Saints didn't play badly, but Liverpool showed a clinical edge to do the right things at the right times and win the game.
Did Saints deserve to lose 3-0 ? The answer to that is definitely not, but they were always chasing the game as Liverpool did just what they do well and that is using the pace of Suarez and Sturridge, not to mention Sterling.
For long period of this game we competed with Liverpool and were in it, but the truth is we were too rigid, we were unable to change our game, when you look at the league table and consider that out of the top ten clubs our only win in 13 games was against Liverpool earlier in the season it is telling us something and that is a good side know how to deal with our system and as Liverpool did on Saturday how to deal with it and do it efficiently and clinically.
Once again we had the lions share of the possession with 57% but as I feared Liverpool were content to sit back let us have that possession and then hit us quickly, that was the case with the opener, for the first 15 minutes Saints had dominated, but suddenly Liverpool switched to attack mode, we didn't react quick enough to a situation we should really have dealt with and before we knew it Liverpool had exchanged passes and Suarez had an easy chance in front of goal.
The next 40 minutes or so went to the same pattern, we had plenty of possession, created a few chances, didn't take them and then suddenly Liverpool struck again and the game was slipping away fast..
In the preview I warned of how Liverpool would be looking to play it and why we needed to adapt to make sure that they didn't, sadly we couldn't or wouldn't adapt, Liverpool knew exactly how we would play and were focused on the fact that this would be playing right into their hands.
The bench was a strong one, but Ramirez apart it wasn't on that would change the game, it was good to see Pochettino willing to try and do that, bravely putting on Ramirez at half time, but that was his only real tactical change, as the game entered its final stages he made two substitutions that were predictable, Gallagher for Lambert was obvious, Lambert was again a passenger for large parts of the game, yes he had his moments, but this is the Premier League, you need to be contributing a lot more.
I was a little baffled by his final one, bringing on Wanyama when you are 2-0 up is a no brainer, he is just the man you want tocome on and close out a game, however he is going to offer you little going forward, given we were 2-0 down with a little over ten minutes to play, we could have been a little more inventive, take off Fonte and put Wanyama on, let be blunt, Liverpool weren't getting forward in numbers, they were passing from deep and looking to get one man on the ball, we could have tried something different but we didn't.
The watching Roy Hodgson would have learn't little about his four current England Saints, Lallana would have shown him he is ready, Rodriguez would have shown him he has the potential but needs to be more clinical, Shaw would have confirmed his potential but would have raised thoughts about his failure to deliver when attacking on a consistent basis and Rickie to be honest did his England prospects no favours, although in his defence perhaps he will be playing in an England system more suited to his style.
But perhaps Hodgson will be looking beyond those four, Callum Chambers had another superb game at right back and Jack Cork had another busy game in the midfield that laid the foundations for Saints to have their usual domination.
What this game proved was that Saints are still a work in progress, we lack attacking options and we are still short of another central defender, we need to now see the season out by winning a few games and getting that top ten finish, then in the close season we need to fine tune again, replace Osvaldo with a decent striker, someone who has a bit of pace and can finish as Liverpool have and we can continue our progress.
In fact that was the difference between the two sides, they had Luis Suarez and Steven Gerrard and we didnt.