Pochettino: This is only the start

Southampton 3 Liverpool 1

Most supporters on the south coast must have thought the club’s executive chairman Nicola Cortese had lost the plot when he sacked fans’ favourite Nigel Adkins back in January.

Despite leading the club back into the top flight this season and sitting three points above the relegation zone, Adkins was bizarrely told by the club’s hierarchy that a change was needed.

The supporters could not believe what they were witnessing and to make matters worse, the club announced that former Espanyol coach Pochettino was to become the new manager — even though he could barely speak a word of English.

The bigger picture is clearly what Southampton’s board are looking at and after beating the champions Manchester City at home, Pochettino worked his magic against one of the big clubs once again as his team produced one of their best performances of the season to move well clear of the bottom three.

Liverpool might have been pushing for a European place following their recent good run of form but they were totally outclassed by a Southampton side who seem to be flourishing under the new management structure, as goals from Morgan Schneiderlin, Rickie Lambert and Jay Rodriguez helped them come away with all three points.

Pochettino was rated one of the best young coaches in Spain following his impressive spell with Espanyol and is slowly starting to implement his ideas on how he wants his team to play.

He already has one eye on next season as he looks to build a squad who he feels can achieve big things over the next few years.

When asked how far this team is from the one he wants, Pochettino said: “If we play better than we played [against Liverpool] we would probably be in the quarter-final of the Champions League.

“The club already has a really big structure in which we are following different players, not only in the Premier League but in different leagues.

“In these two months that I have been here I have a lot of information and when the season is finished of course we will be looking at how we proceed in that manner.”

They might have dominated the proceedings against Liverpool, but Pochettino was left fuming with the goal from Phillipe Coutinho his side conceded on the stroke of half time and says he is not afraid to make his feelings known in the dressing room.

Pochettino added: “I don’t see myself as calm and collected. I have kept up appearances quite well!

“I was really angry when I went into the dressing room at half time. It changed what I said to my players.

“To concede a goal when there are 10 of my players in my own area, in my own box, and concede a goal like that I can never tolerate that.”

Despite the poor performance, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is convinced his side are heading in the right direction.

With Jamie Carragher announcing his retirement at the end of the season, Rodgers is well aware his back line needs strengthening.

Rodgers said: “In the second half of the season there’s been a real upturn in terms of performance level. We’ve put ourselves under so much pressure to get results, but I can have no complaints, the players have been outstanding.

“This was just one of those days. Every team has it. We just didn’t perform anywhere near what we have been. We just have to go away now, lick our wounds and sit on it for a couple of weeks and get back to winning ways.”

SOUTHAMPTON: Boruc 7; Clyne 8, Yoshida 7, Hooiveld 6 (Fonte 31, 7), Shaw 7; Cork 7, Schneiderlin 7; Ramirez 8 (Davis 55, 7), Rodriguez 9, Lallana 8 (Do Prado 84, 7); Lambert 8.

LIVERPOOL: Jones 7; Johnson 6, Skrtel 5, Agger 5, Enrique 6; Downing 6, Allen 6 (Lucas 46, 6), Gerrard 6, Coutinho 7; Sturridge 6 (Henderson 83, 6), Suarez 6.

Referee: Phil Dowd.