Match Day Thread Southampton V Liverpool - Premier League

I think we could have put Sturridge on earlier in this game, he looks sharp and may well have got us that goal if given time on the pitch. Firminio was looking frustrated and should have been pulled earlier.

 

I'd have pulled Coutinho, as I said earlier (might have been on a different thread).

 

The clean sheet was the one main positive from the game, in the (very) recent past (i.e. Burnley) we've conceded stupidly. Southampton got maybe one, possibly two actual real looks at goal so that was good

 

Both or either could and should have come off around 65-70 as they were not in the game at all really. Mane was the only forward player making inroads and causing problems for Southampton with his pace and movement. It needed something different, i would've brung Sturridge and Origio on together

 

Klopp sees Firmino integral to his game plan though, so unless he's having a total mare I think he's always going to be reluctant to haul him off.
Coutinho was clearly suffering from the international break, and although he was trying he wasn't getting very far. He was getting eased off the ball too often because he didn't quite have the pace to get away from his man the way he usually does.
Either sub might have worked, but something should have been done - around the hour mark imo.

 

True but wasn't that game the 'mare for Firminho, it's about as ineffective as you'll ever see him. Southampton had his and Coutinho's numbers as you rightly say and when they didn't they just rough handled them both.

It's great that Klopp makes players earn their place in the team but perhaps in more specific circumstances like that he could do with being more flexible and less enthralled by his key players. Though I'm sure they have statistics that say leave certain players on long enough and it will yield results in spite of what you're watching unfold.

Of course if Clyne had put that header in for a 1-0 win I doubt we'd even be talking about this

 

It it were Man Utd then Firmino's shirt pull would have been #bbcsalford's front page headline

 

Firminho is the best of our front 3 when it comes to closing down, he was just as effective on Saturday with this aspect. I'd agree that Coutinho should have been pulled sooner or even started on the bench. Great pass to set up Firm though.

 

Well exactly.
Ditto if one of the other 2 or 3 decent chances had gone in.
The thing is we'll always get games like this where things don't go to plan and we get frustrated. It's about making sure there aren't too many of them.

 

At least we didn't contrive to lose. In days of yore we'd have been beaten so it's progress of a sort

Eventually though I hope that we start to be a team that just regularly wins solidly 2-0 or whatever instead of epic 4-1/4-3 crazy games or ones like this and Burnley that are the ultimate in frustration

 

Definitely.
One of the reasons I really hate games like Saturday's are because I fully expect us to **** up in the last 10 minutes and my nerves are shredded by the end.
Saints only had one chance - wouldn't have surprised me at all to see it go flying in.
I think I feel better in the high-scoring games because I always feel we can pull another out of the bag in those games.

I love Klopp and all that he's done for us so far, but I do think he needs to work on a Plan B when things aren't going well. Atm he doesn't seem to even have one.

 

I thought can should have been off far earlier than he was...

I do think however sturridge has made a bed for himself. klopp left sturridge off until firmino was all out and shifted him left.

Sturridge could have come on left side early for can who was utterly useless out there cos Southampton stuck 11 men back.

 

Not really the game for Can was it?
As I've said before, I think we need to wait and see whether Sturridge gets (and takes) his chance when Mane is away. If he doesn't get the game time, and make a big impression, then he'll be on his way out.

 

Good morning, Reds. Interesting comments about dominating games but not winning. Welcome to Southampton's world. I did message my Red son-in-law after your Burnley defeat to say that beating Arsenal then losing to Burnley was a patented Saints trick. Maybe buying all these players from us you've bought some of that DNA.

Seriously, I thought you were the best side I've seen for quite a while at SMS. Difficult to compare you with Chelsea, as they got the early goal which makes a hell of a difference. But I just kept thinking that your lot must run out of steam. Had you taken even half your chances it would have been embarrassing. Sturridge comments are interesting too. Don't know what's going on. I've heard Red mates moan about him, but you tend to take that with a bag of salt. But when he came on he scared me ****less. That ball Clyne managed to head wide (great skill; easier to score) was brilliant. I don't know if you noticed that Forster and Van Dijk were chatting to him at the end. Hopefully they were saying that if things don't work out there are some very nice properties for sale in Hampshire, and what a nice man Mr Puel is.

Two last points. I thought Lovren coming over to your fans in front of the baying masses was brave. Good lad. I just hope that the nutters can move on. And I hope you win the league, but apologies in advance for us winning 1-0 at your place next May!

 

the booing was pretty much meh... after 10/15mins it was nothing.

 

With all due respect, our domination was total and embarassing. Either we were very good or you were quite poor. I'll go for the latter. We cannot gloat either because on this showing if we can't beat a team like Southampton. then we are not going to go very far. It is interesting that whenver a team gets nothing or gets beaten, the opposing manager/player/fan comes along and praise them.

What we need are points and not pats on the back for a "good" performance.

 

I felt

a) austin wasn't up for it. He tried liming about to get taken off at one point

b) southampton didn't try press us at all but sat right off. the wide men were poor enough as they didn't hurt our full backs

c) it was attack v defense honestly.

d) van dijk tackled at least 3 times where other cbs would have been put off if they tried get back. the pace he showed v mane was superb.

e) we missed 2 glorious chances thats our fault. firmino should have got it on target. clyne ok maybe maybe not.

For me we just got what we deserved out of the game cos we were not clinical.

 

Cannot argue with that.

When a team almost offers itself like this at home, we cannot afford to look at a gift horse in the mouth. Ultimately it will count against us, in a very tight race. As I said earlier a 2nd and 3rd place is not likely to be a huge improvement in our fortunes. We've had this with Rodgers and we all know what happened during that following season.

 

They didn't really offer themselves though. They expected to get torn apart if the game was open, so they decided to curtail ambition, keep it tight and maybe get a bit of luck and do a Burnley.
Every club in the league now knows how we play - they can see our strengths, and our weaknesses. Saints played to negate our strengths and exploit the weaknesses. I don't agree with those saying they are a bad team, based on that performance. They just played in a way to stop us playing - we're going to come up against that a lot.