Topic: Southampton V Liverpool 16th March 15:00 KO Shortish Preview.

[Studog]

Crackin post PhaseofPlay

Pyar pub ammo that!

[Koplord]

Spuds, Chelsea and Arsenal all played in Europe this week. Chelsea, Spurs both have derbies and Arsenal play Swansea.

Potentially a big weekend for us, really need to turn up and get 3 points from this.

Don't see Spurs or Chelsea dropping points this weekend and Swansea have been cack since the league cup final I reckon arsenal will get a 2-0 there

[Draex]

Too much talk that after the Spurs game we had turned the corner..

This is the acid test.. We need to keep the momentum going, Spurs are faltering (they looked dead on their feet against Inter) and we need to keep the pressure on.

The early goal will be key.

[Titan]

I was feeling pretty confident about this yesterday but now i have a tiny bit of doubt creeping into my mind. I guess it's tough to be completely confident after what has happened in the past couple of seasons. A win here would mean our 5th win in a row (4 in the league) and a consistency we haven't seen for a while, although we have been very consistent in beating the poorer sides in the league this season.

I can see us sticking to the same side that started against Spurs (unless Reina is fit).

2-1 to us.

[johnny74]

I know that people are nervous about the game because it always feels like some games/runs are too good to be true, almost - but really, barring a Villa-like aberration, we should handle these quite comfortably.

Southampton -


Attack-wise, they are probably good for a goal per game, on average. Their attack is a lot more sophisticated than it was under Adkins, but really, the raw materials are the same, and their danger men are the same danger men as they were before. The keys to look out for are that Lambert is their target man, and needs to be marked tight; Ramirez will look to sort out the final ball, but will also try to play off Lambert; and Puncheon will bring the attacking drive with the ball at his feet. They play a 4-2-3-1 much like Chelsea do, with a tight attacking midfield three where the two outside AM's can switch sides if needed. The aim is to get the ball into Lambert (but with precision rather than hit-and-hope now under Pocchetino) and support him quickly with runs from Ramirez, Puncheon and possibly Lallana on the other side. Schneiderlin will push the team up from midfield to compress the space, and unlike the game at Anfield, they will actively hunt the ball and try to put us under pressure:



Yoshida at right back could be a danger as he is very aggressive going forward and very involved in their attacking moves and counter-attacks - however, the presence of Coutinho on the left wing for Liverpool and Pocchetino's knowledge of him might force him to either change the set-up and put Yoshida central and someone more defensive on the right of the defence, or give Yoshida a marking job on Coutinho.


Things to look out for from Southampton:

• Boruc delivers the ball centrally to Lambert or to the right for Puncheon/Yoshida to play for
• Lallana is the more conservative of the wide men and plays a lot of safe back-passes - vigilance for this might give a few chances to counter when they are pushed up the field
• The two main players for switching the play from side to side are Schneiderlin and Ramirez, and cutting off their passing options when they have the ball may force them to turn the ball over
• Puncheon can cut inside and favours shorter passes into Lambert or behind the defence

Liverpool -


Liverpool, on the other hand, are on a good run of form, and should most likely field an unchanged side, although there are possibilities for players to be rested. The formation will either be the current 4-1-3-2/4-4-1-1 (depending on how you intepret Suarez's positioning and movement), with an unchanged side from the last few games:



There is a possibility within that shape for Skrtel to make a return to give Carragher a rest, and maybe even Wisdom for Johnson. The game plan will be more aggressive than it was against Spurs, being more like the first 25 minutes than the subsequent 25. The tempo will be high and there will probably be a desire to catch Southampton pushed up and play Sturridge in behind with Coutinho and Suarez supporting and Downing maintaining shape, with the fullbacks and Gerrard pushed up for attacking depth. If the key to the new Southampton manager is to hunt for the ball, then Liverpool will want to keep the ball in the So'ton half of the field for as long as possible and create chances for early goals. Coutinho might be marked tightly, so he may have to move inside more to find space, which will create space for Enrique while overloading the central area for Southampton with Suarez, Coutinho and Sturridge all putting pressure on the Southampton defence with Gerrard pushing up behind. There should be a decent amount of possession and a good number of chances, but the key will be to put them away. Boruc has a very low save percentage, so getting as many shots in quick succession early on might cause him to flap and give Liverpool the early goal they want.

