Wrong end of the stick mate, I meant that I think sometimes other media statements/lack of statements can be over-played and have too much read into on here, but what Crooks said is simply ridiculous.
He said the same when we played Man City. Think I also remember him saying we would slip into relegation as Poch isn't good enough.
Just watched this at my mates house, he and his family are massive liverpool fans....felt so good to beat them! What a win!
Paul Merson reflects on a disastrous afternoon for Liverpool at St Mary's, where Southampton cruised 3-1: They smothered Liverpool. The first 30 minutes, Liverpool were just hanging in there. Every time they got the ball, they gave it away. You have to give Southampton credit but not one Liverpool player had a good game today. That's down to hard work from Southampton. It was a good first goal - diagonal ball headed down and Morgan Schneiderlin ran onto it from deep. What a good finish it was with the outside of his foot. They were all over them. Rickie Lambert then hit a free-kick of Daniel Sturridge's backside. Southampton could have easily sulked after conceding before half time, but Mauricio Pochettino took off Gaston Ramirez and put on Steven Davis and Liverpool never looked like scoring then. I thought Luke Shaw was absolutely outstanding. If one of the big teams don't come after him for next season, I'll be majorly shocked. His crossing is as good I've seen. He attacks down that flank. Sometimes you get there against an international like Glen Johnson and not have the confidence to take him on, but Shaw gave him a torrid afternoon. The winner summed up a bad day for Liverpool - the defending was shocking.
Yeah, I heard it. I'm not going to criticise Garth Crooks for his obvious punditry. They all do it. A PL club with a history as illustrious as Liverpool's is supposed to be able to win at places like Southampton, even with two players out, and we should know by now that credit is not going to given to Saints against a team like that. I thought reporter Jonathon Legard summed it up rather well when he said that if Saints continue to play to play in this vein they were absolutely certain to stay up. In his summation he concentrated on the Saints positives, not Liverpool's negatives, which is how it should be. I just wish pundits would learn that. But they won't.
Today was one of those games where you can see we have the makings of a very, very good squad. Most players were healthy so MP had his choice and I think he picked well. Was a little nervous about Hooiveld but perhaps Fonte was not quite 100% and at any rate Jos and MP proved me wrong. I thought the Davis substitution was spot-on, and Do Prado later as well. Lallana was excellent today, and Shaw despite an awful rookie mistake showed a ton of class. I think we're finally starting to see the kind of interplay between those two that we needed. Puncheon and Clyne have worked well together, but I don't think either of those two is as good as their counterparts. Defense got the balance between just booting it out and clearing the lines vs playing from the back just right. Ramirez and Rodriguez are showing why they are soooo close to being awesome players, just need a little more consistency and a bit more "edge." Only player who had a bit of an off game today was Lambert. Which is okay, because he does so many things that he is one of the few Saints players who can have on off-day and still find little ways to contribute even if his impact is muted. He got the deflected goal today, kept Liverpool's defense distracted with his physical presence and had a few nice passes. Again-- this is the makings of a very, very good squad. It's so close you can almost taste it. If we can stay up and just continue to build experience and gel and add a few pieces here and there I don't think top 6 in two years is out of the question at all.
Just got in from the game, Christ am I wet. Hard to pick a MOTM from that performance, midfield was immense, totally over-ran Liverpool, the pace of both full backs really gave them problems and JR is improving game on game, he and Rickie look a formidable pairing up front. The 2 big boys at the back still worry me, big Mad Arthur is starting to look a class act. Looking forward to a few beers and MOTD.
Just back....never a doubt, was there? We were terrific...I thought Liverpool would have to get back into it in the second half, but we were still too lively for them. If anyone tells you that Liverpool had an off day give them a smack in the mouth. They just couldn't deal with us. Everyone played well...Shaw was dangerous the whole game...what a player he is now and what will he become!! Jrod is showing why he was worth the money we paid for him...well taken goal...went for it and followed in for the rebound. Glad Ricky got his goal as he looks a bit short of confidence.... he causes problems and draws players to him like a magnet. Defence also looking good..hope Jos is not too badly hurt. Boruc looks the businessand did good work....someone should tell him not to kick the ball up the field when you are way on the byline...could cost one day. Well done everyone.
