Agreed

I wasn't at the game but was interested to hear your views on Caulker, was he at fault for many/any of the goals? Was Koeman's formation in the second half that bad?

I blame Yoshida, oh hang on.

Cannot wait for Forster to be back. 7 shots on goal and only one saved says it all.

In fairness to Stekelenburg I dont think he was at fault for much

While this was a freak result in some respects I don't think it was a freak performance given what else I've seen from us this season. Ive not seen all our games but last night had echoes of other performances: Everton, Man Utd, Leicester (2nd half), Newcastle, Man City, and others. In all of these games we've looked weak defensively, letting too many attacks come down the flanks and through the midfield. We also have a worrying tendency to let our heads drop after conceding, which causes us to let in more.

There are probably several reasons for this: lack of leadership(?), tactical blunders, player recruitment. I think the last one is key: Cedric is good going forward but cannot cope with any decent attacker on the left wing (other teams have cottoned onto this and exploit it); Clasie hasn't settled and is anonymous most of the time; Romeu is ok but doesn't offer much that's different from Vic; Juanami hasn't settled. The exception is van Dijk who is class and is an adequate replacement for Alderweireld.

Attacking-wise we've been ok this season, although I fear that Mane is propping up our attack. but defensively I'm concerned. Even taking this result against Liverpool out of the equation the fact is that we are shipping far too many goals, and easy goals at that.

Performance in the last 65 mins was totally unacceptable. Caulker at fault for at least 3 goals - he had no idea where Sturridge was!! We bought Cedric and Clasie but neither look like Premier League material! If the League Cup is impoertant ( as Koeman) said how can we forget it and move on. An embarrassing evening!

I thought the Northam Brains Trust out did themselves last night with their "witty and intelligent" repertoire for our visiting ex-heroes. It is of course right and proper to give them a hard time but it's a fine line between this and just looking bitter and humourless

Judging by some of the comments you would not think we were 10th in the league and with a good chance of going 6th on Saturday

SaintNick there is also a good chance and maybe more likely, another defeat coming.
Many are saying the same thing. Clasie is not premiership material. Our recent buys are all too lightweight. Selling Chambers and Clyne was a dreadful decision.

On the day it is still 'Come on you Saints!' but the Post or pre match analysis of many aspects such as team selections, transfers individual players etc is hugely disappointing.

Where were the players from our Famed Acadamy last night?? All we had was JWP for a subs appearance in the second half. In his 80+ first team games this so called dead ball expert has scored 1 goal most of the time he is light weight. We sold Jack Cork for a pittance and paid £7 million for a light weight replacement in Classie. Harry Reed did nothing wrong when he played and in my opinion would have been better than most of our mid field last night. I also think that Bertrand or Target could not do a worse job even though they are left backc

At right back that is

The abiding impression I got was that we are light-weight. I don't think Liverpool are a particularly physical side but they out-powered us easily.

Of course we have no choice but to take the 'bad day at the office' line - otherwise we'll all be lining up to jump off Northam Bridge - but I do fear that those who are suggesting something is not right have a point. That was our strongest available side last night...

Yes leighsaint - If James Waste of Space is the answer then i am not sure what the question is. The Academy has gone very quiet. Also agee on Harry Reed - him instead of Claisie would have made us better not worse in my view...

Yes but all these players have got us to 10th in the League, selling Clyne was not a dreadful decision, we had no choice he only had a year left on his contract and no chance of him signing an extension, it was a fact of life

The difference last night was six great strikes. Certainly didn't look like a 6-1 game and with the exception of the last goal we still looked threatening and in the game. How often does any premiership team have a 6 goals from 7 shots return. So Caulker didn't show Sturridge onto his weaker foot, its not like Sturridge was left with an open goal to tap it into. The second was pure class and the third a shot into a crowded penalty area that could have hit any number of players and missed on another day. Second half we came out all guns blazing but chasing the game we were caught by another good strike. I don't think Caulker, Clasie or Cedric played particularly badly last night we just came up against a Liverpool side on a 12 game unbeaten run that also included beating Manchester City 4-1. So if we still had Schneiderlin, Alderweireld and Clyne we would have won last night.... I don't believe so. Freak result let's move on!

Nick is right. We need to move. The reality is we needed this.

Koeman has been too complacent with his tactics and team selections recently. Moreover players like Clasie (at the moment), JWP, Caulker and Yoshida are not good enough for what we're aiming for this season--which I believe is a top 6 finish.

