Liverpool 2:1 Southampton. In game and post match relief.

You thought Allen was poor mate, may I ask why?

I thought Allen offered us more than we had before his arrival, was quick kept our play positive and was always on the move.

Our midfield could of cost us that. Allen was harrying and hassling but he didn't come on to help control the game, likewise Hendo and Gerrard at the end. He hit three or so passes where they went to nobody and in the last ten minutes when he should be getting on the ball to help shut the game he was nowhere.

Thought the game was crying out for Can. We had zero dynamism in the centre of the park outside of a bright 20-25 minutes from Hendo in the first half.

Christ on a bike.

Snuck away with two points there.

Our midfield could of cost us that. Allen was harrying and hassling but he didn't come on to help control the game, likewise Hendo and Gerrard at the end. He hit three or so passes where they went to nobody and in the last ten minutes when he should be getting on the ball to help shut the game he was nowhere.

Thought the game was crying out for Can. We had zero dynamism in the centre of the park outside of a bright 20-25 minutes from Hendo in the first half.

Fair enough mate, different perspectives and all that. But personally i saw his harrying and hassling as positive and helped us get into better positions and be more involved in the oppositions half, where Coutinho/Lucas didn't offer this as well.

I know all the complimentary words are going to Lovren as he was the new boy in town, but it has to be said that Skrtel had a pretty good game IMO.

In parts mate but he is still a bit of a liability, I counted three high balls that he allowed to bounce which put him into sticky situations and I still think that he creates his own high lit reel ie. his heroic blocks and slide tackles are often the result of his own positioning in the first place. I'm hoping that Lovren (who was my mom) will boss him about because they have the makings of a good partnership.

Dire performance throughout but Sterling was our saviour. The shape of the team just wasn't there. Quite a contrast to how we performed against Dortmund.

Seeing Allen and Lambert as our impact subs after £100m was spent was quite worrying. Not sure we can perform any worse than what we had today. All three points and a lesson for the future.

Ynwa

I know all the complimentary words are going to Lovren as he was the new boy in town, but it has to be said that Skrtel had a pretty good game IMO.

Looked solid together, confident defending set pieces, barely put a foot wrong.

Thought one of them was gonna nick a goal from Gerrard's free kick!

I know all the complimentary words are going to Lovren as he was the new boy in town, but it has to be said that Skrtel had a pretty good game IMO.

He did.

Sakho will find it hard to get in now.

Seeing Allen and Lambert as our impact subs after £100m was spent was quite worrying.

What do you expect when two of those players are still injured?

Well sometimes you have to win ugly. Was an embarrassing performance after the first half hour looked positive. You would have thought we were the team selling off all our players, we looked scared everytime they came at us and void of any ideas going forward.

Johnson was utter sh*te once again, just stood there watching their goal and was well out of position that nearly led to a 2nd goal through Davis. Sooner he is out the team the better! Lucas wasn't much better either, constantly giving the ball away and getting shoved off it.

But we won, we are already ahead of the Mancs and have a fair few players to return to the team and that will be signing for us.

Do feel we'd have looked much better if we had gone with Can instead of Lucas though. It's odd that it was Lucas starting because all pre-season it has been Can.

Onwards and upwards, they have been a bogey team for us over the last few years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQOSNuKe6OI&src_vid=URHDlT4Ibws&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_3832272043

All goals

What do you expect when two of those players are still injured?

Exactly. Lallana, Markovic, Moreno, Can were all seemingly injured or unavailable to play any major part in that match.

Four players that I'd say would become first team players soon.

Thought Lucas was anonymous for the most part, Allen certainly made his presence known when he replaced him.   

Fair enough mate, different perspectives and all that. But personally i saw his harrying and hassling as positive and helped us get into better positions and be more involved in the oppositions half, where Coutinho/Lucas didn't offer this as well.

Yeah like I said, I thought Lucas played relatively well, but he just wasn't what we needed. No go forward from deep in midfield really stifled our attack and isolated Coutinho in the middle especially when he was being man marked by Wanyama.

Allen came on to just do the same job as Lucas and didn't do that at a level different to Lucas I felt.

Big shout out for Henderson today too

Big shout out for Henderson today too

Very good game.

Big shout out for Henderson today too

His assist for Sterling was sublime to say the least.

We never do it easy do we?

As for MOTM, hard pushed between Migs, Sterling & Lovren. Probably closest were Migs and Raheem or 'Razzer' as Sturridge calls him, so i went for Migs for his two game saving saves.

Anyhoo, three points in the bag and a bit of work to do in training but I think it's obvious that we're going to be a force this season after we've bedded in.

What do you expect when two of those players are still injured?

