The longer the season has gone on, the more I am just resigned to this being a crazy, mental end of the season.
People talk about 'finding a balance between attack and midfield' but with 11 games of the season left, is that really viable? Are we suddenly going to turn around and say, 'actually guys, lets reign it in a bit and play a bit tighter. We'll sacrifice a bit of what got us here to go more defensive.' That thought terrifies me. I don't think our defence is good enough to play a more cautious game, if that makes sense. People will say that surely if we flood the midfield with two holding players, or bringing Allen in for Coutinho then already it shores us up defensively, but at what price? I honestly don't think we have the quality to play the cautious game and relinquish a bit of possession.
The attack is flying, full of confidence and full of goals. Let them at them. They've got us this far, let them continue their momentum and let Southampton change their game to accommodate us.
We didn't press or work as hard against Swansea, which disappointed me. I would suggest that this is how we approach Southampton. If we can press them then not only do we contain them better but we are then able to hit them when we win the ball back, either by countering from our own half or ploughing through them from their own half, forcing individual errors.
They have not been good defensively recently, and we need to exploit that rather than sit back a little and try and soak up their pressure. I think they will be looking at our system, and going with two from Schniderlin / Wanyama / Cork with Lallana, Ramirez and Rodriguez ahead of them, which will open the game up, and leave more space for Coutinho to try and control things.
I'd rather rely on our attack to score goals than our defence to keep them out.
Coutinho is capable of pressing and pressurising players on the ball. Henderson alongside him helping him out with Suarez and Sterling covering wide, I think that will be enough, then it's a case of who will score the most goals. I'm happy to take that bet up with any team from now until the end of the season.
They have won 2 from their last 7 in the League, conceding 10 in the process. A very, very tough game but a game we can win. We are a much better, much more confident team than when we played them earlier in the season.
The only question for me is the defence. After the shambles of Sunday, where Skrtel made individual mistakes and Agger was taken off, it's hard to see what Rodgers is thinking. I'd play Agger and Skrtel I think, with Johnson and Flannagan. Think that's our best combination from a bad bunch.