Southampton v Liverpool Pre-match thread Sat 16th March 3pm ko

Well after our excellent home win against Tottenham last Sunday, it's down to the South Coast to take on Southampton on Saturday.

Southampton have lost their last 3 games, in fact they haven't won since 9th Feb when they beat Man City 3-1 at home, whereas Liverpool are flying high and full of confidence with 12 goals in the last 3 League games.

Hopefully Pepe will be back between the sticks, he'd played so well at Wigan, it was a shame he was out last Sunday, but Jones did a good enough job in the end.

Hoping for another good win, Southampton are down in the relegation zone, so they'll be fighting hard for the points, but we have the players to get the much needed three points to keep our European hopes alive.

We beat them 1-0 at Anfield at the beginning of December with Agger getting the goal, and I can see us scoring a few more on Saturday 

We concentrated to win on Sunday we need to concentrate to avoid a potential 'Banana Skin' this weekend...think we should do well though.

Poll been added.

We concentrated to win on Sunday we need to concentrate to avoid a potential 'Banana Skin' this weekend...think we should do well though.

Really think we'll have to much for them, the form we're in, never take anything for granted though, and Brendan will make sure the lads know that.

Worries me that this is away. We really *should* batter them, but I won't be terribly surprised if they blindside us, unfortunately.

Looking forward to this one!

This one is on Setanta so i can watch it

This fixture has the makings of another Suarez show i think. We bossed the first game, hit the woodwork a couple of times and deserved to win by more than a goal. Hopefully we put on another strong team performance and be right up for this!

Worth noting in that game we had a front three of Suarez, Shelvey and Sterling. We now have an entirely new look!

Got a good feeling about this game, hopefully we can carry on our great form and our form in front of goal. Hope Luis manages to get a hat trick and take him past Torres' 24 in the league for us and just 1 behind his 33!

Will have to stay alert at the back though, they have shown this season they can hold their own, especially against City and United!

nice thread OP. was wondering when it will be posted up hehe around mid week, I start feeling the excitement and roam to our rival's forums to scope out their perspectives

anyways,... this is definitely a good test for us.  from last week's victory and the success we have had recently, this is one game that we 'should' win... now it's up the the lads to maintain that hunger, desire and consistency that has been our Achilles heel this season.  If we can pull out a convincing victory, then besides the BR system, the sync between players... we have really matured as a group

I suppose we'll probably line up something like this:

Reina
Johnson Carra Agger Enrique
Lucas Gerrard
Downing Suarez Coutinho
Sturridge

think we'll be alright.

That is indeed our strongest line up.

Gotta agree with you on seletion federer, and on paper/recent form we should win this one. Voted for easy win as that was the only 'win' option, but don't think it will be easy in any shape or form. Everyone knows we are capable of battering these, but a little complacency, lack of concentration, underestimate them or just plain ' don't think I have to work to hard today as its only Southampton'  This is what will shaft us. We need to go full bore, with the strongest side out, high tempo and get an early goal, then keep the presure on and press them hard. Anything less, and it truly could become the banana skin we all fear. With the bitters playing Man City, and not expecting to get anything from the game, that makes the win for us all the more important. Gotta nail this one, if we can continue with our current form, it could be 5 or 6 nil, but realisticly with our inconsistency i expect it to be 3 - 1 to us. Suarez hat trick for me.

I think we win this. I would really like us to score 4 here. Suarez with a hat trick and Sturrdge. I think Sturridge needs a goal to hit the groove again after a poor performance last week.

want to add that I would like to see Sturridge score one this weekend.  He's a good lad and i think sometimes it is tough playing with a guy like suarez who is a magnet for passes and goals.  with a goal here and there, Sturridge will come into stride and really give substantially more options for our mids... and definitely more trouble for the defenders

I suppose we'll probably line up something like this:

Reina
Johnson Carra Agger Enrique
Lucas Gerrard
Downing Suarez Coutinho
Sturridge

think we'll be alright.

Totally agree with this line-up but not convinced it will be an easy win as the poll asks, although I definitely think we'll have too much for them. Think we'll win by the odd goal and after the high of the Spurs game this is a tough game that the lads could easily under-estimate. Need really good tempo and intensity in our play early on, be a good test of mentality as much as ability this in my opinion.

2-1 to us.

We should win this for sure!
 I'd like to see:
         
               Jones
Johnson     Skrtel     Agger        Enrique
(Is wisdom injured?)

           Gerrard      Lucas
                       Hendo
Downing      Suarez       Coutinho

play Sturridge and Assaidi in the second half since we'll be leading by 3-0

The saints fighting for survival will play against there weight. Its important to get the first goal then i think they will fold quite easily. See reds winning 3-1 here with saurez, sturridge and enrique getting the honours.

That is indeed our strongest line up.

Absolutely it is. Hopefully a better performance from Sturridge up top and more of the same from Luis and Coutinho. Bit worried about defending free kicks and corners especially with Lambert in their attack. It really is a huge weakness in our game.

Looking for another good win here and our lads bringing the 3 points back to Anfield.I voted for a win in the poll but was a little dissapointed to see one of our own expect us to get beat.The way we have been playing lately we should be able to take Southampton apart.

Voted for a win but it won't be easy.
They are desperate for the points & we'll have to match them for commitment early doors.
Suarez & Sturridge both score 2-0 win
3 points

Seriously we should beat this team, 1 win in 7 or 8 since the new manager came in?...if Adkins was there, I would have thought, hmmm maybe a difficult one seeing how Arsenal & Man Utd struggled there.
Looks like the Southampton players want Adkins back as certainly not playing for the new one!

Yes, we need an early goal to unsettle them. Let's not be over confident. More importantly we have to continue pressing them, the goals will come naturally. Let Suarez continue with his twists and turns while Sturridge with his thunderbolt shots. If Sturridge could adjust his shooting accuracy a bit, he'll get a couple of goals.

Travel back home from India when this is on. Hopefully I'll be able to check the score when in transit in Dubai.

One of our tougher games left this one, need to be at the races from the first whistle or they could easily get something. A lot of big teams have struggled at St Marys.

Reina; Johnson, Carra, Agger, Enrique; Lucas, Gerrard, Hendo; Downing, Suarez, Coutinho.