Monday 23 February 2015

Southampton 0-2 Liverpool: Post-Match Thoughts


In a week of upsets that saw Spurs draw against West Ham and United lose to Swansea, Liverpool travelled to St Mary’s knowing that a victory would see them move to within just two points of fourth. Although the team didn’t exactly put in a vintage performance, they came away with the three points they needed – Liverpool now face Manchester City next week with a little less pressure on them, and with the chase for fourth place well and truly on.

A fair few eyebrows were raised when the team news was released – Sakho missed out through injury meaning Lovren started on his return to his former club, Moreno was rested and Sturridge started from the bench as part of the cautious approach to his return. The wisdom of starting Coutinho again was also questioned by many; this questioning didn’t last long! After just three minutes he gave Liverpool the lead, curling the ball perfectly into the top corner off the underside of the bar from 25 yards out. It was a contender for goal of the season – the extra shooting practice he’s been doing is clearly paying off, and he really does seem to be becoming the real deal. That said, the lead wasn’t deserved by any means; Southampton had shown their attacking intent right from the outset, and had a good case for a penalty after just 20 seconds.

The theme of poor refereeing decisions influencing proceedings continued throughout the match. Not long after Liverpool had brilliantly taken the lead, Southampton had a second, better penalty appeal turned down. Joe Allen lunged in to try and dispossess Djuricic, but missed the ball and went crashing into the new Saints midfielder. Kevin Friend, however, waved the strong appeals away. The injustice was partially righted midway through the half – Jose Fonte sent Raheem Sterling crashing to the floor with a clearly reckless challenge. Admittedly he made contact with the ball first, but to call the challenge controlled would be a stretch.

Friend’s reluctance to penalise blatant fouls did have one positive effect: the game was certainly free-flowing, with the play being end-to-end at times. While this was trying on the nerves, it did make for a good spectacle. Liverpool clearly missed Sakho; the defence, who have been extremely solid of late, were an absolute shambles for much of the first half. Simon Mignolet, who has gone from out-of-favour to key asset in the space of a couple of months, made a few vital stops to keep the lead intact. At the other end, Matt Targett was being absolutely tormented by Jordon Ibe. However, the other attacking players were posing less of a threat: Sterling had a very quiet half, Lallana’s sole job seemed to be to shuttle the ball five yards to Ibe, and other than the wonder-goal Coutinho’s impact was very limited. In truth, Liverpool were lucky to reach the break with a lead.

Things settled down a little after the break; the decision to bring Moreno on for Markovic was a key factor in this. Clyne had looked dangerous throughout the first period. This was unsurprising, as Markovic is a right winger and not a left wing back. The whole Liverpool defence seemed to pull themselves together – Skrtel in particular had an excellent game after the shaky start, dominating in the air. Sturridge was introduced midway through the half, and while he didn’t have the game of his life he did improve the team as a whole. His coming on for Lallana seemed to liven up Sterling, whose movement had been uncharacteristically poor prior to this change. It was Sterling who put the game to bed: he played a lovely ball into Moreno after Schneiderlin had given it away cheaply, then capitalised on a slip from Targett to slot past Forster.

The win was far from vintage Liverpool. In places, it was downright poor. However, the key thing is the victory – it means we’re just two points off fourth, and only three away from Arsenal in third. It was also a fifth consecutive away clean sheet, a feat not achieved by the club since 1985. Hopefully we can keep up this excellent defensive form when we host City this weekend: the win at St Mary’s takes a lot of the pressure off what is bound to be a tough game, but a win would obviously be excellent in our hunt for a Champions League spot.
-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

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