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This was a great win. Potentially huge, as it's games like this where successful sides really separate themselves from the rest. Like many of the games in the early part of last season, it wasn’t especially pretty but it didn’t need to be. It’s all about results, especially when the circumstances are as difficult as this. Klopp described it as the “biggest potential banana skin ever”. Bit over the top maybe, but this was a huge test. The players travelled halfway across the world, came through extra time and a penalty shoot out and then had to go and play on the South Coast at 3pm on a Saturday. It’s never an easy place for us to go even under normal circumstances as they are always desperate to stick to us because we keep taking their best players. It was a fixture where we could easily have come unstuck, but the lads put on their big boy pants and dug in to get the win. In fairness it was so nearly much more than the scrappy grind it ended up as. After going 2-0 up we were flying and could have buried them completely had the third goal come. It didn’t, and then Adrian gifted them a late one to set up a tense finale. It was Leicester last year all over again. The similarities are uncanny. Mane and Firmino put us 2-0 up only for the the keeper to have a brain fart that left us hanging on. The main difference is that after we let in that daft goal at Leicester we kept them well under control and they never threatened to get another. The only reason Southampton didn’t complete a comeback was because Ings missed an absolute sitter. Cheers lad, appreciate it. Ins had scored the goal that got them back into it, but he didn’t really know much about it. Adrian just inexplicably kicked it right at him and it ricocheted into the net. Great pressure from Ings but that’s unforgivable that. What Alisson did last year was probably worse because it was so irresponsible and arrogant, but Adrian’s mistake was equally infuriating because he was just so unbelievably casual. What the fuck was he thinking? He Trent in acres but he ignored him and attempted a pass to Matip that had zero room for error. The only thing I will say in slight mitigation is that our defenders were pissing me off all day, continually passing the ball back to him even though everyone knew he had a bum ankle. He almost got caught in the first half as he took too long to get his clearance away. That should have been enough for the back four to think “yeah let’s keep it away from him”. But no, they kept passing it back to him and eventually he fucked up. Where was that pitch invading fan when we needed him? It didn’t cost us much (although any goal conceded pisses me off as our defensive record last year was something to be proud of and I’d like to beat it this year), but it took some of the shine off what was shaping up to be a really impressive win. The first half was shite but the goal just before the break lifted us and we came out after the break and did really well. The game completely turned on one moment of magic from a former Southampton player. Gotta love Sadio. It’s not enough that he’s been stealing his team-mates celebrations for years, he’s now started copying their goals. That goal had Coutinho written all over it. Absolutely brilliant. He’s got a new cerebration now that he sees as his own, even though Bobby has done it before and pulled him on instagram the other day saying “Sadii don’t copy me please!”. That was funny, but the reply from Sadio just made me want to hug him. “Huh? It’s different to yours Bobby! This is going to be my new celebration for this season. Don’t discourage me!”. “Don’t discourage me” hahaha bless his little cotton socks. I love Sadio Mané. He’s just such a genuinely lovely lad isn’t he? He’s also been the best of the front three for the last 12 months now. He’s no longer the ‘third man’ of that group. He’s top class and he’s been averaging almost a goal a game in 2019 now. He had another great game and was involved in everything we did. Bobby was really quiet in the first half and although Mo was looking good again (the goals haven’t come but he’s looked in brilliant form so far this season), it was Mané who stood out as the biggest threat. Southampton had been the better side until the goal and they had their chances. Adrian made some good saves to keep us on level terms but we were just predictably flat. Based on their midweek exertions I expected a performance like this to be honest. It’s hard, and any criticism of the team needs to be tempered because of it. You’re not going to get fluent football under these circumstances and all you can ask is for them to hang in there and just find a way to win. They did it, just as they did so many times last season. ‘Mentality Monsters’ is right. The second half display was terrific though. Southampton couldn’t get out of their own half as we just strangled the life out of them. We stepped it right up and created several great chances. We should have scored more than just the one more really. Sadio produced a great ball to send Mo clear but his shot hit the keeper’s foot. Then Mané got in down the left and put one on a plate for Bobby, but his shot rolled inches wide (would have been a ‘team goal’ of the season contender). No matter, soon after that Sadio robbed a defender and fed Bobby again, and this time he finished it superbly. We were flying in that second half. Robbo went close but was denied by the keeper (another one that would have had ‘team goal of the season’ written all over it) and Matip flicked a Milner shot just wide. It was all very comfortable until Adrian dropped that bollock. Was it just me who was pissed off that he didn’t reference it in his post match tweet. Instead of the usual bollocks about ‘great team win. big three points’ etc t would have been nice for him to acknowledge what he did. I don’t think I’m being too harsh here, as it’s not like I expect an apology from him, but at least reference it even if you make a joke of it. The good thing is that just like Alisson’s blunder last year it didn’t cost us any points. Alisson was full of contrition afterwards though and promised to never do anything like that again, and so far he hasn’t. Hopefully Adrian learns his lesson too. This is the thing with keepers who are good with their feet. They think they’re better than they are. Say what you like about the Mig, but he’d never get caught like that because he would never be that casual about his own ability that he’d take a risk like that. I don’t buy into the theory that Alisson’s absence is the reason we look more vulnerable though. It’s hardly Adrian’s fault that he’s having so many shots to save. It’s not like he’s playing in midfield or defence. That’s where the problem lies currently. I don’t pay too much attention to all the XG stuff, but the nerds who do seem concerned about what’s happening right now. Apparently this was our worst XG defensive performance since Lovren’s nightmare against Spurs at Wembley. Chelsea the other night was even worse. Even if you don’t put any stock in such stats it’s still fairly obvious that we’re not right defensively at the moment. It started in pre-season and it’s carried on into the real games. I’m not concerned about the long term as I’m confident we’ll get it right, but there has to be a little worry about the short term purely because there is so little margin for error if we want to win the title. Every game matters and if we defend like this against Arsenal next week it could be costly, as the one thing they can do is attack. At least we have a full week on the training ground to iron out a few of these issues. Need to make the most of those while we can, because once the CL kicks in we won’t have that luxury. Overall though I’m fucking made up with the lads. A 100% start despite also having to play ‘Cup’ games against City and Chelsea. They know how to win and they’ve got massive balls. Star man is Sadio. By a mile. Ox was probably the pick of the rest though and it was good to see him running around, enjoying himself in midfield rather than being a passenger on the wing. I’d keep him in the side for the time being, especially for home games, as he gives us that bit of extra drive. Team: Adrian; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Milner (Fabinho), Oxlade-Chamberlain (Henderson); Salah (Origi), Firmino, Mané: