Match Day Thread Southampton V Liverpool - League Cup - 2nd December 2015 ko 19:45

I wouldn't hold Stek responsible for any one of those goals in isolation. But I would expect a premiership quality keeper to have saved at least half of them.

 

well to be honest I am stunned.. I checked match highlights ( there should be link to it http://livetv.li/soccer/ )... something was really wrong with us today. I will just go out now to clear my head in the streets.. GN boys

 

I'm blaming the defence in front of him and Koeman's decision to take off Cedric for JWP. I understand Koeman's logic in going for it and obviously a risk had to be taken but that decision contributed to at least 2 of the 3 second half goals.

 

Stekelenburg may have been **** tonight (I don't know if he was, I didn't watch and I'm not that interested in the League Cup) but he's been absolutely fine up to now.

Depends what you mean. I think he's a bit overrated by Saints fans. There's nothing about his game that truly stands out to me as exceptional.

 

Well that was so embarrassing I'm going to file it with the 7-1 defeat against Leeds back in the 70's

Last week I expressed frustration at Mane and his decision making but frankly, tonight, he looked simply too good to be playing with the rest of the team. No one else turned up. I could single out Clasie and Caulker for particularly poor performances but that might let the others off the hook and they don't deserve that. Tadic started well but I wondered if he was actually on the pitch second half. Same for Pelle.

Scoring six goals when I only counted seven shots on target also raises questions about the keeper but I'll have to pluck up courage and watch the highlights to see if that criticism is justified.

Fans leaving at 70 minutes was equally embarrassing. Thank God for the Northam support which is worth considerable respect singing right on to the end and beyond

 

i rate him. Just don't think he is good enough for a(n aspiring to be) top 7 team first choice

 

He's been okay. As in not terrible. But I can't think of a single occasion on which he's made a save you'd want to stand up and applaud.

His positioning is okay, his command of his area is okay, his distribution is sound. But his shot stopping is poor. Nah, **** it, it's woeful.

 

I would't class them as four star displays...

 

Just about to watch the highlights, to see just how inept we were.
Sturridge takes up some great positions, between the full back and CB, making him difficult to mark, if the ball is right
They were different quality, when the ball was played into the box, with instant control and crisp shooting, whereas we played pin ball before scuffing shots all over the place.
For what it's worth, Liverpool's pre-match warm up, included lots of one touch passing and shooting, working as an attacking unit.
Might be worth copying. And

 

That is it, I resign, that's the last time I am going to do a League Cup Match thread this season, no amount of persuasion will make me change my mind.

 

Maybe Yoshida's confidence wasn't up to it after his error against City. No one here has a clue what happens behind the scenes, so got to trust Ron's decision. At the end of the day, there is no point in a donkey player in a squad, so Ron has to assume any of those CBs can cover, and maybe the reason is as I've suggested above, or maybe he promised Caulker a run out in the League Cup should certain circumstances arise etc.

 

Caulker really wasn't that bad. Not great, but rarely out of position. For Sturridges goals, perhaps he could have done better (as could the keeper).

But where was the right back, on both occasions? I ask because I don't know, and I've asked it a few times this season.

Anyway, I think I know why Yoshida keeps starting at right back; it's because, Portuguese international or not, Cedric isn't that strong defensively.

 

Clasie may become the real deal but at the moment the team are having to carry him and that is a big ask for a side with so many new players trying to find their best form.

 

Just back from 'match', must admit to leaving 10 min early. I NEVER normally do this (last time was in the early 90's). I normally criticise people who do this but today it felt justified.

So much to talk about where do I start? Caulker was to blame for their 1st and prob 2nd, although the CB pairing didn't look like a solid unit. Stek wasn't nec to blame but you have to wonder whether he should have kept some out? Can see boruc or Forster doing much better.

Don't quite get the hype with classie, feel our midfield would be defensively better with Vic and Romeu.

