Topic: FT Southampton 1 - 0 Liverpool (Redmond 20')

[TheShanklyGates]

Positives:
Only 1-0
Surely can't have another game where all outfield players where fucking shit
Cout is back

Can we swap all our defenders for Van Dijk?

Van Dijk would probably start having regular brain farts if he signed for us like every other defender we sign.

[didi shamone]

An absolute horror show. Horrendous from the midfield in particular. Lucas was the most dynamic of the three and that's a bad sign. Clyne had a mare. Milner was poor. Lallana mediocre. We'd have needed Suarez up front to fashion a chance in that performance.Central defence was a mess. Firmino continues to be patchy. Karius deserves all the credit. He's the reason we're still in it.

Positives..we're still in the semi and we can't play that bad again at old Trafford.  Can we??
And Phil is awesome.  Praying that Hendo is back too. Anyone who doesn't recognize that he's our best midfielder should hang their head.

[Something Worse]

If we were going to be shit and lose any game, losing the first leg away in a league cup semi final 1-0 is about as good as it could possibly be. Lots to gripe about, but we'll be better against the Mancs and at Anfield against this lot.

[Broad Spectrum]

The space we created down the left and failed to utilise was probably the most frustrating thing tonight. Milner has been outstanding this season, but we need a solid, left footed fullback/wingback to provide another option. I wouldn't consider Moreno as an option because clearly Klopp doesn't either.

I'd expect us to comfortably do these at Anfield anyway, we'll blow them away in the first half no doubt about it.

[PoetryInMotion96]

We have a worrying trend appearing here.... 9 long goal kicks, 0 headers won. 2nd balls won 1. That needs to change and sharpish!

[Gerry Attrick]

I love Klopp and wouldn't swap him for any coach but I'd love to see him be more proactive in his in-game management. His use of subs sometimes frustrates me, waiting until the 83rd minute to introduce Origi was a mistake in my opinion. Leaving Can on for the entirety of the game also baffled me. This is not so say I know better than him, just that I wish he would take the initiative sooner than he does sometimes.

[Gerry83]

forget about winning anything with Can and Lucas together in midfield. absolutely abysmal

yeah. Sturridge didnt really get the service tonight but Can and Lucas in the middle are as average as you get.

When you have 4 or 5 players in there instead of your typical first team players its always going to be hard. Add Firminos poor run of form and Milner looking knackered and you cant really expect anything less. Think we'll have to hope we can get Matip and Henderson back and Coutinho can find his feet again pretty sharpish as he'll get the others firing when hes on form.

[jillcwhomever]

A rusty Phil with a couple of 'hope' shots..... still looked a different class.

Enjoy him while we can, he is way too good this lot.

Maybe a Chinese punter will buy the club...Yuan never walk alone...otherwise same old shite

Joker.

[robygerrard]

Pure shite but only half time. Credit to Karius & I thought Lovren kept it together pretty well. As for the rest........
At least Phil is back. If we play like that against United though we're fucked.

[Kop 81]

We have a good team but poor squad.

We will find next season in the CL and cups difficult to deal with unless we get more quality in.

We have been average at best last 3 matches.

[Halcyon Lissome]

Just seen the last post on that locked thread, to be honest I thought Lucas was one of our better players

It was Karius and Lucas who could hold their heads up today. The rest...they didn't do themselves justice or us as a team.

[RK7]

City tried and give up after 10mins as they were getting nothing. You are an odd one. You go mental if I call Boro or someone shit in the general forum yet in here hammer everyone of our players and write off our top 4 hopes every 2 seconds. Strange old world!

I say it as I see it. I'm not going claim we'll be champions because I support Liverpool.

If anyone is strange it's you. All you ever do is tell us how shit everyone is. There is some ground in between you know.

If I was making outlandish claims then fair enough but I'm hardly claiming we'll get relegated.

[Fordy]

An extremely poor performance by us tonight. Playing Lucas and Can was asking for trouble.

We so miss Mane and his pace. We urgenty need another winger.

Don't know what's happening with Can.

Anyway, luckily it's only 1-0 to them and we've a good chance.

[Gerry Attrick]

The fact they only scored one, meaning we are only 1-0 down at the halfway point with the home leg to come, is the reason I'm not worried.

