Southampton 0:2 Liverpool. In game & post match debate.

Excellent result in a vital fixture, and yet another clean sheet away from home. Absolutely delighted.

This team, under this manager, are demonstrating resilience in abundance. We are proving with every game, despite not every performance being as good as the next, that we have something extra within us to call upon, and it's that something that has brought us through a tough period and into one of real optimism for the season ahead.

On we roll...

What a tremendous victory under very difficult conditions out there today, what a goal by Coutinho, something special that was and surely a contender for goal of the season?

I gave my mom to Mignolet, turned his season round brilliantly, special praise must go to Martin Skrtel and Jordan Ibe, what a great future that lad's got.

Wasn't a pretty performance out there today, but sometimes you have to battle hard, play ugly to win the points and we did just that today.

Beat Spurs and Southampton who were/are both above us at the time of playing them, what's to say we can't do the same against City next Sunday, I believe we can do just that, looking forward to that game immensley, in the meantime, we've got the return leg in Turkey on Thursday, and it will be hard but I believe we can go there and get the result we need to see us safely through to the next round.

Loved that 3rd Kit as well, looked cool on the lads....and the boss black jacket they had on before the game kicked off was superb.

Where's the Brendan Rodgers 'out' brigade now eh? Gone very quiet these last few games 

Happy and made up with that result today lads....We Go Again

YNWA

I think you're on to something.  I think he's the kind of player who needs a more dominant strike partner.  Wonder if that was the problem when he was getting picked for his previous clubs - whether he was used as a lone striker more often.

Anyway, difficult to analyse him today - he wasn't on long but he did have a couple of chances I would have expected a bit more from.

Disagree to an extent, if anything Daniel was the biggest moaner at Suarez last season on the pitch rather than the other way around. However he does need someone at the side of him at least as good to create competition.

Massive, massive result. Not our best performance but we were solid in the second half after Moreno came on and saw the game out very professionally. Think we were due the luck regarding the penalties after some of the decisions against us this season!

Ibe, Hendo, Skrtel and Mignolet were excellent.

So happy to win one of these awkward type of games, winning whilst not playing well at all defence and goalkeeper solid and Raheem ruthless when his chance came.
Can moves to the Left and Lovren in on the right side of the back three, looks like Can will move into midfield to replace Allen when the beast Sakho returns.
After another away win in the bag maybe pundits and papers might talk about us closing the gap on Gooners and Scum instead of banging on about a penalty...probably not.

 

Now this was a massive win for the REDS
 yet we still find time time to slam one of the players , who we ALL were waiting for him to return ,
 maybe he was a bit selfish today, agreed , he was only on  for 25/30 mins,
  Maybe its his eagerness  to get to his best, JUST lets give him more time to get to his  best
   YNWA

My Micky ratings:

Mignolet: He's becoming a little boring now in terms of writing about him every game. Every match seemingly he makes a good save (he made an excellent one today), doesn't f*ck it up anymore and even his kicking is reasonably solid. His take from the free kick second half which bounced in front of him was goalkeeping of the very highest order. He's giving us a real dilemma for the summer now, as it's by no means certain we'll get anyone in who is able to perform better than he currently is. That said, the way he was six weeks ago I'm probably better myself so it's a tricky one. 8/10.

Ibe: Once again an excellent performance from the kid. One thing which has been conveniently overlooked by the media is that until a couple of weeks ago he was a winger, and normally a left winger at that. Brendan has brought him into right wing back and from nowhere he looks like a worldie, had that been Mourinho they'd be hailing his tactical genius for making the switch. He's going to be a bit of a unit too is Ibe, if it all goes pear shaped he can always come and do the door at the Alex. My suspicion is that it won't though, he has everything needed to be a top player. 8/10.

The future captain: Another step towards his renaissance. Mostly good, one silly tackle and one where he was caught ball watching. Overall though a good re-introduction, and second half in particular he did very well to be as solid as he while carrying a booking. 7/10.

Skrtel: Imperious. Right now, on form is there a better centre half in the league? MOM 9/10

Can: The more I see him the more I'm convinced that he isn't a defender at all. I still aren't totally sure what he is (although Yaya Toure style rampaging midfielder is my current pick). Fortunately, he is such a good player that you could probably stick him in goal and he'd look good. What a buy this lad was at 10 million quid, and was excellent again today, although how he didn't get booked for the foul on Kline I'll never know 8/10.

Markovic: Looked like a fish out of water and was poor. Since his renaissance period which lasted around a month, he's gone back into his shell again has Lazar. Part of his problem today was that he had gel on his hair and the rain made it run into his eyes so he looked like he was going to blub all the time. This means two things. One, we were underprepared for the rain as he wasn't alone in "hair-gel gate", and two, he needs to toghen the f*** up. 4/10.

