Perhaps this was a result that Saints needed in that it highlighted our lapses in concentration this season so far.
It would be easy to make this report a mirror image of some of the knee jerk reactions I have seen on various websites this morning, but I think that the nature of this defeat was not so much that we are missing Morgan Schneiderlin but that we are lacking in concentration at key moments.
The case for this can be emphasised with the opening goal for Everton, almost an exact replica of Newcastle's second last week in that after a corner our opponents just galloped up the field and scored, now this was down to poor concentration and a failure to leave sufficient cover on the edge of the area, now both of these goals would not have been prevented by Morgan Schneiderlin being present, so we need to consider why they have happened.
We all know we need a new central defender that is for sure and Yoshida did nothing for his cause with his performance yesterday, however the problem at the back will not be solved by a new central defender, the issue is a lack of pace.
Last season we had too fast full backs, yesterday neither was in the side, Clyne has gone and Soares is a good enough repacement, but e does not have the pace of his predecesor, on the left Targett does not have the pace of Bertrand, Targett is a good player and uses the ball well but we cannot get away with two full backs without pace and we need Bertrand back.
So we lost this game through two key areas, concentration and lack of pace and both can be dealt with hopefully sooner than later, we need to remember this is a Saints side that has been good in pre season and had not lost a 90 minute game prior to Everton's arrival at St Mary's, we are not a team in disarray we are a good side who got exposed, yes the writing was on the wall at Newcastle and the concentration aspect needs to be worked on, but I think an injection of pace into the back four will solve a lot of problems as will a new face in the centre of defence.
So was the result a reflection of the game ? I would say no, im taking nothing away from Everton as they played the perfect away game, they sat deep, kept tight and most importantly kept their concentration and then they hit us on the break swiftly.
This can be backed up by the match stats where we had 17 efforts to their 10, but tellingly they only had 4 on target and 3 went in.
So we need to keep calm and like last season look to the future not to the past, this is a blip not a crisis.
What I have always tried to do in these verdicts is highlight areas that are not always obvious, in victory I try to focus on what we could have done better and in defeat I try to take the positives from the game, yes there were a few things wrong with us yesterday, it was a bad day at the office, but we were not outplayed, we are a good team and we were hit by a team who knew our weaknesses and exposed them, Ronald Koeman now needs to deal with thos weaknesses, some are in his control ie buying in another central defender and some like the injury to Ryan Bertrand are not in his control.
So when we add those lapses in concentration we have three things we need to work on in the next few weeks, once they are sorted there is no reason why we should not only have another top ten finish, but have good runs in all three cup competitions.
The future at Saints is bright so lets not wet the bed with the first set back.