Liverpool 2 Southampton 1 - New SAS see off stubborn Saints

Match report by dedlfc

After the long wait for the season to start again after the World Cup we are now back in action and its great to have meaningful Liverpool matches to watch again as pre-season in my opinion is just about getting players fitness levels back up and embedding new players into the squad.

With so many new recruits bought by us in the summer transfer window it was nice to see two of them Lovren and Manquillo given their full home league debuts in today's game.

Javier Manquillo, on loan from Atletico Madrid, made his debut alongside fellow debutant Lovren who lined up next to Martin Skrtel in the back line. Lucas Leiva got the nod alongside Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson in midfield with new boy Emre Can starting on the bench.

Lambert will have to wait to make his big arrival against his former club.

We had two major concerns going into the new season:

• We had not adequately replaced our goal machine Suarez who had scored 31 goals last season with a world class striker.

• With all the players we had brought in to improve the squad depth we were not sure if they could all gel straightaway and forge an attempt on the title like last season or would we go down the Spurs route and buy too many players which does not fix the problem but further adds to it?  Only time will tell which path we will follow.

Sure, it's only the opening weekend, but with Man Utd already losing at home yesterday and Arsenal and Spurs getting off to winning but unconvincing starts with Chelsea and Manchester City's first games of the season yet to come (at time of writing) we needed to get off to a strong start today and make ourselves look more convincing than our title rivals by putting Southampton to the sword.

The one surprise was Lucas being preferred ahead of Joe Allen and new boy Emre Can, but the Brazilian has something to prove after slipping down the Anfield pecking order...and if he wants a more regular start, then he will have to deliver from the off.  If not then he can expect to be relegated to the role Jose Enrique (now presumably finds himself in with Xabi Moreno now signing) which is waiting at the exit door with his bags packed.

The early action in the game revolved around long distance shots from Sturridge and the Southampton tactic of restricting the possession going to our midfield magician Coutinho - Koeman's master plan was working very well until a determined Henderson won the ball back and then had a quick look up and slipped Sterling free with a lovely ball ahead of him.  The midfielder curled the ball over the Saints defence and right into the winger's stride for the 19-year-old to stroke it into the far corner of the goal.  Forster chose the wrong side and dropped to his knees looking helpless.

A classy opening goal for us from start to the cool finish.

Sterling celebrates opening goal of Liverpool's season

Instead of increasing our tempo to try and get a vital second goal we proceeded to sit back and allow the Saints to come onto us.

A tame shot from Saints impressive midfielder Ward-Prowse showed that Southampton were beginning to get a foothold in the game but lacked the cutting edge to hurt us.

Schneiderlin delivered a shot across Mignolet's goal which was tipped wide by our keeper.

It was the Saints last chance of the half in which we had started the better but Southampton had finished the more confident side.

Dedlfc - halftime round up

Lovren - has looked composed, assured and very commanding and completed 43 passes out of 43 passes in the first half.

Manquillo - has looked shaky at times but very pacy and aggressive

Coutinho - has been non- existent and with Lallana back from injury soon will need to up his game to continue in the team.

The second half started with Southampton again putting us under serious pressure and the inevitable equaliser came through a well-worked goal down the right for Southampton as Clyne runs down the right, lays the ball off to Tadic and then received the return pass via an audacious backheel (with Lucas failing to track Clyne's run) as he steamed in on the underlap and into Liverpool's area in space.  Mignolet wasn't able to react as Clyne smashed his shot in off the crossbar.

We were now jittery and with Mignolet beginning to display nerves we were really looking like we were struggling to win this game. 

Rodgers at this point needed to make a change to try and take back the initiative but before this could take place the Saints nearly and should have gone ahead.

Ward-Prowse again played a great ball from the left flank into the box that fell to Steven Davis who inexplicably shot straight at Mignolet when it seemed easier to score! What a terrible miss but a lifeline for us! Phew!

This was a massive test of our credentials and desire to win.  Rodgers made a positive substitution bringing on Liverpool fan Rickie Lambert to make his Premier League debut for the club at Anfield in place of the disappointing Coutinho.

We then retook the lead 2-1 as Sturridge gets his left foot onto a Sterling header down in the box.

Sturridge celebrates scoring the all important winner

Southampton bounced back with Shane Long going close, firing off a shot that looked destined to fly into the net via the underside of the crossbar.  Fortunately, Mignolet finally remembered where he was and produced a sharp reflex save to ensure the ball deflects away from the goal.

The £12 million Irish man shook his head in frustration, but his team mates weren't finished and soon poured forward looking for an equaliser.

Which set up a frantic finish at Anfield but we held out for the vital win in our first league game without Suarez.

Liverpool: Mignolet, Manquillo, Skrtel, Lovren, Johnson; Gerrard, Lucas, Henderson; Sterling, Sturridge, Coutinho.

Subs: Jones, Toure, Sakho, Allen, Ibe, Can, Lambert.

Southampton: Forster; Clyne, Fonte, Yoshida, Bertrand; Wanyama, Schneiderlin, S Davis; Ward-Prowse, Tadić, Pellè.

Subs: K Davis, Long, Taïder, Cork, Hooiveld, Isgrove, Stephens.

Dedlfc - Summary of match

It was a game that featured two wonderfully crafted goals from Sterling and Clyne, but was finally settled by a toe-poke from Daniel Sturridge.

Besides the odd few moments of quality however, there was an odd lack of spark to the occasion as both sides looked happy to hold their lines until they were forced to go for the throat.

Southampton have looked organised and industrious, and they have done what few teams managed here last season, which is to reduce the flow of chances for the home side. 

We have looked competent and interested, but not at our flowing best, and that is as much down to the persistence of the visitors as it was to a slightly surprising slow start from us, given we were ferocious in our attitude last season.

This game now seems to have posed more questions than solving them:

• Can we cope without the creative and industrious work of Suarez?

• Can we get Coutinho into the games as our creative spark?

• Can we find a high quality striker to increase the intensity of the team and assist Sturridge who struggled with his work rate today despite his winning goal?

• Why did we not persist with Can in this game rather than playing the disappointing Lucas who has been insisting he wants to leave the club?

• Has Enrique still got a future at the club as he wasn't even listed on the bench for the game despite new signing Moreno not being eligible to play in this game?

In reality we got away with a win here as we did not perform well as a team despite the efforts of new signing Lovren to marshall the team to the finish

The industry of Joe Allen and then the presence of Rickie Lambert - with both emerging as second half subs - changed the course of the game and provided the platform for victory, no matter how lucky.

This showed the positive nature of having more depth in the side compared to last season and displays why the whole squad will be just as important as the first team starters.

Man of the match - Sterling- took his goal very well and out of our three pronged attacking players was the brightest and constant threat throughout continuing his form from pre-season and the World Cup.

Comments from Sturridge after the game

"Of course there is pressure on myself to get the goals now with Luis Suarez out of the team. It's important for myself and the lads to step up and it's important as a collective unit that we score the goals.

"Are we stronger this season? I think so. No disrespect to Luis. He's a great player and will be missed. But we move on. We have proved we can win games and score goals."