaking at speed. I think this was as a result of LFC having to go for goal. AL and JRod worked hard. We have to get AL on the ball more often Overall it was a great day to be a saints fan We need to get an early goal in a game and then I think thigs will clci

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NorwegianSaint added 16:11 - Sep 24 JannerSaint It could be another reason like that, I just want us to get more positive results against "lower" teams. We were unlucky against West Hoof and it annoys me to see Sunderlands only point was off us. The brilliant result at Anfield will mean even more if we stuff Holloways team.
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LesVivian added 20:23 - Sep 24 I don't agree with the Lambert or Osvaldo 'problem'. In midfield, S and W play in the same place, one gives the ball away too easily, and the other gets frustrated! Cork should play! We know there is no real width, so we need to be tight in the middle, and cover the full backs going forward. Then L and O can work together - both have a good touch, and one knows where the goal is! Having said all this, what a great display at Anfield! Now let's get the formation right at home!

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