Liverpool were knocked out of the League Cup at the semi-final stage, once again failing to score against Southampton. If they fail to beat Antonio Conte’s men at Anfield next Tuesday, their flickering title hopes will be snuffed out and the threat of missing out on the top four altogether will become a real and present danger. If Liverpool come out with their fluid, attacking game-play, they can destroy the Saints easily, but if the visitors remain defensively solid and can counter at a blistering pace, then it will be a tight contest. Equally, it was also clear that the nature of their 1-0 win in the first leg had given them confidence.
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Perhaps the secret is out with Liverpool. A different one, for we have two games but neither of them is a Premier League fixture.
Liverpool’s loss to Swansea was their first at Anfield in over a year which added up to a spell 25 games so dropping another one in such quick succession would be quite a achievement even in this insane era of Merseyside unpredictability. The Brazilian worldwide will be hoping to inspire his side make a comeback in the second-leg of the EFL Cup semi-final clash.
Liverpool came back from two goals down against Swansea City, the Premier League’s bottom club, on Saturday only to concede a 74th-minute victor to Gylfi Sigurdsson. Perhaps history will repeat itself.
Saints goalkeeper Fraser Forster was in good form, while Daniel Sturridge missed a guilt edged chance from close range.
Klopp and Liverpool desperately want a trophy.
Despite Van Dijk’s possible absence offering a note of caution, Unders at odds-against looks extremely appealing and, to be honest, it’s not too hard to make a case for Under 1.5 at [4.2] so I’ll stake a point on that too. “If you are another team at the bottom of the league, then we have to defend 80 to 90 percent of the time, and 10 percent you can invest in counter-attacks and sometimes a set-piece, and all that stuff”. “Maybe we need to score a few more goals, but still we have an advantage”. “They are obviously not good enough”.
Running at Liverpool on the break, Saints were able to find 45th minute sub Long on the run and he finished coolly into the back of the net to give Southampton a famous win on the night. We can’t say it’s only the centre-half. The ref didn’t see the handball of Long and it doesn’t help in a game like this. These, however, were the first moments when Southampton looked in danger of losing their way. Especially considering the departure of Fonte, van Dijk has had to be the new leader in the back.
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Redmond’s speed and direct running was a prominent feature and there was a good balance to the way Southampton defended in numbers and then broke at speed.
