Batteries drained at tired Liverpool

It is becoming all too easy to forget just how much progress Liverpool have made this season for they have lost the plot to such dramatic effect that they seemingly have little interest in penning the final chapter.

After their fourth game without a goal, the Champions League place which seemed theirs for the taking now represents nothing more tangible than a waking dream.

They sit third in the Premiership table this morning but if Leeds United should defeat Everton at Elland Road this evening, they will probably have to settle for a place in the UEFA Cup.

At the end the leaden-footed Reds trudged away towards the dressing room, the manager Gerard Houllier shaking each of them warmly by the hand. They have done exceptionally well, exceeding all expectations, but, as the Frenchman knows, the tank is now dry, the batteries drained.

Two successive defeats is more than Houllier can bear and so, in the traditional manner, the axe was swung. Discarded were the out-of-touch Dietmar Hamann, the often clumsy David Thompson and the exhausted Michael Owen.

"He had played five games in 25 days," Houllier said, "and considering the problems he has had it was a sound decision to give him a rest." The most celebrated of the returnees was Robbie Fowler, free of ankle trouble and able to start a senior fixture for the first time since last September.

With a forward of Fowler's predatory instinct in the side it is incumbent upon team-mates to present him with the ball in advantageous positions. This Liverpool neglected to do and just before the hour the crestfallen Fowler was substituted.

In a first-half which only rarely raised itself to an acceptable level Southampton always seemed the more likely to score, and they would have done had Liverpool's goalkeeper Sander Westerveld not produced a quite remarkable save to turn aside Jo Tessem's header after 30 minutes.

Indeed Westerveld was to rescue his colleagues on several occasions, particularly in the second period when Liverpool's sense of desperation was at its most pronounced.

Liverpool will toss the dice for one last time against Bradford City next Sunday. You really would not put a bean on them winning at Valley Parade, an alarming prospect for Houllier, for Liverpool's bankers and, of course, for Wimbledon.

LIVERPOOL: Westerveld, Matteo, Henchoz, Hyypia, Song (Hamann 77), Berger, Redknapp, Carragher, Camara (Meijer 80), Heskey, Fowler (Thompson 59). Subs Not Used: Friedel, Murphy.

SOUTHAMPTON: Moss, Bridge, Richards, El Khalej, Dodd, Kachloul, Soltvedt, Tessem, Oakley, Davies, Pahars. Subs Not Used: Marsden, Lundekvam, Benali, Rodrigues, Bevan. Booked: Dodd.

Referee: P Alcock (Halstead).