Report by
Dave Usher
We’ve been spoiled this season. We’ve had very few bad performances and even in the games when we’ve lost we’ve usually been the better side. This was by far the worst display of the season though. It was awful and we’re lucky that the tie isn’t already over, because Southampton deserved to win this by more than one goal.
They defended brilliantly and completely shut us down, but - unlike in the recent league meeting between the sides - when the opportunity was there to attack they went for it, and this could easily have been a 3-0 defeat for us but for some good goalkeeping, poor finishing and the crossbar. The good news is that it’s only half time and we get to play the second half at Anfield. The other good news is it’s only 1-0. It feels like we got out of jail.
That said, I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something not quite right and that the wheels might be about to come completely off in the next few weeks. This wasn’t just a bad performance, it was a massively worrying one for me. We looked slow all over the pitch and our players were getting knocked off the ball all night. Every time any of our lads got the ball anywhere near Southampton’s final third, they had two or three players swarming around them and possession was usually lost.
It looked like they had more men on the pitch than us, there was just no way through them at all, and even though their gameplan was mostly about keeping it tight, they still looked like scoring every time they ventured forward. How can we look like the tired team when Southampton have played more games than anybody this season?
Our attacks were just so predictable and easy to defend. We either tried to work it through the middle where they had ten players blocking off any space in and around the box, or we went pass pass pass from one side until the other and back again, before Milner put in a cross that Van Dijk headed clear. We had one chance in 90 minutes, and even that wasn’t a clear one.
Klopp put it down to them not reacting well to falling behind and he seemed very relaxed about the whole situation. I wish I was. Not only am I not entirely convinced we’ll turn this around to secure a place in the final, but I’m seriously concerned about how we’re going to cope without Mané over the next few weeks. Coutinho being back helps, but if you take Mané away, is this not basically just last season’s team? And we know how that ended up.
If you’d told me beforehand that we’d lose 1-0 I wouldn’t have been shocked by that. I was shocked at how we played though. Aside from Karius, who was good, and Lovren, who was ok, everybody else was way below par. Even the normally reliable ones like Clyne, Milner, Wijnaldum and Lallana were not at the races. As for Can and Sturridge, don’t get me fucking started.
I had some degree of sympathy for Sturridge in the first half, as he got no service whatsoever and many of the balls played up to him were in the air. He never wins those, he barely even challenges for them truth be told as it’s not a strength of his at all. There isn’t even a token gesture of a challenge half the time, defenders just win it completely unopposed.
When it was played into his feet though he was no better. He was either just knocked off it by Van Dijk or he dwelled on the ball for too long until he was just outnumbered and overpowered. By the end it felt like he’d just given up completely. Van Dijk just completely dominated him.
In the end Klopp had to send on a note for him, which I can exclusively reveal here….
Klopp was part of the problem too. His starting line up looked a little unbalanced. Bringing Lucas into midfield meant Lallana going into the front three. That doesn’t work. We know this. Lallana was bang average as a wide man in his first two seasons here and it was not until Klopp dropped him deeper into midfield that he really started to shine. He’s been fucking brilliant in midfield, so just keep him there and stop with this putting him in the front three bullshit. All that does is weaken us in two positions.
In fairness to Klopp, what other options did he have? Coutinho wasn’t ready to start, so that only really left Origi, who seems to have fallen right out of favour of late. Based on how he’s played in the last few games that’s not entirely surprising. If that’s any indicator of his form then he’s probably struggling in training too, hence him being benched.
Klopp needs to find a solution though or we're in trouble and the season could fizzle out into nothing, like last year. Hopefully Coutinho coming back in can paper over some these cracks that have started to appear, and it would help if Firmino finally snaps out of the three month funk he’s been in.
We need Henderson and Matip back too, and is there anyone other than Klopp who thinks that we don’t need to go into the transfer market this month? We’ve done so well to get ourselves into the position we are. Second in the league and one game away from a cup final, but these next few weeks are going to be make or break.
Not gonna lie, I'm fucking dreading Sunday now.
Team: Karius: Clyne, Lovren, Klavan, Milner; Lucas, Can, Wijnaldum (Coutinho); Lallana, Sturridge, Firmino (Origi):
Recommended Comments