Allen: Inexplicably escaped giving a penalty away, and has obviously been studying tapes of Lucas in terms of giving dodgy free kicks away around the box. In modern football, if you are going to be as diminutive as Allen and play in central midfield you need to be stupendously good to overcome the power deficit, unfortunately Joe isn't. That said he did make a couple of timely interventions second half and was generally tidy in possession. 6/10.

Henderson: Trademark all action performance, but alongside Allen never really got to grips with Southamptons midfield. Good foul for the yellow at the end, and generally did OK. 7/10.

Lallana: Offered very little and looked to me like the occasion got to him. 5/10.

Sterling: Did score but offered little else. Has the look of a player who is being impacted by his contract negotiations to me, the sooner we get it sorted the better. Still, like I say he did score so therefore a 6/10.

Coutinho: Aside from the goal did very little, but when it's a goal like that who gives a f***? THE telling moment of the whole match, an incredible strike. 8/10.

Subs:

Moreno: It wouldn't be Alberto if we didn't have one bonkers moment, and his tackle outside the box late on was classic Moreno. That said he did better than Markovic did in there (I know, I hear you) and had a hand in the second goal. 7/10.

Sturridge: Took up some good positions but was at times overly greedy. I'm afraid we're going to see more of this now that Daniel is well and truly the "main man". 5/10.

Johnson: Not on long enough to mark really, but did manage to waste a couple of minutes @rsing about with a sore shoulder. 5/10.


Brendan: Yet another win and clean sheet. I thought we didn't play overly well, but we still won. I'm really beginning to look back on our dodgy start with a new focus now. Had we gone better in the first few months we'd be going for the title again never mind fourth. Incredible job (IMHO) the boss is doing.   

Disagree to an extent, if anything Daniel was the biggest moaner at Suarez last season on the pitch rather than the other way around. However he does need someone at the side of him at least as good to create competition.

I think they both moaned at each other tbh. Point is, he doesn't have that counter-balance. No need to make anything of it, it's just a side of his game that he needs to be aware of, and that's the manager's job to take care of.

11 minute highlights for anybody who missed the game:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2huenk_southampton-0-2-liverpool-extended-highlights-22-02-2015-premier-league_sport

Always more enjoyable when you grind out a win like that showing reals guts and determination, something sorely missing earlier in the season.

If we are honest kevin was a real friend for us today.

I think one of the main reasons we struggled so much was the omission of Sakho, it's only when he is not playing you notice how vital he is to the way we play in starting our attacks from the back. Compare that to Lovren today who constantly hoofed the ball up field or it went back to Migs. Too be fair Can was not at his best either, but conditions didn't help.
Sakho has become our playmaker at the back.

Even though we didn't play our best happy with the result which is what matters.

I think one of the main reasons we struggled so much was the omission of Sakho, it's only when he is not playing you notice how vital he is to the way we play in starting our attacks from the back. Compare that to Lovren today who constantly hoofed the ball up field or it went back to Migs. Too be fair Can was not at his best either, but conditions didn't help.
Sakho has become our playmaker at the back.

Even though we didn't play our best happy with the result which is what matters.

Your right about Sakho, I can't recall many other centre-halves out there who can get the ball into the strikers/forwards feet as often as Sakho does and he is very accurate with the pass and gets the perfect amount of pace on it. Hopefully he is back quickly.

Fantastic result today, particularly following on from last weeks huge win against spurs. If we can do the same when against the mancs in a couple of weeks time we will be in great shape for the run in. I do sorry about our lack of depth at the CM position at the moment given the sheer volume of games coming up (assuming we get past Besitkas) so the sooner we can get the skipper back the better (despite the feelings some of you have). I suspect Can will be needed in there as well.

I gave MOM to Mignolet, remarkable turnaround from the man and he deserves all the credit in the world, some excellent saves, solid takes and a general look of being unbeatable today. Really impressive when to see a player who was taking universal flak turn it around so convincingly.

Manager did well today to being on Moreno for Markovic.

Great result. Today was a must win game and we got the 3 points and that's all what matters. It's about time we won playing ugly anyway.

Our football wasn't great today but every player put a shift in. Gave skrtel motm, thought he was solid but mignolet deserves a lot of credit again too.

