Well lads, I did warn yous all prior to the game that some of you were seemingly being overly confident, brushing Southampton off as average. They did exactly what I warned- pressed us intelligently and constantly, took control of the midfield battle for large parts and used their aerial advantage to great effect.
Reality check. Swansea (a) and this game were always going to be tough tests, to only come away with one point is frustrating however. That's not to say we deserved anything today, we were lacklustre. A couple of good efforts from Gerrard from free kicks and penalty appeal turned down aside, we didn't create nearly enough. Southampton sensed we were without our two most creative footballers (Suarez and Coutinho) and thus decided to take the game to us in large parts, which was a wise move on their behalf. Pochettino seems to know how to play against all the big teams, by no means do I expect ourselves to be the only top side beaten by Saints this season.
That's not to excuse our own performances though, which was pitiful. Lack of effort and quality on show. I said before the game that Southampton play very narrow, without a natural winger, so we needed to counter that by playing with width. Unfortunately we did not do that. I know we were without Johnson and Cissokho, but Sterling would have been perfect today to supplement Moses on the other wing. And to play four centre-backs, well for me that showed too much respect to Saints. We should have played to our strengths seeing as it was at Anfield against a weaker team. Put them on the backfoot. Instead we handed them the initiative, and I doubt anyone was surprised we conceded from a set piece.
Aspas worryingly w*nk again, got to hope he's still finding his feet, but even if he is it was just abysmal from him. Incredibly weak physically; he can get away with that in Spain but not in this country, where you come up against many stronger players. Don't think anyone else was horrific, although the only players worthy of any credit whatsoever for their performances were Mignolet, Toure, Sakho and Moses in my opinion. All four of whom happen to be new signings. Not sure if that's a good or bad sign, will take it as a good one for the time being, in the hope that players who have been here a while buck their ideas up.
Still, looking to be positive, we have eight more points at this stage than we did last season. We'd had a tougher start last season and played better football despite the lack of results, whereas this time around it's generally been good results mixed in with some dire football (and the odd bit of good). Funny game, football. No doubt I'd take the latter every time though. We also have two very winnable games coming up. I said that Swansea and Southampton would be equally tough, but I expect Sunderland in their current state to be a game we absolutely must win, and then of course we should always be beating Crystal Palace at Anfield. No excuse in the next two games. Particularly with the other bit of good news...
Suarez is back! We may not particularly like the guy anymore but I think we can all appreciate his talent. He is our best player and will help take the burden off of Sturridge. Suarez alone occupies at least two opposition defenders, which should also benefit the likes of Moses, Henderson and Gerrard offensively. With him back in the ranks, we're much more potent all of a sudden and, rather than look to grind out 1-0 wins as we have so far, should be looking to bag a few goals against Sunderland and Palace. Ideally we'll start to play better too.
Still can be seen as a good start to the season lads, chins up. Win at least three of our next four prior to a tough run of fixtures and I'll be a happy fella.
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