Alternatively, though, Rodgers might see this as a game to rest Sturridge or Coutinho (most likely Sturridge) and have him come off the bench late on. If this happens, we could see Henderson on instead (for either player):




If he comes in for Coutinho, we'll play the same way but with Henderson moving from the inside to the outside - although this might give Yoshida space to get forward - and Sturridge and Suarez as you were. If he comes n for Sturridge, though, we will play the 4-3-3/2-3-2-3 formation again, with Coutinho/Suarez/Downing being the forward line, and Lucas/Gerrard/Henderson being the midfield. There is still a chance for the replacement of Johnson with Wisdom and Carragher with Skrtel in either of those selections.

Key Factors -




The key factors in this game for Liverpool will, defensively, come probably come down to how quiet we can keep their right side attack (Puncheon/Yoshida), and how tightly we can mark Lambert. If Lucas can do a pressing job on Ramirez, then they will end up hoping for punts down the field to Lambert that he might latch on to and might get a good shot on goal from once or twice in the game. If that happens, and Reina is in top form, then we should hold out for the clean sheet. If they don't even get that far, then it should be a comfortable win by 3 or 4 goals. There is always a chance of a blip, or a stellar performance from Southampton; but for them, with their remaining fixtures and still very much in danger of relegation, this might be a game where they won't mind giving up the result this week for a better result in a relegation 6-pointer later on - although a big name scalp will go a long way to helping them in that respect.

(Edit - they really only have Reading later as a 6 pointer. They have a very tough fixture list to the end of the season. How they look at that - positively or negatively - will probably dictate the results as much as tactics. Us, Chelsea then Reading, West Ham, Swansea and West Brom after that. They may fancy their chances more in those games than in the next two)

Impressive analysi. Where do you get all this stuff from?

[PhaseOfPlay]

My head, and 20 years experience

[Kovai Red]

My head, and 20 years experience

Experience reminds me of Hodgson 

Cracking post that, mate.

[PhaseOfPlay]

Experience reminds me of Hodgson 

Cracking post that, mate.

How dare you, Sah!

[Harinder]

snip..yoshida..

Couldn't help but think of this

[sattapaartridge]

harry, picture no worky.

btw, there needs to be a crusade: WHO IS PHASEOFPLAY!? The guys a genius.

[Harinder]

harry, picture no worky.

btw, there needs to be a crusade: WHO IS PHASEOFPLAY!? The guys a genius.

I can see it :-(

[PhaseOfPlay]

harry, picture no worky.

btw, there needs to be a crusade: WHO IS PHASEOFPLAY!? The guys a genius.

It doesn't matter who I am...

What matters is my plan.



(Also, not even close to being a genius. Just very, very, very obsessed about football, like all of us here)

[Draex]

It doesn't matter who I am...

What matters is my plan.



(Also, not even close to being a genius. Just very, very, very obsessed about football, like all of us here)

What is your plan Brendan?

[LFCDad]

I'm expecting a Wigan like game, Saints will bring the game to us and we'll just counter attack them to death, or it'll be our magnificent suicide by football which we've displayed on a few occasions. Come on redmen! hopefully young sturridge will be fully recovered from his niggles and beasty pepe will be barking out orders and delivering some swift counter attacks with his magnificent boot

[FoolForPool]

I am feeling quite confident.  The team believes that they can now score goals and so are unlikely to give up easily if things don't go to well to begin with.  Personally, I am finding Liverpool so much more exciting to watch than at any time in the last 4/5 years.  I can't wait till Saturday and am finding more of my weekends organised around their match times (much to my wife's annoyance;-)

However it may just be POP's excellent analysis that is making it so exciting, as I can now scream at the TV and seem to know what I am talking about :-)   (Not that my wife or kids are thinking anything other than "what the Hell is Dad yelling about now").
 

