Match Day Thread Southampton v Liverpool Tuesday 17th May 19:45

"The Battle of the Seaports"​

Date: 17th May 2022
Time: 1945
Venue: Estadio de Santa Maria

Why have I allowed myself to do this? What is my rational? For me it is much more than a football match, it is what unites two great cities as well as why each one is unique. They are two cities in which I have had great experiences and two cities that I love. Here goes!!

Both are great seaports, both have an international airport and both have been home to Ford production factories. Furthermore, both are university cities, and both have wonderful áreas of greenery, Sefton Park in Liverpool and Southampton Common, here in Southampton.

The two cities have been seaports since the 12th and 13th centuries, but it was during the 19th century that both expanded rapidly. For a time, Liverpool’s wealth exceeded that of London and this is reflected along its river front with the “Three Graces,” the Georgian architecture that surrounds Liverpool city centre and the large Victorian houses that surround its many parks.

At the time Liverpool was reaching its zenith, Southampton was also growing quickly. With its unique “double” high tide, the port was able to handle larger ships, as well as improve the turnaround rate. Given Southampton’s location compared to Liverpool’s, it could be argued that it provided speedier access to the Atlantic Ocean.

One of the most famous links between the two cities is the Titanic, owned by the Liverpool based “White Star” line and of course forever etched into the fabric of Southampton’s population because so many of the crew who lost their lives came from the city.

The seafaring fortunes of the two cities can be seen by paying a visit to Southampton’s SeaCity Museum and Liverpool’s Maritime Museum, both of which are brilliant.

While Southampton cannot quite match the splendour of Liverpool’s buildings, it does have its own treasures. One of the main ones being Bargate that dates back to the 12th century and forms part the historic city walls that were built to protect the city from invasión. There is also the Tudor House with garden, and the Civic Centre.

Throughout their respective histories, the fortunes of both have been reflected in the ebbs and flows of their tides. In the later part of the 20th century and into the present one, both have redefined themselves as seaports and are now able to handle massive container ships with the modernisation of the docks along the Test in Southampton and the construction of the Seaforth terminal, downstream from Liverpool’s historic Pier Head. As for the commericial centres within both, they have been modernised and as such both are busy shopping centres of their respective regions.

As seaports, both cities have played an important role in migration acting as gateways throughtout the centuries. In Liverpool’s case it was welcoming people fleeing the famine in Ireland in the mid-19th century, acting as a staging post for people crossing the Atlantic having made their way from Eastern Europe and further afield, as well as beoming the home for former slaves from the colonies.

Southampton’s migration history, although different, is still fascinating. Throughout the Middle Ages and more recently, many arrivals came from Europe. Testimony to this can be seen in the brickwork of walls and buildings in Titchfield where Flemish bonding can be seen. Then the city welcomed many people from Spain fleeing the horrors of the Spanish Civil War. Lallana’s paternal grandfather being one particular family. Then the city saw the arrivals of the “Windrush” generation. So what we see today is the pivotal role both cities have had in shaped the demography of the United Kingdom.

The connections between the two clubs.

Here is a list that I have compiled of players that have either played for both at some stage in their career or played for one and managed the other. In no particular order they are as follows:

· Jimmy Melia

· Kevin Keegan

· Jimmy Case

· Mark Wright

· Rikki Lambert

· Danny Ings

· Nathanial Clyne

· Peter Crouch

· Sadio Mane

· Adam Lallana

· Virgil Van Dijk

· Dejan Lovren

· Bruce Grobbelaar

· Graeme Souness

· Alex Oxlade Chamberlain

· Nigel Adkins (he was with Liverpool as a youth)

Minamino



The Context of today’s match

At the time of writing, the fortunes of both clubs are still to be determined, but perhaps they will have been in Southampton’s case having not played a match since Brentford. As for Liverpool, they will have faced Aston Villa and played Chelsea in the FA Cup final. They will also have seen Manchester City play twice, who if victorious in both and further increased the goal difference, may well see Liverpool play some of their fringe players, players that would walk into the Southampton team, needless to say, bearing in mind they have a certain match to play in Paris when any self-respecting footballer would be on the beach!!

Given Southampton’s awful form for the past ten matches, many Saints fans are expecting a drubbing. Quite often though, things do not follow the script, so I am going for a 1-1 draw.

Enjoy!!

 

Fascinating insight into the historical connections between the two cities. Good to have an outbreak of footy in the last paragraph. Our consistent inconsistency makes prediction a lottery so 3-1 us.

 

One word: Terrified

 

Two words: Terry McDermott

 

If we can keep the score down to 3-0 or less it will be acceptable, in the current climate.

 

This seems like a game Liverpool will go all out to make the goal difference on City. Just hope it isn’t bad enough for us to be close to Leeds goal difference

 

At least 5 or 6 nil to Liverpool.

 

Finished your sentence for you....

 

Tuesday 17th May 2022 = Southampton v Liverpool 19:45 KO

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Referee: Martin Atkinson.
Assistants: Constantine Hatzidakis, Richard West.
Fourth official: David Coote.
VAR: Stuart Attwell.
Assistant VAR: Adam Nunn.

This may be a Titanic battle, but I think we know which team is the Ice Berg and which one is going down.

 

The thing is the way this season has gone it will somehow turn out to be a great performance (or a lucky backs to the wall draw) and we will go into the close season with a delusional idea we weren't absolute piss for the final third of the season...

 

Paul Jones (played for the 'Pool on loan)

 

Wasn't he a Manfred?

 

Nah. It’s gonna be a bloodbath.

 

City play twice before this game so their results could dictate how Liverpool approach this. If City beat both Wolves and West Ham the title race is as good as over so Liverpool may turn their attention to the CL final and rest a load of players. However, Wolves and West Ham both away are really tough games so I can see City dropping points in one of those games at least.

Anyway, regardless of that, this is the type of game where we actually turn up and put in a performance and it's our last home game of the season so the players should want to put in a good performance.

 

It had occurred to me that the players usually walk round the pitch in a 'lap of appreciation' after the final home game. This may fall a bit flat if the ground is almost empty after a thrashing, with the only fans left being celebrating Liverpool supporters. That should be sufficient incentive for Saints to put in a superhero performance and win. Hopefully.

 

My expectations for this game are almost nil. All I want is maximum effort and commitment and make life as hard as possible for Liverpool. It's really not too much to ask for. Regardless of the score, if I feel the players have given it absolutely everything I won't have any complaints.

 

I think he`ll go with 3 CB`s - I hope Stephens and Lyanco included. 1-1!

 

With a stroke of luck I'm going to be away with work and so will miss the thrashing...I mean game. Given that our last home game of the season is unusually a midweek late kick off, I did wonder if they would do a lap of honour regardless of the result.

 

It could turn out to be a stroll around an empty ground, probably in darkness.....