Report by
Dave Usher at Anfield
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That was far too close for comfort. It was partly Southampton being much, much better than most of us thought they’d be, but it was mostly Liverpool simply not playing like Liverpool. There was no 'Rodgeball' on display in this one and a lot of that is on Brendan himself for that team selection. Perhaps in future he should just let Colin Pascoe pick the team when Southampton come to town, as this is twice he’s made a complete Moyes of it now.
I’m not being wise after the event, in fact my exact words when I heard the starting line up were “Lucas and Gerrard together? For God’s sake, that’s my day ruined already!”. It was half tongue in cheek, I didn’t actually think we’d be as poor as we were, but that team selection did kill most of my new season buzz. Look, it’s nothing personal, I don’t think Lucas is a bad player by any means, and if he was standing in for Gerrard then I’d be ok with that. Pairing him and Gerrard in a two though?
Seriously Brendan, how many times do we have to see that before you acknowledge it doesn’t work? Has all that summer sun affected your memory?
Lucas + Gerrard = Bad.
Gerrard - Lucas + Hendo + Allen/Coutinho = unbeaten in 2014.
The weird thing is, usually when Rodgers does something a little unexpected, it’s usually pretty clear what he was thinking, even if it doesn’t work. This one though, it just had me scratching my head. All I can think of is that he decided a couple of weeks ago he was going to play 4-2-3-1 against Southampton, and he tested it out against Dortmund last week when we looked pretty unstoppable. Emre Can didn’t have his best game that day so possibly played himself out of the team, but even so, Lucas?
If I’m Joe Allen I’m seriously annoyed I didn't start this game. The Welshman played his part in the run in last year and has had a decent pre-season. He’s also far more suited to how we play these days than Lucas is. I don’t mean to single the likeable Lucas out as the reason we were so poor (others didn’t cover themselves in glory either), but for me he was the main reason for it simply because we didn’t need both him and Gerrard doing basically the same job. It does neither of them any favours.
It’s not even that Lucas was noticeably bad, he just did what he does and probably feels he did ok. The problem for him is that we’ve evolved so much as a team over the past 12 months that we’ve completely left him behind. He should only play if it’s to give Gerrard a rest, as the lack of mobility in the side is a big handicap whenever he’s paired with the skipper.
This is a team that is now built on speed, mobility, energy, pressing and generally playing at a very high tempo. Lucas and Gerrard cannot offer that and what we saw in the first half of this game illustrated it perfectly. I’ll stress again, it’s not solely on Lucas, and it’s not his fault that others under-performed, but he definitely played a part. I don't blame him for that, however, I blame Rodgers. When we play with one holding and everyone else flying around at 100mph we're an opponents worst nightmare. When we play with Gerrard and Lucas holding, we're far less intimidating. We saw it throughout last season.
The only time we looked remotely threatening in the first half of this game was in transition; when we won the ball back and were able to quickly get at Southampton before they could regain their defensive shape. That’s when we’re often at our most dangerous actually, when we press high up the pitch in numbers and catch teams on their heels. We were generally unable to do that to Southampton, but on one of the only occasions we did manage it we scored.
Hendo’s part in that goal was sublime. He won the ball, he then won a second challenge before delivering a Dalglish-like through ball with his weaker foot. Brilliant stuff from a player who gets better and better every year. I’m expecting really big things from him this season. Likewise Sterling, who was coolness personified as he scampered onto the pass before rolling the ball into the bottom corner. His finishing is really coming on in leaps and bounds now, which bodes well for life without you know who.
The goal came out of nowhere as neither side had looked particularly threatening. It was extremely dull actually, which is not what we’ve become accustomed to, especially at Anfield. The crowd were very subdued too, there wasn’t anything like the buzz there was towards the end of last season. Understandable in the sense that we’re not in the closing stages of a title race, but still, first game of a new season and that… I expected the place to be bouncing.
Any hope we had that the goal would kick start us into life didn’t last long as Southampton began to come into the game a lot more. We were comfortable enough at the back, but they did force some corners and free-kicks and the first half was an even contest. Disturbing, it wasn’t meant to be like this was as Southampton lost most of their best players not to mention their coach last summer. For all I know Ronald Koeman may turn out to be even better than his predecessor and the new signings may all prove their worth, but this looked like the perfect time to play them as they’ve not had time to work with the new coach and the new singings aren’t bedded in yet.
Given the way they played in this game, if they do improve when they become more familiar with each other then they may well match what they did last season, as not many sides have played this well at Anfield in 2014. I was well impressed with them, especially Clyne and Ward-Prowse who were both outstanding. Maybe they saw this as an audition? I’d definitely be keeping an eye on Ward-Prowse if I were Rodgers, that’s for sure.
Southampton ran all over us at the start of the 2nd half and the equaliser had been coming. Great goal too, it was lovely interplay and a hell of a finish by Clyne. He’s a good player, vastly under-rated, so much so that selling two teenage full backs for £46m when they already had Clyne and were able to loan Bertrand (who played well too) might just be the best bit of business anybody did over the summer.