[John C]

All things being even, a fully fit squad, Sturridge starting and Suarez firing, SG's form, we'll beat these comfortably ... in the end.

They'll have their spell but I think we'll out-football-ify them.
I fucking hate them also, for whatever reason, well ok there is a single childish reason - I just fucking hate LeTissier, can't stand the man and it rubs off to his club with inexorable affect.

I don't mind Pulis but I expect by 5:00 tomorrow he'll have moaned one to many moan and will be on my long list of dislikables. Perhaps I should get over meself.

How fucking dare Peter Crouch score in the Anny Rd end with his head and cause an upset, its not as if we've struggled at the back since Souness took over. Ask for a refund Rafa, we're still a big shiny thing short.

Anyway, Pulis' cap is another Rodgers scalp so WH can shove their less that 2/1 for an way win, do I look like an idiot. That was rhetorical Chopper.

2 nil to the real Redmen.

[Matt8Pie]

Hope we have Henderson on. Christ knows why Allen is ahead of him in the pecking order.

[MacJanner]

What is your plan Brendan?

PoP has only popped (see what i did there?) up this season....coincidence? 

[FernandoSusoLFC]

Just to let you know they've only won once under Pochetti, in our last 6 visits to Southampton we've only won once dating back to 2003.

Our last 6 on the road has been poor overall.

Lost to Man Utd 2-1
Lost to Oldham  3-2
Draw to Arsenal 2-2
Draw to M.City   2-2
Lost to Zenit      2-0
Won vs Wigan   4-0

but Southampton's last five at home is shit in all honesty.

Loss to Blunderland 1-0
Draw to Arsenal       1-1 - Arsenal were terrible in front of goal, watched this in Paris - Fun Fact.
Loss to Chelsea       1-5
Draw to Neverton    0-0
Won to  Man City      3-1
Lost to  QPR             2-1


My team would be the famous 4-3-3 as always with

Reina, Glen, Carra, Agger, Jose, Leiva, Gerrard, Coutinho, Suarez, Downing, Sturridge

if not I'd sub Sturridge out for added cover in MF for Henderson to do some leg work or do what we did with Joe Allen around the 59th minute against Spurs to provide more cover with a 3 man MF.

[LFCDynamic]

Hope we'd win, but somehow it seems like I'm asking for a bit too much after the kinda results we've been having. In any case we 'should' win, let's see what happens though...

[AnfieldRD19]

with arsenal away at swansea this weekend this is a must win for us if we want to gain ground

[TitanTrigger]

Hope we have Henderson on. Christ knows why Allen is ahead of him in the pecking order.

He probably does, you clearly don't

[Matt8Pie]

He probably does, you clearly don't

Teacher's pet is the only thing I can think of.

[Matt8Pie]

with arsenal away at swansea this weekend this is a must win for us if we want to gain ground

Hopefully City can do us a favour too.

[downtown]

Teacher's pet is the only thing I can think of.

He is not though.

Henderson was ahead of Allen for 1.5 months.....last game both started on the bench, and came on as subs. We won the game.

[TitanTrigger]

Teacher's pet is the only thing I can think of.

Every week you come out with the same shit, you seem to think if our Manager doesn't agree with your view of the team - which is clearly right - then he's an idiot or there is something underhand going on.

Have you ever considered that the Manager knows more about football and our team than you and that you might just be talking out of your hoop?

[LFCDynamic]

Teacher's pet is the only thing I can think of.

 

[Djimi Smicer34]

Teacher's pet is the only thing I can think of.

 

Normally I would be expecting our customary giant leap backwards after our recent significant strides forward but I'm actually quite optimistic for tomorrow.  With Suarez, Sturridge and Coutinho in their current form we have more than enough to put Southampton away, ideally we'll get a couple of early goals like we did at Wigan to settle us down.

[Matt8Pie]

Every week you come out with the same shit, you seem to think if our Manager doesn't agree with your view of the team - which is clearly right - then he's an idiot or there is something underhand going on.

Have you ever considered that the Manager knows more about football and our team than you and that you might just be talking out of your hoop?

