Wijanldum: “We Played Well But We Forgot One Thing, And That Was To Score”

The boss isn’t the only one to take a more direct and positive approach to the season. Despite coming away goalless yesterday at Southampton, it was pretty clear that were still many positives to be taken from the game. While the mood in the dressing room may have been one of disappointment, Georginio Wijnaldum revealed to James Pearce at the Echo that the boss was positive following the draw.

“The manager was positive,” Wijnaldum said. “He said ‘you must not be negative about the game, we did a lot of good things, we created a lot of chances and stopped them creating chances’. In the second half we played in their half. He said the only thing is we didn’t score, but sometimes in these games you can concede a goal and lose the game so the result was not that bad.

“The manager is a positive guy, a positive manager and he was satisfied with the game we played. We have to keep it in perspective.”

Liverpool did a lot of things right yesterday, and were entirely unlucky not to score, but did well to keep their opponents from capitalizing on that luck. Lesser squads could have easily let one goal in and had the wind taken from their sails, but the Reds did well to keep that from happening.

“We played well but we forgot one thing and that was to score,” Wijnaldum added. “Sometimes you have games like that when you play well but don’t score. This was that game. Of course we are disappointed. When you play a game like this and create a lot of chances you expect to score a goal.

“It could have been worse than it is. They had one chance with the header of (Charlie) Austin and if you are unlucky then he makes a goal.”

Wijnaldum, to his credit, remains just as positive as the manager in looking back on the draw, knowing what’s most important - at least, when it’s not the result. In reality, the literal only downside to the performance was their inability to find the back of the net and even that isn’t something to scoff at.

“In the second half especially, we dominated the game and stopped Southampton.

“It was one of those days. You can have days like this but I don’t want to see it as a negative. We did a lot of things well, a few things wrong, but if you look at the game we did more good than bad.

“We are only disappointed about the result because we created a lot of chances and didn’t score – not the performance.”

We go again.