We were reeling after that goal and almost conceded another when Davis found himself free in the box, but fortunately he tried to be too precise with his finish and Mignolet was able to make a good save. A huge let off, and something clearly needed to change. Allen for Lucas was such a no brainer I doubt there was anyone inside Anfield who wasn’t expecting it, except maybe Lucas himself.
We certainly improved with Allen in there, not just because he offers more energy and forward running than Lucas, but also because it allowed us to switch to the 4-3-3 formation we are more suited to. Not that we played it for long, as shortly afterwards Lambert was sent on for the disappointing Coutinho and we went to a midfield diamond with two up top.
Rodgers may have got it wrong to begin with but his in game substitutions and tactical switches are a definite strength. He was hamstrung somewhat last season due to the paucity of options on the bench. That’s no longer the case, Lambert provides a Plan B, while we still have Lallana and Markovic to come back, and perhaps even a new striker to add to the mix.
The introduction of Lambert and resulting switch to the diamond certainly worked. Having the extra body up front combined with Sterling playing more centrally seemed to give us extra impetus and possibly caught Southampton off guard. We got some crosses in, caused some confusion in their box and eventually scored when Sterling did well to win and direct a header Sturridge’s way, and the striker diverted it in with a deft touch for a record setting 36th goal in his first 50 games for the club.
I don’t want to draw too many comparisons with the Stoke game a year ago as we actually played very well that day; it was just great goalkeeping and bad luck that kept the game so tight and ensured that nervous finale. This was nowhere as good as that, but there are some similarities in that Sturridge got the winner and Mignolet’s late heroics preserved the win for us.
The save he made from Schneiderlin’s late shot was stunning, but it shouldn’t have been needed as Skrtel was clearly nudged under the ball by Pelle as he went to head clear. Clattenburg missed it, which summed up his day. He was erratic all afternoon, constantly ignoring fouls and looking to play advantage when there was none.
He ignored a clear trip on Sturridge right on the edge of the box because he claimed Yoshida got a tiny touch on the ball. He was right, the defender did get a faint touch but so what? Sturridge had gone past him and was still in possession, faint touch or not, and he was tripped up. That’s a foul all day.
Booking Manquillo was harsh too, considering the Spanish youngster had been on the receiving end of two almost identical fouls to the one he was carded for. Clattenburg is comfortably the league’s best referee for me though and it is the first game of the season I suppose. If players are lacking a little sharpness, maybe refs do too? Having said that, I doubt I’d be this charitable had Schneiderlin’s shot gone in!
After surviving that crossbar incident (and Long somehow missing the follow up) we did a decent enough job of taking the ball into the corners and seeing out time for what could prove to be a massive win for us. When you’re challenging for top spot every game matters and you simply can’t afford any daft slip ups because they will cost you. When you’re competing for 4th it’s not the end of the world if you have the occasional mishap, but if you have loftier aims then you just can’t lose (or even draw) games that you’re expected to win.
To put it in perspective, had we beaten Southampton at Anfield last season we would have been champions. That’s how small a margin it was, and that’s why these three points were so important for us, especially given how poor we were on the day.
The positives aside from the result were Mignolet, Sterling (star man for me), Henderson (not great but did well under the circumstances), Lovren and Manquillo. Lovren really looks the business so far, very commanding and assured, and crucially he’s a talker. Skrtel (who was also decent) will benefit from playing alongside him I think, and Sakho may have his work cut out getting into the side.
Manquillo was steady and confident but I think some fans may have gone a little overboard on his performance. He did ok I thought and for a 19 year old kid making a debut in a new league, he can be well pleased with his efforts. He didn’t look nervous and stuck to his task well against a difficult opponent, but it's too early to be able to assess him properly.
He was our best full back in this game though that’s for sure. Johnson has started this season in the manner he ended the last one. At least Manquillo tries to stop crosses coming in, that’s something Johnson could learn from.
When fit Jon Flanagan would be my first choice right back but Manquillo has made a promising start and will hopefully prove to be reliable enough that we can just bin Johnson once Moreno comes in at left back. Sadly I can’t see that happening somehow, Brendan seems to have a blind spot where Johnson is concerned. He probably should have been dropped for Cissokho last season based on form, but it didn’t happen and probably won’t happen this year either.
One last point, I saw that monstrosity “Mighty Red” skulking around pitchside before the game. When the club first inflicted him on us they did so on the basis that he wasn’t going to be at games, he was just there to entertain kids at club functions and the like. That was fair enough, but if they think they can now start sneaking him into games like that Fred the Red embarrassment at Old Trafford or that Gunnersaurus loser at Arsenal, they can think again. He needs banning from Anfield, unless they want to let him job swap with Glen Johnson, I’d probably be ok with that.
Team: Mignolet; Manquillo, Skrtel, Lovren, Johnson; Lucas (Allen), Gerrard; Henderson, Coutinho (Lambert), Sterling; Sturridge:
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