Exactly mate. Everyone on about replacing Luis, you have to give Brendan a bit of a free pass on that one when his main signings in attack (Marko and Lallana) are both out. I don't for a moment think he will ever start with a Lucas/Gerrard/Hendo midfield at home when given a choice it was a bit of necessity today. I say that also because I think Can will be ahead in the pecking order over Lucas when he's back to full fitness.

There's just no mistake that Johnson was by far our weakest link in both defence and attack. I never really saw him doing any of his own work at LB. If it wasn't Hendo it was Lovren being pulled across. As for going forward I don't think Johnson could have been much worse if he tried.

Have to agree with those talking about the impact Lambert had. Southampton finished the game with about 80% possession from our goal and when you have Lambert on you expect to have an outlet pass, we clearly didn't. I know he's not a typical "hold up man" but I've seen him offer absolutely nothing so far and like I keep harping on, getting that striker in could very well make or break our entire season, it is that important.

Well sometimes you have to win ugly. Was an embarrassing performance after the first half hour looked positive. You would have thought we were the team selling off all our players, we looked scared everytime they came at us and void of any ideas going forward.

Johnson was utter sh*te once again, just stood there watching their goal and was well out of position that nearly led to a 2nd goal through Davis. Sooner he is out the team the better! Lucas wasn't much better either, constantly giving the ball away and getting shoved off it.

But we won, we are already ahead of the Mancs and have a fair few players to return to the team and that will be signing for us.

The mancs claimed countless titles ''winning ugly'' mate.

I know all the complimentary words are going to Lovren as he was the new boy in town, but it has to be said that Skrtel had a pretty good game IMO.

Was my MOTM. I'd like to see the stats on how many interceptions he had and how many aerial duals he won. I love the guy and think he is seriously underrated by most on here.

Searching for a gif of the Mignolet save. If anyone can find one please post it.

No idea how he got a finger on that. Long thought he scored.

Okay, let me break down my thoughts on the game. I am personally torn between emotions, happiness and positivity towards the result and the points, however doubt and negativeness in regards to the team selection and actual performance.

Coutinho was poor for me and he had one of them games where nothing he did was quite good enough, over hit passes couldn't get the ball out of his feet quick enough, shame he was magical for Dortmund but not this game, but he will find his feet again soon enough.

Lucas and Johnson the two players who stuck out for me, for the wrong reasons, Johnson looks awkward on the ball whenever he gets it, slows down our play too much and makes it difficult for Sterling when going forward because he doesn't offer enough going forward. His defensive positioning for their goal was poor too as was Lucas's coincidentally. Lucas when playing alongside Gerrard for me brings Gerrards performance down and this is because it tempts Gerrard to step forward and this leaves us vulnerable because of the space Gerrard vacates. A criticism of Rodgers as well as Lucas, but Lucas doesn't compensate enough for that frailty in my opinion, he doesn't look for enough positive passes and isn't as astute defensively as he once was, when Allen come on i thought he changed the approach of our midfield and allowed us to get higher up the field and pose more of a threat.

Furthermore Manquillo and Sterling both impressed me as ever, Manquillo's speed and hunger was brilliant, he was rash at times but he never stopped running for us and gets tight to players which i like to see personally, because he lets them know his there with them all the way and he made a couple great and tackles and blocks, his only going to get better and better. Also towards the end of the half his width down the right was great to see, him Sturridge and Hendo linking up well keeping the ball was great. Sterling was strong on the turn, quick and direct and kept the ball well when needed, he really is going to be a star for us, his run for the goal was just as good as the finish and his hunger and desire in setting the goal up for Sturridge was great too.

Little word on Sturridge, looked good when running with the ball and i think that goal meant a lot for him, as he started last season so well i am sure in his head he wants to stay just as consistent and maybe get a goal in more games of the start of the season.

In hindsight the starting selecition was poor from Rodgers but he made sure it didn't cost us but he needs to rectify it from the start from the City game because they will be a lot more clinical than Southampton, poor performance but brilliant result. 

(sorry for waffling on)

Dire performance throughout but Sterling was our saviour. The shape of the team just wasn't there. Quite a contrast to how we performed against Dortmund.

Seeing Allen and Lambert as our impact subs after £100m was spent was quite worrying. Not sure we can perform any worse than what we had today. All three points and a lesson for the future.

Ynwa

Southampton equalised Clyne 56′
Allen came on at 63'
Lambert came on at 76'
Sturridge scored the WINNER at 79′

Allen and Lambert came on and they made an impact. We won.

What I find "worrying" is the fact that even though we did win, there are still negative posts here.

If you want to worry something, then start supporting Man Utd.