Luke Shaw believes that Saints’ margin of defeat against Liverpool was not a fair reflection of the game.

The Reds did not have it all their own way, particularly during an enthralling first-half. “We knew Liverpool would be a very tough game, but in the first half we went for it,” said Shaw. “We missed chances and let in an unlucky goal, then in the second half we were pushing on but they scored two goals on the counter-attack. The scoreline didn’t reflect the game and definitely in the first half we had control at times.”

Shaw added: “We knew it would be very tough, and we didn’t take our chances in the first half and we got punished for that.

“We knew it was going to be very tough with the partnership of (Luis) Suárez and (Daniel) Sturridge, probably one of the best in the world at the moment.”