Last time Allen started in the league he was getting bullied off the ball and put in a crap performance, and not for the first time this season. Doesn't take a genius to see that Henderson is the better player and we look more composed with him than Allen.

He is not though.

Henderson was ahead of Allen for 1.5 months.....last game both started on the bench, and came on as subs. We won the game.

Er, and yes he really is.

[SabrinaLFC]

Not really liking all the hype about how we're playing well. We'll probably go and lose as a result

[redan]

Remember going to the old Dell years back when we had that old gold kit, and Le Tissier scoring a hat-trick.  Was snowing I think as well.

That was my first ever away game, I was 8! I even remember wearing that Old Gold Shirt to the game!
I think the OP sums it up really, I've got nothing against Southampton they're just a bit... meh

3-1 to us I reckon (but why can't I shift this nagging doubt? maybe because we haven't won 4 in a row since the 80's probably or so it seems)

[Yorkykopite]

Last time Allen started in the league he was getting bullied off the ball and put in a crap performance, and not for the first time this season. Doesn't take a genius to see that Henderson is the better player and we look more composed with him than Allen.

Rodgers tends to disagree. Rightly so, I think.

[TitanTrigger]

Last time Allen started in the league he was getting bullied off the ball and put in a crap performance, and not for the first time this season. Doesn't take a genius to see that Henderson is the better player and we look more composed with him than Allen.

Last time Allen started we won 4 - 0, away. One of Henderson's last games was Zenit away where he got bullied off the ball leading to Hulk scoring. I'm not having a go at Henderson, really like the lad, but your fucking myopic view of he's shit - he's good - tin foil hat - makes you look like a clown. They both have their strengths and weaknesses, I'm going to assume that our professional football manager who works with them day in and day out is best placed to make the decision.

Neither are likely to start by the way.

[Matt8Pie]

Rodgers tends to disagree. Rightly so, I think.

Gotta question what you're watching then. Henderson makes us look so much better with his energy and presence than Allen does. He also doesn't give away as many silly fouls as Allen. 

[Draex]

Last time Allen started we won 4 - 0, away. One of Henderson's last games was Zenit away where he got bullied off the ball leading to Hulk scoring. I'm not having a go at Henderson, really like the lad, but your fucking myopic view of he's shit - he's good - tin foil hat - makes you look like a clown. They both have their strengths and weaknesses, I'm going to assume that our professional football manager who works with them day in and day out is best placed to make the decision.

Neither are likely to start by the way.

I think Allen is being played back into form, so he can go off for his op without a care and come back for preseason firing all cylinders - Henderson will play once Allen goes for his op.

[Matt8Pie]

Last time Allen started we won 4 - 0, away. One of Henderson's last games was Zenit away where he got bullied off the ball leading to Hulk scoring. I'm not having a go at Henderson, really like the lad, but your fucking myopic view of he's shit - he's good - tin foil hat - makes you look like a clown. They both have their strengths and weaknesses, I'm going to assume that our professional football manager who works with them day in and day out is best placed to make the decision.

Neither are likely to start by the way.

Compare Allen against Arsenal and Henderson against Arsenal, then. Different games, different venues, different circumstances, just like your example. It's no coincidence that we had a turn in form when Allen got dropped and Henderson started playing more.

[Malaysian Kopite]

Experience reminds me of Hodgson 

[Kali Yuga]

We kept Bale relatively quiet, so there's no reason why we can't stifle Ramirez's influence. I feel the same about pretty much every game now, which is that so long as we get a first half goal I'm fairly confident about our chances. Hopefully our run will continue and we'll bag the points. PhaseOfPlay's analysis makes me very positive, although I'm sure he reckoned we'd get something from WBA/Villa at home too! 

[TitanTrigger]

I think Allen is being played back into form, so he can go off for his op without a care and come back for preseason firing all cylinders - Henderson will play once Allen goes for his op.

Yeah sounds likely, Henderson will get plenty of playing time in the next couple of months.

[Malaysian Kopite]

Doubt either Henderson or Allen are starting.