Coutinho back too, so yay

Sure, that's a positive but the fact we looked so porous against a mediocre attacking team worries me greatly to be honest. It'll probably improve when Matip and Henderson return but we looked like conceding every time they launched a counter.

[Nick110581]

We have a good team but poor squad.

We will find next season in the CL and cups difficult to deal with unless we get more quality in.

We have been average at best last 3 matches.

We aren't in the Champs League yet.

[RedForeverTT]

forget about winning anything with Can and Lucas together in midfield. absolutely abysmal

Lucas has been a faithful servant and even our player of the year at one point. But his time has sadly passed and for us to still rely on his on important matches showed how far we are behind in terms of team investment.

[sms1986]

Not too bothered about today's result? Fucking oddball. 😕

Nobody wants their team to lose (unless you're an Everton fan who knows a loss will hurt Liverpool) but it's not like we're going into the second leg losing by five or six. Remember the Villarreal game? They scored that last minute goal (and then celebrated like they had won the cup itself!) but we took the Yellow Submarine back to Anfield and sunk it.

[Simplexity]

Suppose its better to get these awful performances out of the way before Sunday, but hardly a confidence builder it must be said.

[clinical]

We were always a few injuries away from struggling. I find it amazing people are shocked to see us struggle once a few players are out. People called it as soon as we knew mane would be off in Jan. Why weren't we prepared for this? That's the question the club should be asking.


We best not mess up our great start to the season. But its a huge worry, however, we have been over achieving considering the lack of investment in the squad.

[Pie Eyed]

For me, the problem was that Southampton were too well drilled, and we could see the same again on Sunday.

Get 9 men behind the ball at all times, and DO NOT MOVE when we try playing it around in front of them to draw them out.

Then when they do manage to nick it back, break quickly and decisively.

I suspect that Maureen will be rubbing his hands together after seeing that match, as that will verify that his plan for the weekend is effective against us.

Fuck it.

Forget it and move on - Only half-time after all.

[Durlmints]

All set up for a rocking Anfield second leg 

[DonkeyWan]

Tough couple of games at the start of the year. Can see how legs are tiring and the midfield is looking sluggish without key personnel (Mane, Henderson and Coutinho).

The horrible scenario is a loss to United and to Chelsea and Liverpool dropping behind both. Bleh.

Still, back to tonight's game and at least Karius showed something, so lets take that positive.

To improve the team though, got to have better midfield options.

[Joe Allens chicken]

Probably which should make it an easy night if we're patient and prepare a plan for it. If weveryone continue with this minimum 10 passes before we cross the halfway line and try to pass through the middle of them then we likely struggle again.

I'm sure Klopp and the coaches plan for every team who has a tactic to sit deep against us. We struggle every single time so god knows why you think it will be so easy for us in the next leg.

[sms1986]

We were always a few injuries away from struggling. I find it amazing people are shocked to see us struggle once a few players are out. People called it as soon as we knew mane would be off in Jan. Why weren't we prepared for this? That's the question the club should be asking.


We best not mess up our great start to the season. But its a huge worry, however, we have been over achieving considering the lack of investment in the squad.

Thing is, though, if Chelsea hadn't gone on that run, we could be sitting in first right now even with our recent form. I still think we'll be in the race for the title for months to go yet, and we'll end up in the top four somewhere.

[Paul_h]

did not seem mentally prepared tonight. Was our thoughts on the weekend game?
Another poor performance from Firminho up front, looks shot to me.

Cant help thinking We should have been the team with 6 at the back. Taken a 0-0 back to Anfield, possibly more. Don't know why we always have to go for it...We've been sussed out.

at least Coutinho is back!

[stevieG786]

We have got to be one of the worst teams in the air surely? offensively and defensively.

[Broad Spectrum]

All set up for a rocking Anfield second leg 

Yeah exactly, their arses will go when they feel the pressure at Anfield.

[RedForeverTT]

I love Klopp and wouldn't swap him for any coach but I'd love to see him be more proactive in his in-game management. His use of subs sometimes frustrates me, waiting until the 83rd minute to introduce Origi was a mistake in my opinion. Leaving Can on for the entirety of the game also baffled me. This is not so say I know better than him, just that I wish he would take the initiative sooner than he does sometimes.

His hands were tied. Our best available 11 was already on the field. Those on the bench apart from Coutinho wouldn't have made any difference.

[edeyj]

Not really poor. (the result was...)
Firmino, Lucas, Lallana, Wiijnaldum, Lovren, Clyne, Karius, Milner and Klavan (apart from the mistake) all played well or at least ok.

We were toothless and somewhat unbalanced. That doesn't happen in the return leg.

Can't agree with that summation. They all looked off the pace and Southampton took advantage.

As far as Lucas goes he is too slow and gives away too many fouls in dangerous areas. His 2nd half run and non-tackle was almost comical.

I hope you're right and we play much better against a team that will inevitably park the bus.

[Gerry83]

We have got to be one of the worst teams in the air surely? offensively and defensively.

Yes. No contest there.  Corners and free kicks awarded to us prove to be more dangerous to our defence that the opposition.

[gatcliffe]

Thing is, though, if Chelsea hadn't gone on that run, we could be sitting in first right now even with our recent form. I still think we'll be in the race for the title for months to go yet, and we'll end up in the top four somewhere.

The worry is that our form has dipped not sure it something to do with the intensive style we play or the actual size of the squad.

[Kwaideng]

Joker.

Maybe....many a true word spoken in jest.

[El Lobo]

Lucas has been a faithful servant and even our player of the year at one point. But his time has sadly passed and for us to still rely on his on important matches showed how far we are behind in terms of team investment.

He's a nice lad, and deserves a testimonial I'm sure. But he really shouldn't be playing for the first team anymore. If we can't move him on, let's get him on the U23s where his experience could be really useful without having to cope with the chasm of when he plays in the first team.

[Kop307]

Can't get my head around people giving Sturridge shit. He's only as good as whats around him.

Firmino has been on holiday since Coutinho got injured. Lallana is useless in the front 3. Mane is gone.

Emre & Lucas are like snails moving the ball too slowly. And he's played 1 vs 7 in his last 2 games.

There are far bigger concerns than Daniel. I've also seen a few people saying we should sell him. Do the world a favour and jump in the sea.

[number 168]

What stood out for me was the way when we got wide near their end we offered little support to the guy with the ball. A characteristic of our dynamic play was the way we had 3 players at a time pinging the ball, bemusing the opposition and players bombing on. Today, and for a while, we seem to be content to play it back, sideways or square with little movement, allowing defenders to set up expecting what's to come. They players look mentally exhausted. However a midfield of Can, Lucas and Wjnaldum was never going to create that much.

[JustDan]

Sure, that's a positive but the fact we looked so porous against a mediocre attacking team worries me greatly to be honest. It'll probably improve when Matip and Henderson return but we looked like conceding every time they launched a counter.

.. but then you remember how the amount of poor team performances this season are heavily outweighed by the amount of good ones & realise it's more likely that the 2nd leg will be one of the good ones?

I'm an optimist, maybe foolishly so at times... but hey, this football malarkey is way more fun that way

[Kop 81]

Yeah exactly, their arses will go when they feel the pressure at Anfield.

When was the last time Anfield was rocking though?  It's full of Chinese people taking photos these days.

[TepidT2O]

On a different note.....

The Southampton fans were signing "get back to Knotty Ash" to coutinho....

Which I thought was quite humorous compared to the usual shite opposition fans come out with.

[Gerry Attrick]

His hands were tied. Our best available 11 was already on the field. Those on the bench apart from Coutinho wouldn't have made any difference.

Would've liked to have seen Origi introduced around the same time Coutinho was. Would also have brought Moreno on so Milner could play wide on the right. Our squad is thread bare and I'm desperate for us to sign some players but I do think there's some alterations we could make to try and squeeze more out of what resources we do have.

[sms1986]

The worry is that our form has dipped not sure it something to do with the intensive style we play or the actual size of the squad.

I think the return of Coutinho, Matip and Henderson will do wonders for the team. Thankfully we're having this blip now, because when European football starts again that puts a strain on some of our title challengers, and Chelsea aren't going to go on another long unbeaten run.