Daniel Agger's headed winner just before half-time was nothing less than Liverpool deserved having controlled possession and missed a host of chances to have put the game beyond doubt. The win gave the home team our first back to back to win since September 2011 and provided a strong filip following the midweek defeat at Spurs.
Lucas Leiva returning to the fold since injuring himself in the pre-match warm up against Man City back in September, provided the licence for Shelvey to provide support to Suarez. That Steven Gerrard had probably his most influential passing game of the season was down in no small part to the calming influence of Lucas in the holding role and it’s a great tribute to the Brazilian's resilience that he was substituted two minutes from time.
Brendan Rodgers said “I thought he was excellent. He’s come so far in training, I felt I needed to get him into the games,” added Rodgers.
“He’s another piece to what we’re trying to do here and you seen the difference he makes when he’s in the team.
“He offers the team great stability and he can deal with the ball, which is important.
“My plan was to give him 60-65 minutes, but he was comfortable and it was probably only in the last 10 minutes that he started to tire, which is when I took him off.
“It was a very, very good performance for him and it’s great to see him back playing.”
The opening skirmishes saw Kirby born Rickie Lambert flash a shot past the post. Liverpool through the excellent Glen Johnson went close with a near post flick following Suarez cross. Liverpool's led by Gerrard, Suarez, Shelvey and the excellent Johnson psythed through the Southampton rearguard action at will.
As is the way these days the lack of potency infront of goal causes tension throughout the Anfiled faithfull. Jonjo Shelvey and Luis Suarez had shots saved by keeper Paulo Gazzaniga. Shlevey again, put through by a dainty Gerrard ball, unleashed a rasping angled drive reminiscent of Gerrard in his heyday which smashed against the far post.
It seemed Liverpool's possession would not be rewarded particularly when Suarez free-kick struck the crossbar, though this time Johnson picked up the rebound and cutting outside crossed a little behind Agger who athletically produced a powerful swivel header into the top corner of the net.
The one-way traffic continued in the second-half with Enrique screwing a toe poke just wide and had a fierce drive well saved by Gazzaniga, by far Southampton's busiest player. On another day Suarez could have added to his so far prolific season, he missed yet another golden chance, shooting wide when it seemed easier to score.
Southampton unlike Spurs in midweek were reduced to speculative potshots from distance and never looked like being able to peg back Agger's goal. But as with too many games this season the lack of a killer instinct upfront keeps opponents in the game when they should be well and truly buried.
Liverpool's resolve will be sorely tested against West Ham, without Suarez who picked up a fifth yellow card of the season for a needless handball.
Kop-Post Man of The Match: Steven Gerrard - Produced a master-class of passing, probing and keeping the game flowing. Some of his passes inside the full-back were a delight and in having Lucas back to add assurance to the Liverpool midfield we just may see Gerrard adding to his personal scoring column.
Comment: Excellent to see Lucas Leiva back with his understated, but effective play. It will be interesting to see how Joe Allen is deployed in the future, especially as it was he and not the returning Brazilian who was substituted with twenty minutes to go.
Brendan Rodgers: "The game should have been put to bed well before it was.
"No matter how much you dominate the game, if it's still only 1-0 going into the final 10 minutes it can always offer you a bit of a challenge where you have to defend.
"There's no question we should have been out of sight, but the most important thing is it was a terrific performance and another win at Anfield. We continue with another three points and moving up the league."
Team: 25 Reina; 2 Johnson; 3 Jose Enrique; 5 Agger; 37 Skrtel; 8 Gerrard; 21 Lucas (Carragher - 88'); 24 Allen (Henderson - 69'); 31 Sterling; 33 Shelvey; 7 Suarez
Substitutes: 1 Jones; 23 Carragher; 47 Wisdom; 4 Sahin; 14 Henderson; 19 Downing; 30 Suso
Interesting blog, especially the observations about Lucas, Allen and Gerrard. Only seen the highlights so far. Touch wood. good to note this blogs very positive support for Glen Johnson, one of best players so far this season in whatever position he has been deployed in.
ReplyDeleteQuite a few positives have from this game, but I thought again wasted chances and the score line could have been a bit more.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see Lucas back, and his movement through the game, a very important player.
Agree Glen Johnson put in another great and important performance/player, stronger and grown natural on the left back and producing good play.
Also a point on Enrique slowly finding his game back, and getting much deeper in to the box, good to see that.
Totally agree with everyone about the influence of the returning Lucas assisting the team shape and progress.
ReplyDeleteBig concern for me will be where will the goals come from now that Suarez is out of the West ham game.
Big decision to be made is the prolific Adam Morgan ready to be unleashed on the Premiership as a starter only time will tell.
I only saw the 5 minute highlights on MOTD but we looked in control of the game and we got the three points which is the most important thing. We hit the post and the bar, I wonder if our woodwork tally this season will beat last seasons? I reckon it’ll be Jonjo leading the line next Sunday. I wouldn’t mind seeing Sterling play as a lone striker through the middle, apparently he used to play the odd game there for the reserves and did well.
Deletehttp://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/jose-and-glen-were-unplayable
DeleteI was really encouraged by the first half performance and like rodgers says in the above it was the first time I really saw the relentless pressing that we were all told to expect in the summer. Every time a southampton player got the ball there were three liverpool players round them and they were barely able to string three passes together. Obviously have to keep opposition in mind but as vic says the return of lucas seemed to instantly give the midfield a much better balance and both allen and gerrard looked more comfortable and enrique and johnson were able to basically play as wingers.
The only thing that was missing was bit of quality in the final third with final ball often a bit off but hopefully with a bit of an injection of additional quality/experience in jan that will improve.....
Irratates me a little how open rodgers is about his tactics as can't see it being overly beneficial to reveal exactly what it is your trying to do. On the hand, whilst I think it will be massive up hill task to qualify for champs league I like the way he is talking about that as an objective as opposed to constantly trying to manage expectations like hodgson or redknapp would do....
I agree That Rogers is far too open about his tactics which can come across as being out of line with the way we do things at the club. All Rogers is actually describing is the well established Liverpool way of playing. Welcome back Lucas, hopefully Allen will now come out of the shadows! Apparently, he's made over 1,000 passes this season, including 3 in forward passes!
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