Keep it going reds

Fantastic 3 points today Absolutely awful conditions to play ball, but the lads put in a really professional performance. Clean sheet again too, can't underestimate how much we've improved at the back - no comparison to the mess of early season. Fair fucks to BR. Southampton are no pushover, but we suffocated them and picked them off.  Right in the race for top4. City next up, even tougher test, should be a great match

Mignolet - 8    Transformed. Showing lots of confidence behind the 3 CBs. Always was as good a shot stopper as anyone. Now starting to command area. Keep it up
Can - 8      Not a CB, but tough, tenacious, good on the ball. Continues to improve, we have a real player here, and could move up into the anchor CM role next season.
Skyrtel - 9   His form in the middle of the back 3 is the key to recent solidity. Excellent today. And relatively unsung recently. MOTM.
Lovren - 7   Seems to need to lunge an bit more than the others, and very tentative in the first half. But grew into it. Decent day today
Allen - 8 / Hendo - 8       Strangled the Saints midfield. Showed incredible energy/fitness, and passed the ball well.  Not missing SG or Lucas, makes a difference when we have lads in the middle to play at this tempo. Well done boys!
Markovic - 6   Subbed off at HT, wasn't terrible but needs to do a LOT more. Still not really seeing it from him, apart from the odd flash aside, needs to be more consistent.
Ibe - 8      Really good again on the ball and in general play. Strong boy. Still needs to work a bit on his final ball, as he gets into really good positions, just need to add end product.
Lallana - 5           A Borini-esque display - ran around a lot but did pretty much nothing. A day to forget. Shouldn't have started tbh.
Coutinho - 8   For his goal mainly, and energy. Few wayward passes, but did pretty well on a day that was not ideal for skilful ballplayers.
Sterling - 7   Good goal, did OK. Not his worst or best performance.
Subs
Sturridge - 6   Disappointing, too selfish, and poor final ball.  Would Mario have been worse? Not great from Studge today.
Moreno - 7.5   Did well, good energy, defended OK, setup 2nd goal. Good today from the young lad.
Johnson -      Didn't see enough tbh.

Delighted with that. 6 points from Spuds and Saints. Brilliant return

Very good win in a tough game.

Missed the game so getting ready for the highlights in a while but delighted with another three points.

Skrtel: Imperious. Right now, on form is there a better centre half in the league? MOM 9/10 

Our very own Sakho Mick.

Martin not far behind for me though and great to see him once again proving doubters wrong. You just don't get to play the amount of games he has done for us if he was as bad as smoe people say he is.

Enjoyed your ratings by the way.

A fan of Lallana but think a bit of his character showed through today and was simply not up to . Didnt deserve the win but will take anything that gets us closer. Would have taken 7/9 from spurs,saints and city and think still would

Mignolet - 8    Good showing, although kicking long to Sterling was a strange one to me.
Can - 7.5 Another good showing, showing that he shouldn't play in a back 2 but I still think CB in a back 3 is fine for him
Skrtel - 9   MOTM
Lovren - 6   Didn't look like he knew how to tackle tbh.
Allen - 7 Typical Allen, solid, nothing special, very few mistakes.
Hendo - 8 Was everywhere as usual, good performance
Markovic - 5 Provided nothing, doesn't like getting his hair wet, disappointing to see but it can't be easy coming from Portugal to that. Get back on the horse.
Ibe - 8  Exciting isn't he.
Lallana - 5   Didn't look up for it at all.
Coutinho - 8  That strike alone deserves an 8, also a solid performance.
Sterling - 7   Like him more as an attacking mid, but nice to see he can fill in up front and still get the goals, a true talent.
Subs
Sturridge - 3   Check your F***ing ego Daniel, didn't like what I seen today.
Moreno - 7 I like Berty, we looked much better with him on.
Johnson -  N/A

I gave my mom to Mignolet,

What did your Mom think about that? 

Great result, a really BIG one for us. City beckon!. 

Thanks to everyone on this forum for the ratings and analysis - always a pleasure to read.

What did your Mom think about that? 

Ha ha ha ha.....she'd love it I'm sure 

Must make mention of Mignolets supreme ball handling skills in those atrocious conditions. He looks unbelievably confident at the moment, hope he keeps that up for years to come. Certainly changed my opinion of him.

Well done Migs.

Is right mate the mancs been doing it for years, not saying they're champions elect am saying they play sh*t and win.

Exactly.
Can't be free flowing attacking football every game.

Sometimes it's got to be ground out and today was one of those.

3 points of 3rd.
2 points of United in 4th.



Ibe.

What a January signing!!!

Exactly.
Can't be free flowing attacking football every game.

Sometimes it's got to be ground out and today was one of those.

3 points of 3rd.
2 points of United in 4th.



Ibe.

What a January signing!!!

Agree completely, Ibe is a real gem.