Liverpool 2-1 Southampton

Well, that was about as predictable as finding out your umbrella’s broken during a downpour. Another trip to Anfield, another case of “what might have been” as the Saints fell 2-1 to Liverpool in the EFL Cup, leaving 59,518 Scousers considerably happier than the traveling faithful who made the Tuesday night pilgrimage north.

Credit where it’s due – this wasn’t one of those capitulations where you spend the second half wondering if you’d accidentally tuned into a training session. The lads actually turned up with some fight in them, which felt refreshingly novel for a Saints side that’s made visiting Anfield about as comfortable as a root canal appointment. For large stretches, we looked like a team that belonged on the same pitch as Klopp’s machine, rather than extras in their highlight reel.

The frustrating thing – and isn’t there always a frustrating thing when you’re a Saints fan? – was how competitive this actually felt. Unlike some of our recent Anfield adventures where we’ve been picked apart like a Christmas turkey, this had the genuine feeling of a contest. Liverpool edged it, sure, but it wasn’t the procession many expected when the draw was made. Thomas Bramall had a relatively quiet evening in the middle, with neither side picking up any bookings, which either suggests exemplary discipline or that both teams were too knackered to properly kick each other.

What made the defeat particularly galling was the sense that we’d done enough of the hard work to deserve something from the evening. There’s always that nagging feeling at Anfield that you’re swimming against the tide of history, expectation, and about fifty thousand voices singing songs you wish you didn’t know the words to. But for once, we didn’t look like we were drowning in the atmosphere.

The EFL Cup exit stings, naturally, but there are worse ways to bow out than giving Liverpool a proper game on their own patch. Tuesday night football at Anfield isn’t exactly where dreams are made for visiting sides, and while we’re heading home empty-handed, there was enough in this performance to suggest we’re not completely allergic to showing up when it matters.

Sometimes the scoreline tells the whole story, and sometimes it just tells you who scored more goals. Tonight felt more like the latter – a decent Saints performance that just ran into a better Liverpool one.