Not an irrecoverable result (well, not unless we play like that again) and all things considered we're actually very lucky at coming out of that 1-0 down. Big improvement needed in the second leg if we're to have any hope of progressing, but I suspect Southampton will just park the bus and frustrate us, and it'll probably fucking work as well.
More concerning though are the question marks that have been brewing for a number of weeks:
Defence. For every half decent run of 2-3 games where none of our defenders colossally fuck up, suddenly everyone is out in force declaring that the defence is fine, but then you get games like tonight's just that wee bit too often for me to think that we're particularly good back there. When you cough up goals as cheaply as we do, you won't win shit.
Midfield. Atrocious tonight. My personal view of Can is that he isn't a very good midfielder period but even if I were to be kind I think it's fair to say he's been very poor this season, a few goals aside. Doesn't look anywhere near a first-eleven quality player. Wijnaldum is very much a complimentary player - he looked excellent with Lallana and Henderson and Coutinho and Firmino ahead of him but knock a few of those out and he looks lost and out of his depth. Very much a player (so far) who needs everything to be going right to have an impact. Lucas was simultaneously actually alright and also showed why he doesn't play in midfield anymore, and in any case that he's had to come in at all is a bit of a sad indictment of our depth and quality in midfield. Lallana is too often being shunted out of midfield because of our poor depth in other areas of the field. We need at least one more top midfielder to compete seriously - no more projects, or potential.
Attack. Probably one of the harder areas to judge but I think we're lacking overall.
- Firmino is a good player but his form is atrocious and yet our depth is so poor that he plays regardless, when he probably should have been dropped 4-5 games ago.
- Sturridge, for all his quality, just doesn't convince in a Klopp team whatsoever. Yet to see him have a really standout game and these are the times of matches he needs to be up for it and making a positive impact in, but once again it passed him by. Not a long-term option for us.
- Origi I rate a lot, but he's just yet another player in the "potential" category, where it seems we have been perennially stuck for years now. We need something a little more proven to properly succeed.
- Good to see Coutinho back, but it's desperate that the functionality of our attack seems to depend on the fitness and form of just 3 players, and at the moment one is having a fucking mare, one is half-fit and the other is in Africa. We need at least one more player on a similar level - not back-ups, youth players or shoddy fits.
For me tonight was the culmination of weeks of poor form (masked by ok-ish results) and showed just how far short we really are. One positive was the much improved, assured display of Karius, who looked a different bet altogether tonight. Apart from that, that was worrying.
