Southampton at Home match thread

[Hades]

Without Mignolet, we're in big trouble. Real complacency again today. Just expecting to rock up and hope Mignolet or Sturridge do all the work.

 

I will tear my hair out if I see Gerrard and Lucas continuing to start every game. There's not so much a gap in our midfield as a a deep ocean trench. 

[bizzle10]

not getting the big name attacking player in the summer will come back to haunt us imho we are short when it comes to getting top 4 luckily suarez is back will that be enough to compete against arse and spurs ??? and even the bitters i really hope so

[Red Phoenix]

Just woke up to check livescore in the 88th minute then watch the last few on a stream, not even sure what to say. Sterling had a great chance there at the end, and Luis looked pretty pissed off when the camera went to him too, glad he's back shortly. Am half guessing we've caved maybe because we're lacking the creativity of Luis and Coutinho? That when you take those two out of the side we're basically lost for that edge? Maybe if a few of our players had more experience we wouldn't have had this happen, or at least it would've been a lot less likely.

 

edit : just realized Agger was playing too, wow.

[Kobayashi Maru]

A team void of any organisation and ideas.  Defensively we're all at sea and continue to chase shadows.  When in possession, we only seem to have a single gear and the opposition force the pressure consistently.

 

The tactics and tempo from the 2nd half of last season seems to have changed or dropped.  We rarely have maintained any semblence of consistency.  The fact we're still prepared to risk tinkering with tactics and the team selection rather than keeping it safe, probably does not help.

 

Gerrard looked heavy legged, maybe from the internationals and Capital Cup.

 

Hopefully, it is a wake up call.  Though at this stage of the season we really should'nt need it.

[Adebisi]

Today was one of them games where I had a feeling before I even saw the team that we'd struggle. When I saw the team, I knew we were going to struggle. 

People were criticising Johnson before the Mancs game, but it's clear how important he is to the way we play. Without him and Coutinho I would be tempted to go 3-5-2 with Henderson playing rightwing-back. Suarez behind Moses and Sturridge but obviously it wouldn't be a fixed formation, Moses could pull wide when needed and Suarez could roam. 

If Kelly was fit I don't think we'd have to change formations, but until he is I hope we do. Toure needs to be in the centre and so does Sahko. 

That was dogshit today, but I could feel it coming a mile off. When we're struggling to get going after 30 minutes and the other team is playing well it's obvious. We never seem to start shit and turn it round. 

[skend04]

Completely down to Rodgers that. Why were we playing 4 centre backs in defence? Quite a head scratcher that one and if Suarez doesn't walk back into this side as intimated earlier in the week I'll kick the effing door in.

[kalasoma]

I thought this was going to be a midfield battle. Ours was so porous you could run an Airbus through it. We're not rocking up to OT next week like that. It just won't work.

 

Ugh and to make it worse, Everton remain unbeaten.

[J-V]

When it counts, we bottle it. Same thing from last season.

 

Stevie needs to be benched,he was awful. Lucas needs to be sent far away. Once again, a non-existent midfield.

 

Rodgers needs to explain the team selection for today, too. We have a razor thin margin for error if we hope to achieve anything this year- it just got narrower.

 

Who's going to take his place Alberto?  I think not.

 

[GJM]

Depressing. Not just the result but the fact that we seem to have lost all identity to our play. All of the things that threatened to become a hallmark if this team - pressing high, retention of the ball, patience and intelligence - none of it on show today.

 

Some perspective, I guess, before I reach for the razor: no Suarez, no Johnson, no Coutinho, no Allen, half fit Agger, and Sturridge still not 100%. Some mitigation there, but the starting line up was bizarre and we completely failed to respond after going behind - both worrying.