I did raise a surprised, but happy, eyebrow when the team's were announced, and Allen was selected over Lucas. Was very, very happy with that decision - and so it proved. I'm guessing the Rodgers simply took us too lightly. Allen is obviously his man, and he spent big bucks to sign him, so maybe he looked at us and though it a chance for Allen to finally do something. But not only do I think he's nowhere good enough for a side like Liverpool, but a central midfield of basicaly just him and Gerrard was always likely to sruggle. Men of the first half for me were Gaston and Rickie. Men of the whole match for me were Boruc and Clyne. Morgan and Cork, as always, were brilliant in the centre. Hell, everyone was good!
This is the thing that frustrates me. Schneiderlin would improve any team in the league. Shaw is 17 and already one of the better left-backs in the league going in both directions. Lambert is one of if not the most complete striker in the league. Lallana, Ramirez and Rodriguez have talent and ability in spades. Cork is your classic tenacious midfield dynamo. Clyne is a great young RB. Puncheon and Davis would be among the first names on the team sheets for 6/7 other teams in the league but are struggling to get games for us at current. Boruc has been a brick-wall since the new year. Fonte and Yoshida have shown great solidity as a partnership at times and even Jos has improved greatly. Not only that but we have a great capacity to build on the squad from here. And yet... look where we are. One things for sure, we have a huge amount of individual and collective potential. The optimist part of me feels our squad already belongs in the top half of the table in our first season back in the league and despite not achieving that we have great promise and ability to improve and attain and go further than that in the near future. The pessimist feels it's too distant a dream and it just won't come together.
Rodriguez, Lallana and Schneiderlin the best three players for me. Could have won by more. It was the performance I expected from us. It was just a question of whether or not we could make the most of our chances and we did.
Largely because we've shipped a lot of goals. We've scored more than Swansea, despite our forays into errant shooting, but we haven't been able to keep them out at the other end. If we can find a good, consistent CB pairing, we'll start to achieve that potential.
I think that's a very good analysis Mikey. If all the squad played to their 100% ability, every game, then I think you could say they are a top half, maybe even a top 6 team. But things often don't work out that way and every player has a base level of play. If all the players play at their base level then, at the moment, this club gets relegated. That isn't true of the top teams and that's where Saints need to be aiming - to have the ability to play relatively poorly yet be too much for a rival side. Players can only improve so much, and ultimately, only better personnel can get Saints to the top. That's in the hands of our Chairman. Do you believe..?
I think that has been a large part of our problem but not entirely. Since our opening onslaught I think we've lost far more points due to not being able to score rather than because of our defence ****ting all over our attackers best efforts to win us games. I think our glaring issues are a lack of a clinical edge at both ends of the pitch but our problems go deeper than that.
On days like this I love reading the thread from the beginning and seeing it unfold. One Liverpool fan says he doesn't know how we are near relegation when we can play like that...this is the question all Saints fans ask as well. You are only worth the points on the board, but we are one of the better teams to watch (as long as you have heart pills and an ambulance on stand by).
As long as we stay up this year, I can really see us establishing ourselves. I wouldn't worry too much over "second season syndrome" because we have the quality, and the money if we need to spend it, we just lacked experience which we have gained as the season's gone on; plus we have a very young squad so they're only going to get better! Swansea were new to the Premier League last year, avoided relegation and are now in Europe and are very likely to get a top half finish. It's been mentioned before, but in a few years time I can see Cork, Schneiderlin, Lallana, Ramirez, Clyne, Shaw and maybe even Rodriguez and JWP being good enough to be key players for a top 6 side.
