Liverpool vs Southampton15:00, Saturday 12th NovemberAnfield, LiverpoolPremier LeagueReferee: Simon HooperWe find ourselves with ninety-odd minutes of plain-old league football to look forward to this weekend, with Liverpool and Southampton meeting at Anfield in each side’s final Premier League game until Boxing Day. For the Reds, the match comes amidst much rumour & discussion concerning the ownership of the club, following the recent statement by Fenway Sports Group; for their visitors, the match follows the dismissal of Ralf Hasenhüttl (after just short of four years in charge) and the subsequent appointment of Nathan Jones (who joins from Luton Town). For both the hosts and the Saints, the match comes ahead of the mid-season break from domestic football – a break that accommodates the 2022 World Cup, a competition shrouded in controversy that is regarded as somewhere between lamentable and shameful in the eyes of many.Southampton’s last visit to Anfield was just short of a year ago, in each side’s thirteenth match of the Premier League season. After a slow start, the visitors had picked up 10 points from their previous five games, albeit falling to a 2-1 defeat away to Norwich City in the previous match. Liverpool – having dropped points to Brighton and West Ham – had also taken 10 points from their previous five, but had beaten Arsenal 4-0 at home last time out. After a decent start to a season that was yet to truly take off, the Reds sat in 3rd going into the match – ten positions and 11 points ahead of their visitors. That gap would only widen after their meeting, with a brace from Diogo Jota and goals from Thiago and Virgil Van Dijk securing 3 points and a 4-0 victory for Liverpool. Klopp’s side hit excellent form for the remainder of the season, falling just short of claiming a league title on an agonising final day; Hasenhüttl’s side enjoyed a decent winter and sat 9th at the end of February, at which point they seemed to 'hit the beach' early – they took just 5 points from their final twelve matches, but finished 15th and 5 points clear of the drop.The Saints actually began this season reasonably well, taking 7 points from their opening five, but have added only 5 points in the nine league games that have followed. Particularly disappointing will have been the trio of successive defeats in September & October – Wolves, Aston Villa, and Everton are exactly the sort of sides that Southampton have at times had aspirations of being the best of. Whilst the defeats may each only have been by single goals, they give away three times that in terms of points, and in games that they might consider to be six-pointers. In my preview for the reverse fixture last season, I made reference to the Saints having been something of a calendar year team earlier in Hasenhüttl’s tenure (excellent through 2020) – they’ve never quite made much sense though, and their long-term form under the Austrian (who was until last week one of the longest-serving managers in the football league) has been patchy and with diminishing returns. I’ve always thought that Hasenhüttl seems a decent character, and can well imagine that – whilst it’s probably not unreasonable that his time at Southampton was brought a close – many Saints fans will wish that things had ended in slightly better circumstances.The new manager in charge at the St Mary’s Stadium is Nathan Jones, a Welshman who played over 450 football league matches and who has spent almost all of his managerial career to date with Luton Town. Jones briefly served as first team coach under Sami Hyypiä at Brighton & Hove Albion in 2014, taking over as caretaker for two matches following the Finn’s departure. His managerial career ‘proper’ began in January 2016, however, and – in just over three years at Luton – he took them from the bottom half of League Two to the promotion positions in League One. The Hatters went on to win League One in 2018/19, despite Jones’ mid-season departure for Stoke City. Things didn’t work out in his ten months in the Potteries – Jones’ Stoke drew an absurd number of games at the end of 2018/19 before losing an unacceptable number at the beginning of 2019/20, and he was sacked with his side languishing in 23rd in the Championship at the start of November. Jones made a somewhat awkward (with many supporters disappointed in the manner of his original departure) return to Kenilworth Road in May 2020, just ahead of the resumption of the Football League following the initial Covid-19 ‘lockdown’. Luton – themselves in 23rd in the Championship – looked destinated for relegation, but a final day victory at home to Blackburn Rovers saw them survive in 19th. Jones’ side finished a respectable 12th in 2020/21, before securing a playoff position in 2021/22 – they lost to Huddersfield Town in the semi-finals, but he leaves the club in good health midway through 2022/23 (Luton current sit 9th, in touching distance of the playoff positions.Jones’ trajectory with Luton Town during recent years (he won the Championship’s Manager of the Season Award last season) will have Southampton supporters hoping that he can restore a bit of belief and optimism around the club. 2022/23 is the Saints’ eleventh season back in the top-flight – they enjoyed an excellent run of top-half finishes under Mauricio Pochettino, Ronald Koeman, and Claude Puel, and – as mentioned earlier – were excellent under Hasenhüttl around 2020, but the entire club has looked a little directionless during recent years and objectives rarely seem to aim beyond survival. Cynics will suggest that the appointment of Nathan Jones is the move of a club preparing for life in the Championship, whilst some (outside of the club) may even suggest a reset of that nature may not be such a bad thing. Saints supporters themselves will hope that Nathan Jones can be a character who provides an uplift and helps re-assert some identity at the club – a club of course renowned for producing excellent young players and who (particularly in the creation of their 2015-16 side) have at times done excellent business in the transfer market.The opening stretch of 2022-23 has been inconsistent and disappointing for Liverpool, but I find myself feeling I can take more from the back-to-back victories over the tough propositions of Napoli & Tottenham than I did from the goal-gluts against Bournemouth & Rangers and even the win over Man City. The table is going to look disappointing over the next month or so regardless of Saturday’s result, but finishing this first part of the season with a win really could help everyone around the club (ownership discussions aside) clear their heads and feel somewhat refreshed by the time the Boxing Day fixtures come around. Southampton supporters won’t be expecting to see their side return south with 3 points, but will take hope from Liverpool’s poor form (including recent back-to-back losses to Nottingham Forest and Leeds United) and will hope their new manager can get off to an encouraging start. Jurgen Klopp is still without long-term absentees Diogo Jota and Luis Díaz, but will hope that Joel Matip and Naby Keita can join James Milner in contention for a return to the squad for Saturday. Southampton fans will look forward to Nathan Jones’ first team selection as Saints boss, despite the Welshman being without full-backs Kyle Walker-Peters, Valentino Livramento, and Juan Larios this weekend.
World cup discards scoring goals. Love to see it. Bobby
26 Fab is still not himself being beaten and then loses the ball but both Gomez and Trent deal with the ball each time.