[Brigant Moloch]

not getting the big name attacking player in the summer will come back to haunt us imho we are short when it comes to getting top 4 luckily suarez is back will that be enough to compete against arse and spurs ??? and even the bitters i really hope so

 

that;s not the biggest concern, our midfield is just shite, they don't do the tracking, Lucas is poor, Gerrard has to protect him all the time and Henderson has to do all the running, we lack a proper defensive midfielder and it was a major fucking mistake we didn't buy one, Capoue went to spurs for 8mln, Wanyama to southampton for 12-13, Medel to Cardiff for 11, it's a crime we entered the season with such unbalanced midfield

[Red House]

Pochettino is gonna make a good manager I reckon, completely outsmarted Rodgers. Southampton did everything they had to do to perfection today. On the other hand, Rodgers couldn't have got it much worse.

[redfromtubebar]

Just looking at who was on the bench, it's clear that our squad still lacks depth. We were always going to be up against it without our two best players in Suarez and Coutinho, plus Johnson who's crucial to how we play. 

 

Throw in a bizarre team selection that was more suited to an away fixture at Stoke and it was the recipe for disaster.

 

If there's anything positive that came out of today then I hope it highlighted to Rodgers how abject we are in central midfield. Lucas and Gerrard are just too one paced these days and cannot dominate the game. I think Joe Allen will walk back into this team, at least he provides different gears. 

 

What's most disappointing is all the heads that dropped as the game went on. The players gave up ten minutes before the end of the game. 

[TheHowieLama]

 

 

Oh, and Agger. He seems so important to our defence now that it's almost silly. Maybe Sakho can grow into a decent player though which will prevent the chances of this happening in the future too.

 

I'd guess this isn't as bad as some will make out because we're unlikely to spend many games without Agger, Luis and Coutinho at the same time. Still shocking though.

 

Seeing as how you didn't watch the game, let me fill you in. Agger was piss poor - certainly he was not 100%.

[Carvalho Diablo]

All on Rodgers that defeat today. The moment he decided to be a clever cunt and pick 4 centre backs he handed the momentum to Southampton.

 

If he learns from this and doesn't make the same fucking awful mistake again then I can live with that, not the end of the world by any means.

 

By the time Rodgers tried to change things around we were already one goal down, Saints were set, they had the momentum and could sit back and pick us off.

 

Our players were always chasing the game from that moment and we lost all cohesion, shape and looked ragged and disorgainsed.

 

Not being wise after the event because I said it at the start of the thread, but I hate it when centre backs are shunted out as make shift full backs, the two positions demand completely different skill sets and very very few centre halves can play there successfully.

 

A bad day from start to finish, only Henderson and Mignolet (obviously) can really come out of that game with any credit.

[Adam_M]

Apart from 2 excellent efforts from dead ball situations and that cross to Sturridge that the latter somehow got his shoulder to, Gerrard was somehow less than pisspoor today. Constantly losing posession especially in the 2nd half, when he started showing that hangdog facial expression of his when the chips were down I knew the game was lost. Do the right thing Brendan, either shift him to the right where his crossings are still top-notch or bench him.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Pochettino is gonna make a good manager I reckon, completely outsmarted Rodgers. Southampton did everything they had to do to perfection today. On the other hand, Rodgers couldn't have got it much worse.

 

Rodgers outsmarted Rodgers.

 

As Shanks once said, "Football is a simply game, don't try to be a clever cunt."

[Red Phoenix]

Seeing as how you didn't watch the game, let me fill you in. Agger was piss poor - certainly he was not 100%.

 

Yeah sorry, just went back and edited my post, didn't realize he was playing. Hopefully he's back to his best shortly and the defence will settle though. Maybe Rodgers would've been better risking three at the back to make the midfield better today as well. You'd think we'd be able to make that work against Southampton anyway.

 

What a fucked up way to make a mess of such a good start to the season.

[Dr. J]

The most troubling thing about today is that once we start to have the slightest bit of expectation and buzz about the club, we throw in a game like today. It happened again and again last season - right up until Soton away we had people talking about how 4th place was still a possibility, and it was. And every fucking time we bottled it.

 

That's worrisome.

[Adebisi]

Rodgers played 4 centrebacks, but what would everyone else have done (other than change formation) considering Kelly isn't fit and Enrique was apparently carrying a knock?

Sounds like something he was forced to do, rather than him thinking 'It's only Southampton' fuck it' 

I personally would have gone 3-5-2, would have done the same against Swansea too. 

