Southampton 0, Liverpool 2: First Thoughts

Southampton 0
Liverpool 2 Salah 5’, Firmino 42’

• Pre-Match Thought: The biggest news of the morning is that following the Newcastle result, Southampton are now in the bottom three. That makes the announced lineup a little more tenuous and unsure, especially with the choice to rest Jordan Henderson and make Emre Can captain again. Grumble grumble grumble, here’s hoping we get the good Emre because we won’t have any Emre next week for Porto.
• Things are off to a fast start at St. Mary’s with Liverpool already pressing within an inch of their lives.
• GOAL! BOBBY! Five minutes in! Mohamed Salah picked up the second ball from a corner and starts the counterattack with Roberto Firmino sprinting down the middle, UNMARKED. Perfect.
• Liverpool are definitely playing like they have to prove they’re the better team against the team they buy half of their players from.
• The Orange Reds have settled into this game, with Karius looking more confident than ever. Literally as I typed this he made a ridiculous save WITH HIS CHEST.
• And then silly stuff happens like Matip trying to pass the ball and just firing it out of play. Cool.
• ALMOST! Mane had a gorgeous chance at 25 minutes (also holy cow it’s only been 25 minutes??) but sends it just barely wide.
• Not nearly as many boos as one would expect for this visit to St. