Topic: Half time: Southampton 1-0 Liverpool

[Upinsmoke]

teams just park the bus and hope they capitalize on the one or two guaranteed gifts we offer teams every game.

Just gotta hope they tire but with the extra boost we have given them now they will probably run around like mad dogs.

It's not hard to park the bus though, if you wanna go toe to toe your fucked but defend deep and hope for something on the break, yeah pretty good chance of hurting us

[Tonyh8su]

Can was woeful there, to be fair though he's not the only one.

No he's not the only one. But he's so so frustrating. Hadn't kicked on at all from his potential. So slow at moving his body and moving the ball. I think if he was half as good as he thinks he is we'd have some player on our hands.

[Solomon Grundy]

I thought we may struggle to create anything with Can and Lucas in midfield.

[scalatore]

Poor. We've looked short of ideas pretty much since the last international break. But whatever, I'm not going to start shitting my pants a quarter of the way through this tie.

[wemmick]

Would really like to see Firmino central again. His play on the wing is poor. We need some more combativeness through the center and a false #9 to stitch together our attacks. 

Poor half on the whole, apart from Karius.

[gatcliffe]

No pace in the side up front DS on one big stroll sorry thank god for Karius.

[Crosby Nick]

As soon as they brought up the caption that Redmond hadn't scored since Queen Victoria was on the throne you just knew he'd score.

[J-Mc-]

Lucas off, drop Lallana to midfield and get Coutinho on for the 2nd half.

Klavan had a nightmare 10-15 minutes before and after the goal, just seemed to lose his head completely.

[Butcher Knife Roberto]

While I'm not exactly delighted at us not turning up at all, bar the excellent Karius, I am getting completely fed up with teams being able to magically turn up against us and play like Barca. Either that or we're just a bit shit at the moment. In any case, significant improvement required or the tie will pass us by.

Southampton with a back 6 at home though.... Surprise surprise Claude Puel, didn't see that one coming at all... 

[CoventryYNWA]

Origi for Lucas, Lallana back to his CM position and Origi into front 3 preferably centrally

[-Daws-]

Gini struggling in possession. Lallana, Firmino and Sturridge have barely had a touch in the box. Only player actually trying any sort of penetrative ball ironically is Lucas. Need to get Phil into the game asap as we just can't create space by beating anybody. Him and Mane out of the side and we lack that ability to take players out of the game.

Karius has made a couple of worldies and been very solid.

[Warks Moustache]

Hmm Southampton pressed us really hard, not sure they can go another quarter. Our game is based on midfield dominance but we aren't doing a good job passing it quickly to our forwards.

[Youb]

We've been lacking our flair,  intensity and free flowing football for a few games now and was hoping to get some rhythm back in this game against what really is a poor team overall. 

We've been putting way too many crosses into the box for me,  we need to play through them and get Daniel involved more.

Can see Phil coming in earlier than we would've liked and a change up front.

We've got enough w quality to beat these so I'm not worried yet.

[stevo747]

Possibly worst half of football this season. Midfield is ponderous and being out fought with little creativity, the guys up front seem to have stopped making runs as the midfield aren't finding them. At the back Karius is doing well but Klavan is having a mare.

[Kopite B205]

You could see Southampton were low on confidence from the start; but we've give them that confidence back by playing our most shit football so far this season. We need a massive improvement from everybody second half or we can forget about Wembley.

[sms1986]

The optimism is staggering

At least it's not like this in the away dressing room right now, we would just go and get thrashed in the second half!

[Red-Soldier]

We've got as much penetration as a two inch penis!

Can't be as bad as that in the second half.

Karius has kept us in it!  Come on lads, roll your socks up!!!   

[TheShanklyGates]

We're only a quarter way through this tie, as demonstrated by the aptly coloured picture above. I think we'll be much better in the second half, especially if Coutinho plays a part.

True, but play like that again in the second half and we'll be lucky to still be in it come the second leg.

[chrisevry]

With Can and Lucas in midfield we miss the sharp passing and quick transitions that have become our hallmark. They say the best players are five yards ahead in their mind, and those two are the antithesis of the theory. Southampton are never on the turn so can set up behind the ball and we are struggling to break them down. Van Dijk has been imperious for them and I can see why so many big teams are circling. I really hope we are one of them.

Another half to go though, and if we speed things up we will score a couple.

[jb2319]

Thought we looked okay for the first 20 minutes or so, but as soon as they put a bit of pressure on us we had a wobble and its all been downhill since. Karius keeping us in it. We haven't really worked out how to integrate Danny into this team yet, so hes been pretty non-existent. Can really see why Klopp hasn't been playing Lucas in DM, he has been poor.

Need a bit more creativity, our forwards have been a bit off the boil over the last few weeks and it seems to be continuing here.

[liverpool185]

Too slow and no movement in our play, where is the tempo?

Wijnaldum having a awful game, he needs to find more conviction in his game rather than 5 yards backwards/sideways passes. Yes Lucas and Can aint doing much but at least Can has set up our best chance of the half.

Coutinho to come on and bail us out again.

[Ski]

Midfield 3 totally lacking creativity. Forwards getting isolated. Only lallana sparking us.

Individual error costs us again.

Let's pick it up and start creating!

[UntouchableLuis]

Gone from looking like scoring every attack to wondering where a goal is coming from. Frustrating.

[peachybum]

Can off, put Lallana back in his best position and get Origi on out wide

[FlashGordon]

It's only half time, we'll still win this, everyone needs to calm down and relax. The match isn't over yet.

[redalways]

Lallana playing well. Klopp will rocket these second half.  Expect a different Liverpool.

[El Lobo]

I dont have any clue what Jurgen was like with persisting with hopelessly out of form players at Dortmund, but it really is going to start costing us at this rate.

Lucas literally just watching people run past him, a day after saying his future is 'difficult'. It really shouldn't be.

Can as well just doesn't look arsed. We can't carry two central midfielders against a side like this, its impossible. Get Stewart on and at least see a bit of effort and energy.

[ScubaSteve]

I thought we may struggle to create anything with Can and Lucas in midfield.

This!!

Take off Can for Origi and stick Lallana back in midfield. Lucas having a decent game

[invader_gir]

Sturridge not offering much and neither are Can and Wuj... a better 2nd half please

[classycarra]

the good news is southampton haven't played well yet. and that our players individually haven't been poor (klavan and lovren's mistakes apart).

the bad news is we just played a terrible half. and unfortunately it's taken (minimum) 45 minutes for klopp to attempt to change a failing system

our system can't carry two physical passengers in the front six (lucas and sturridge). and one mental passenger (sturridge - take him off if he's more interested in standing in midfield facing our healf and touching the ball than playing in our attack).lallana should never be played in this position again, it completely stifles him and it harms the team.

as it stands our only hope of creating something, and getting a win, is that they make more mistakes than us. and karius keeping us in it as he has so far. we need to change the system if we're keeping lucas and sturridge on, or we need to change the team if we're retaining the system.

[princeoftherocks]

on the upside,  We've already got loads of league cups......

[Gnurglan]

Karius has played well. Other than that it's been grey.

Need to improve in the second half. Missing a central threat. Would consider Coutinho for Sturridge or Can if things don't change quickly.

[JackWard33]

Midfield looks poor when Henderson and Lallana aren't in it. We become pretty functional without our best players
About 20 mins before Lucas's legs go

Also stop fucking crossing - how has his come back into our play recently??!

Still look on the bright side we'll probably still win the tie and .... injury free!!!! !

[Son of Spion]

Awful stuff that half. Why is it that whenever a two-bit team have a simple game-plan against us we struggle?

When they do break out we need to be on them quick and breaking against them quickly before they get back into their shape.
We just seem too ponderous and slow. I'm hoping we wake up in the second half. Despite the performance up to now, we are better than these and if we bother to turn up in the rest of the tie we should be ok.

[Le_Mot_Juste]

Honestly, would almost worry more about us going complacently into a 2nd leg tie with a 1-0 lead, against opposition with nothing to fear.

If they have something to protect at Anfield, we'll just attack for 90 mins and surely blitz them.

[Upinsmoke]

Also stop booting the ball up to sturridge as he loses every aerial battle

[peterstone]

That's what you get when you rest the whole team!!!! Everyone off the pace and all over the place.......

Can played against Plymouth and has been woeful tonight

[stockdam]

We look like a team that hasn't played together before. We need to tighten up and create more. We're still in the game and maybe time to bring Phil on.

[sms1986]

True, but play like that again in the second half and we'll be lucky to still be in it come the second leg.

I think we'll improve in the second half, we seem to be better at playing after half time.

[Kwaideng]

Can off the option for me, Lucas has done alright.

Agreed, Lucas has worked hard and his passing has been good. Can is too slow and is basically fucking hopeless. Brave keeping from the 'dodgepot'.