[redfromtubebar]

I have to wonder how Rodgers will face the Gerrard situation. He's going to have to face it head on sooner or later this season because sometimes Stevie needs to be coming off the bench rather than completing the ninety regardless of performance. 

 

I acknowledge Gerrard had his best season for 4 seasons last year but let's be realistic, the guy is 33 years old and not the player he once was. He can still be a major player for us but this doesn't have to be as a guaranteed starter. I'd much rather have Gerrard coming off the bench with 25 minutes to go than anybody else. Trouble is, we didn't address central midfield at all this summer so our options are rather limited. I guess we can just hope that Joe Allen comes good. It's possible. 

[Maca]

hello everyone

Im not sure I get the criticism of the back 4 - Toure Sakho and Agger have all played full back.  Wisdom was atrocious v Swansea and Enrique who I really like was awful when he came on so maybe he isn't fit or is unwell.  Kelly just coming back from long term injury played midweek for under 21s so I have no problems with that back 4.  Its not great but was as good as we could have played. 

Hopefully some of you will now see how good Johnson really is.

Our main problem is midfield we are unable to control it.  Playing 4-3-3 doesn't help either.

Steven Gerrrard is still one of the best centre mids in the world - having him play just in front of the centre halves is destroying his game. 

Lucas is average and needs to be a squad player.

We need a proper destroyer in midfield with presence as we are being bullied in midfield.  Gerrard needs to be just behind the striker a al Gerrard-Torres or given a  free role which will give us more potency than we are achieving with 4-3-3

When Swansea and Southampton destroy you in midfield you know you have a problem.

 

Add that to the fact that 3 up front isn't actually working as we have only scored 5 goals in 5 games against mediocre opponents then hopefully Brendan will revert to 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1

 

We have played poorly the last game and a half but we are still top of the league (at least until tomorrow)  and we have suarez to come back ....... things are looking up

Don't get too downbeat lads its Saturday - forget the footy and bring on the debauchery.

 

I'm Maca   pleased to meet u  all

[Boss]

Problem is we've bought the wrong type of players this year, Mignolet's worst attribute is his distribution, Sakho is a physical beast but can't control the ball, Alberto is nowhere near Suso's level, Illori is too young to make an impact, Toure is not a possession based player, Aspas certainly isn't because he losses the ball all the time. Barre Mignolet has anyone improved us?

[Kobayashi Maru]

The fact we can't hold the ball for any length of time, let alone retrieve it once we've lost it is the biggest worry for me.  Nothing to do with bench strength, playing 4 centre backs etc.  Man for man, we have far more quality in the playing XI than most of the teams we have played.  Yet, today we were outplayed and the same can be said against other teams we have played at various times this season.

[therevivalist]

Agger doesn't justify his place anymore. 

Coming back from injury, maybe he's not fully fit?!

 

But overall it was a game that exposed the depth of our squad as many of us were saying. And the stupid ref did play his part as well when we're denied a clear penalty. Our midfield needs a commanding general, a young Gerrard, who unfortunately doesn't have the legs to start every game at this stage. Moses was ace and Sakho did very well. But we should be ok when Suarez returns.

[mike23]

_{Most of the good work from the start of the season undone with that pathetic performance. No idea what Rodgers was thinking playing 4 centrebacks. Easy to be wise after the event and I haven't read the start of this thread but I doubt anyone on here looked at that lineup at the start of the game and thought 'oh that's a good idea.' We ended up with the team we should have started with at the end but it was too late by then. Aspas looked completely lost again and really shouldn't be starting any games. Under Rodgers we do normally create chances even when playing poorly but they could have added on a couple of hours injury time in that second half and we still probably wouldn't have troubled their keeper. Really poor goal conceded from a corner we just gave away with a couple of really sloppy bits of play. Not many players come out of that with much credit but Gerrard and Lucas were particularly poor and the midfield is becoming a real concern.}

 

_{We had some key players out obviously but still no excuse to be that bad at home against Southampton. Hopefully the return of Suarez will help us but that performance today and the last half hour at Swansea shows how much we miss Coutinho.}