Am worried that Koeman doesn't rate Cedric at all. When Vic dropped into CB after 1/2 time I expected more offensively from him. But Koeman still needed to bring jwp on and push Davis right.

Ive said this before but why does Koeman persist in playing wnanyama + small person as defensive mid? When our defence was weakened? Would have preferred Vic romeu from the start.

As for caulker I have lost confidence in him. Was prepared to give him the benefit but tonight he didn't look up to cleaning VVD's boots.

Moan over roll on villa I'm stoked already.

 

What makes this result even worse, is that they did it with 10 men, because Lallana had very little impact on the game. God only knows what the score would have been, with Couthino in the side.
Caulker definitely didn't get close enough to Sturridge, for the first, or to Origi for the fourth.
The ball, for the second, was superb, from Can, but maybe Stekenleberg should have done better.
The fifth VVD went chasing a cross he was never going to reach, giving Ibe the space to control and shoot, and by the time of the sixth, I think we had just given up.
Ron has one hell of a lot of work to do, before Saturday.
The anti Lallana songs, second half, actually woke the Liverpool fans up, because they had quitened down, after not having scored for soooooo long
I bet that's the first and last time the scousers sing his name.

 

Caulker was very much to blame for the sixth too.

 

The only funny thing tonight was the scouser singing "You're not singing any more" in the odd minute when the Northampton drew breath. Always proud of our fans for their support, but what were they on and were they watching the same game?!

Just lacking a "Can we play you every week" chant. So wretched, as Liverpool were simply good average, and didn't need to be any better than that.

 

Taking out all context surrounding the game and judging it just on that 90 minutes, that was embarrassing. I didn't even want to watch the screen in the last half hour, normally if we lose we fight here we just rolled over. And of all teams LIVERPOOL!!!!! I've not seen Koeman's comments but what the hell can he say? He picked a strong side that fell apart.

There's no one person to blame as there is no one you can really say stood out. Everybody played well for 20 minutes but we were ripped apart.

I've thought it many times this season but it's never been more noticeable than here, Sturridge's 3rd and the fourth goal, it's very rare you see us split teams open like that. I can barely think of any 1 on 1 opportunity we have had this season, it's always a cross or a set piece. How often do you see Wanyama, Cedric or Davis pass that ball clean through to Pelle? Barely ever! It's all wing play or run till you get tackled. Liverpool did 6 times sometimes in quick succession what we fail to do in many games. Clear goal scoring opportunities.

 

I've just got in. Not sure what to say.

I don't like singling Saints players out, however I hope I never have to discuss a Steven Caulker performance again. He just didn't look like a footballer. I felt he was at fault for the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 6th goals, but it was not just that. He didn't look like a co-ordinated footballer. When passed the ball, he looked out of shape, unsure what to do and not once did I see him open his body up to recieve it in a position to pass it forward.

Lots went wrong, but I was astounded at how poor Caulker was.

The most disappointing thing was that they looked good from the 41st minute until the 47th of the first half. Apart from that they looked like Liverpool's reserves.... Oh. They were Liverpool's reserves.

Tintin made a comment in the first half (reading back) just after Vic's header at 1-0. He was right. Big moment that. 2-0 and it would have been a different night.

Credit to our fans for the last 15 minutes of singing.

Credit to their lot too when Lallana was getting stick and they responded with "he's winning 4-1..." Quickly followed by "he's winning 5-1..."

 

Just managed to catch up with the thread after getting in from the game. Great start, then Liverpool got going and we forgot how to defend. Their second looked a mile offside but obviously haven't seen a replay. Going 3 at the back second half was bold but proved our undoing. I thought Mané had a good game as did Victor and Virgil, but everybody else didn't really contribute, apart from Bertrand's cross for the goal. Least said about Caulker the better.

Oh, and I'll say it. Liverpool's pressing game is something we ought to try, because it worked very well tonight. What happened to that, Ron?