“Lost their sparkle going forward”: Liverpool journalist reacts to difficult loss vs Southampton

In light of Liverpool’s agonising 1-0 loss to Southampton last night in the Premier League, the reaction has been one of frustration and confusion for Reds fans after their performance at St Mary’s.

This included The Athletic’s Liverpool correspondent James Pearce, who took to Twitter after the game to voice his thoughts on the result, highlighting the talk in the media surrounding the club’s defensive injuries not being much of an issue as of late compared to other issues in the squad…

FT: Southampton 1 #LFC 0: A wretched start to 2021 for the champions. Dismal performance. Beaten by Ings' early goal. For all the talk about defensive injuries, they have lost their sparkle going forward. Just one shot on target all night. Taken just 2pts from the last 9.

— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) January 4, 2021

It is very fair to say that Pearce makes a great point here surrounding Liverpool’s forward three in comparison to the issues in defence with injuries. The Reds haven’t been leaking goals as of late and have actually performed relatively well given the absentees in the club’s backline.

To think that the Reds only managed one shot on target throughout the whole game last night is an incredible statistic to wrap your head around – as well as the fact that Jurgen Klopp’s side has managed just 2 points out of their last 9 available with their draws against West Brom and Newcastle.

The start to this year couldn’t have gone any worse and it seemed throughout the game as though the team were nowhere near their best and failed time and time again to not only create clear-cut chances but finish them off also. It is evident that the club are going through a real rough patch right now and the Liverpool front three are really struggling this season in terms of form – usually the trio of Sadio Mané, Roberto Firmino, and Mo Salah work in tandem with one another but recently, it appears as though the three have been riding separate bikes down separate lanes.

What do you think Liverpool fans, do you agree with James Pearce? Let us know your thought in the comments section down below…