With regards to Juanmi and Romeu, I personally don't know why we brought them? Both players haven't been given opportunities to show what they can do. Romeu is a solid player imo and has been hard done by Koeman. Juanmi is a tidy finisher but I'm not sure if we suit his style of play. I would like to see more of him play--otherwise why spend all that money?

Lastly I know he's going in the January but are we seriously not going to give Gaston a run out? Aside from Tadic there are no other players as technically gifted as Ramirez.

I'm just really baffled by the coaching staff at the moment. The selections just don't make sense to me. Tactically we were incompetent and to make matters worse this was at home in the League Cup. The players should be docked 1-weeks wages.

Lastly we should cancel Stekelenburg's loan and just try Gazzaniga. At the very least we'll be improving one of our own. He's just awful and I don't rate him.

Oh well on to the next one. COYR!

Agree TeamCortese, Gaston doesn't get a shot, but other players who make mistake after mistake keep getting second, third, fourth chances.

I question JWP's supposed "dead ball specialist" title-let Mane take them, he's the only player who knows how to put in a properly weighted ball since Rickie left!

Plus we need players who are rough enough for this league. Only Vic and Van Dijk make the opposition think twice about taking them on.

It doesn't seem long ago when the defence had the luxury back-up of any two from Schneiderlin, Cork and Wanyama. So far, Clasie and Romeu have been disappointing, as has JWP who is too content to pass it sideways or backwards. Where are the killer through balls between centre back and full back?

Although it is disappointing that this cup has gone begging, three points on Saturday, followed by a consistent league run, probably interests me more.

I wish I was as 'upbeat' as you and a few others over this. Calling it a freak result rather implies that you've gone into 'denial' because although the scoreline was freakish the performance wasn't! I'll try to rein myself in, but.....L'pool scored 6 goals because they had exceptional quality up front whereas we were lacking quality in several defensive positions and at least one in midfield. This was exacerbated by the fact that Rk has been 'tinkering' about with the set -up and personnel although in this game there was the forced change.Then there's Clasie?, Wanyama's passing? Enough's enough.
Re Academy Questions: I'm surprised Nick hasn't featured an article on RKs statement about transfer policy and It's impact on the youngsters coming through (or not).He implied that he is only interested in the 'here and now', hoping to keep top players and bring more in. Can't disagree with that but it seems contrary to the club's philosophy of building for the future using and capitalising on our development squad?

The irony is that we had 2 good chances to go 3-0 up and squandered both. Thought Clasie was dreadful except for the first 10 minutes or so, lost out in a critical position for their second, thought the third should probably have been given offside but couldn't bring myself to look back to confirm. Worryingly Pelle was largely ineffective. We better get our act together for Saturday, this is a game we should have been capable of winning but were nowhere near.

very, very weird performance. At least it will stop those suggesting Caulker might do a better job than Fonte. With Fonte, that first goal never happens. No defender in any league can afford to back away like that. The 2nd, 5th and 6th were also poor from him. Maybe he's badly undercooked? Maybe he spends too much time in the local nightclubs? No idea... whatever it is, it needs to be fixed.

Not many come out with any credit including Koeman for subjecting us to a 2nd half where Wanyama played centre back for 45 minutes and we were left in the bizarre situation of needing to chase the game yet having 3 centre backs all apparently marking 1 forward. Tactically just utter nonsense.

Must do better against the Villa.

I was in a bar in Spain last night watching this latest Saints debalcle with 6 liverpool supporters and I have never been so ashamed of a Saints performance in my life. Ronald Koeman must take the blame his team selections and substitusions are crap. I could understand taking Clasie off for Shane Long but to take Soares off for Prowse is asking for trouble as we found out. Why Prowse who offers us nothink is in the team or on the bench a head of Harrision Reed is beyond me. Why dont we play Gaston Ramirez or Juanmi? Why is Wanyama playing so badle?

Weird report by you Nick. The club stated that a cup was a major target for this season so to say just forget it and move on seems glib.
That was a major chance for us to get somewhere and we were obliterated on natiknsl tv. At home.
I appreciate we can't change it now but but when of our major aims for the season ends in that manner I think it deserves more of an examination at the very least.
We might beat villa and theoretically we could go 6th. But right now we're tenth.

Has anybody seen Classie yet?