Loved the reaction of a crestfallen Alan Smith at the end: "It could have all been different had Southampton taken their chance to make it 2-0 early on". Yeah, 2-6.
What a bizzare game that was, we started so well and looked great for first 20mins and then when you equalised our heads just seemed to drop which was gutting! The 3rd goal just before HT killed it for me. Then a combination of shambolic defending and your strikers taking every chance that seemed to fall for them combined for our worst defeat in about 3years. Was disappointed we didn't try to get at your young full back once he got booked as it was clear Tadic had the beating of him. Oh well never mind, no complaints from me clearly deserved the win. Was proud of our fans (who were still there!) who sang OWTS non stop for the last 15minutes which included you scoring twice I think! Also thought your lots 'Adam Lallana, he's winning 4-1/5-1/6-1' was pretty funny too.
Good fans. Understand more why they have a go at Lovren than Lallana though. Your manager is class, and this was just a bad night. You'll be back.
Lovern and Lallana played particularly well maybe because of the sticks they were receiving from Saints fans.
First half was overall quite even, but Soton really should have been 2 up before we got into our groove. Our midfield was horribly bullied initially. The only difference between the teams was Sturridge - what a player. Second half, we then took control and hit you on the break. Origi and Ibe played with such confidence, and looks like Origi has spent time training/watching Sturridge because the similarities were striking! Off the ball running, running into channels looked vastly improved. Allen took a while but he grew into the game as well.
Fair assessment, I think Long had a free header minutes after coming on at 3-1 which he put wide as well, it was just utterly predictable what was going to happen though watching first 10 mins of 2nd half.
Wanyama was the one.. 10 yards out, free header, has the run on it and heading it right at the keeper. That agoes in and it could be a different game, think it said we scored with 6 of our 7 shots on target (although not sure how morenos shot and origins touch go down in the stats. Dont ng think we've ever been so prolific in front of goal really... On another day, keeper makes a couple of saves and it's a much different score line
Did you move Wanyama into central defence? That's essentially what killed you off in the second half as it left your midfield with no real presence - he's a quality player.
No dig at Milner, but in the few games Allen's played this year, he's done enough to warrant keeping his place. Agree, let him take over the Can role May not start Studge against Newcastle and Divock may not even make the match day squad, could have Benetekers and Firmino come in, should be nice and rested.. We had a decent bench yesterday which will help going forward, that bench didn't include the likes of Sahko, Ings, Gomez, Coutinho and Clyne!
Yeah we went to a back 3 at half time, I see why Ron done it as we needed to change something but was a bit too early really, probably the 3rd goal made him rush into it. We did lose out on the presence though you're right. Clasie is still getting upto speed and the game passed him by a bit last night. I hope Caulker doesn't play for us again this season, I've never really rated him like loads of people have seemed to since that year at Swansea and last night showed he's just not good enough at this level, thank **** it was only a loan.
Despite conceding 3 in both halves, the first 3 were more down to individual bits of brilliance and I maintain that it was a little flattering to be winning 3-1. Without Wanyama, we found easy to cut you lot open. What do you think of Van Dijk this season? I'm a big of fan of him.
Very good game to watch. And the scoreline will be a huge boost to the team. It is interesting to note that we have now scored more away from home than at home. We like a team to attack us and leave spaces behind. So far it seems that the other teams have not worked out how counter act Klopp's system. It seems that we will encounter problems if a team defends deep and let us attack. As it happens we all seemed to think that Stoke was the best possible option for the semis. City cannot defend and depend on their attack to get them out of trouble. Everton is Everton and we always get one over them. We'll be favourites but Stoke will raise their game. So not as easy as some here think.
would be funny if Moreno's effort is the one shot on target that didn't result in a goal Oh and...never ending brackets?
I think that's a fair assessment. Soton's keeper had an absolute shocker though and Caulker looked like he'd stepped out of a Northern League side.
Yeah like I said in my first post here this morning it was a bit of a bizzare game really. Although we defended terribly at times I agree 3-1 at ht was a little harsh. Yeah Wanyama is a beast, not much gets past him, think we're still suffering a bit from that big Schneiderlin shaped hole in our midfield On Van Dijk, been very impressed so far. Was a bit all over the place last night but I think we missed Fonte leading the back line more than anything. Thought Van Dijk was poor for Ibes goal (5th was it) Chasing the ball he was never gonna get which committed himself and made it easy for Ibe to set up the shot.
