Southampton vs Liverpool- The Seesaw Tips Again

Yesterday (Saturday 16^th March), Liverpool faced Southampton at St Mary’s. They were brutally outplayed in the first half and couldn’t recover in the second half, eventually losing 3-1.

Southampton dominated the early exchanges. Liverpool’s defence looked shaky, and the fist goal was inevitable. In the end it came through Morgan Schneiderlin, who slotted coolly past Brad Jones (in for the injured Reina). This only spurred the Saints on, and Liverpool conceded another soon afterwards, a Lambert free-kick going in off Daniel Sturridge, who was one of the players in a frankly awful Liverpool wall. Daniel Sturridge redeemed himself slightly on the stroke of half time, when his shot could only be parried into the path of Coutinho, who grabbed a goal back for Liverpool. This meant LFC went in at the break with the score at 2-1, which all things considered was not too bad. They could have been 3 or 4 goals down.

Liverpool came out slightly stronger in the second half, but still seemed to lack any real penetration. They had a few half chances, but in all honesty never really looked like equalising. As it turned out they did not just fail to level the game, they also conceded again late on, crushing all hope of a revival. This marked the end of a brilliant streak of three wins on the trot for Liverpool, but there cannot be complaints. They underperformed, and in almost every aspect were outplayed by Southampton.

I’m normally optimistic to the point of desperation when it comes to Liverpool, but now even I am forced to admit that our chances of a place in the Top 4 are now realistically almost certainly over. We could still have done it going in to this game, but to slip up against a smaller club is something you cannot do when chasing down the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal. Still, there is still a Europa League spot to aim for, and I for one hope we can get the old Liverpool back for the tail end of the season, the Liverpool that can terrorize defences and most importantly, get the wins.

Lucas Returns, Liverpool Keep a Clean Sheet

On Saturday 1st December, Liverpool played relegation candidates Southampton at Anfield. Despite having a plethora of chances, Liverpool only managed to get one goal, but were solid at the back and earned a 1-0 win.

This game was notable in the fact that it featured Lucas. After returning from a long-term injury a few months ago, he then promptly got injured again, and only yesterday returned. He has been sorely missed, and I think he improved our midfield no end. He is capable of pushing forward, but is mostly defensive-minded and kept the team solid, making us less vulnerable to the counter-attacks we have been so susceptible to so far this season. The fact that we were able to keep a clean sheet is in my opinion, partly down to the return of Lucas.

Our attacking was also quite good. Suarez and Shelvey both struck the post in the first half, either of which could have ended up in the net on another day (I’m still not sure how Shelvey’s stayed out). It looked like it was going to be one of those days, but fortunately Daniel Agger was on hand to snatch a goal for Liverpool, a powerful header into the corner after a good cross from Glen Johnson. In the second half there were fewer chances, but Liverpool came close a couple of times. With the game nearly over, a wicked cross was whipped in from Gerrard, and for some reason Suarez tried to punch it into the net. This was completely stupid, and got him his 5th yellow card of the season, meaning he misses our next game (against West Ham United).

Overall, Liverpool were very solid in this game. They never looked like they were going to concede, and created some good chances going forward. Once again they should have converted more of these chances, but what matters is that we converted one of them and got the three points. Having Lucas back was a great boost, and I think he made the difference.