Southampton saw their run in this season’s FA Cup come to an end on Wednesday night.
The Saints were beaten 3-0 by Liverpool at Anfield, with a Lewis Koumas goal and two from Jayden Danns securing a quarter final spot for the hosts.
That made it another tough night for Russell Martin‘s side, who have now last three consecutive games across all competitions.
However, there were still positives for Southampton to take from the effort they produced against the Premier League leaders.
The performance of Shea Charles in midfield for the Saints, did certainly seem to be one of those that can be looked on well.
Shea Charles impresses for Southampton v Liverpool
Having dropped to the bench for the last two league games, Charles was restored to the Southamptonn starting lineup at Anfield.
The midfielder proceeded to make a positive impact throughout the course of the 90 minutes, where he consistently looked good on the ball.
Writing about how Charles fared in the match, The Daily Echo said: “Good night for him. Looked really slick in possession and excelled taking the ball while facing his own goal and turning his man to advance the play.
“A couple of chances were created from this. However, also had a few misplaced passes and missed a sitter in the Liverpool box at 1-0 down.”
As a result, the 20-year-old was awarded a rating of 7/10 for his performance against Liverpool.
According to SofaScore, Charles completed 57 passes on Wednesday night, with an impressive success rate of 89%. Only two Southampton players – defenders Jan Bednarek and Jack Stephens – completed more passes in that game.
Indeed, Charles made two key passes during the match. Only Joe Rothwell (3), completed more in the match.
At the back, the Northern Ireland international did his job as well. Charles completed ten defensive actions during the match, the most of ay Southampton player.
He was also in 15 duels, winning ten of those, a joint-high score for his team. In attack though, he did have just one shot off target, which went down as a big chance missed. That came when he fired into the side-netting while free in the Liverpool area.
Russell Martin now has a tough selection call
It does feel as though this performance from Charles has left Martin with a lot to consider.
The Southampton man has endured a tough time of late. He had been substituted on his last two starts, before dropping to the bench for the two games prior to this.
However, his performance against Liverpool was one that suggested he can hold his own at a very high level.
Martin therefore, will now have to decide if he can trust Charles to make this sort of impact on a regular basis.
That will be further complicated by the fact that Flynn Downes, who has been extremely reliable in midfield this season, should be close to returning from injury for Southampton.
With that in mind, it is going to be interesting to see if Charles will now be able to re-establish himself in the starting XI at St Mary’s.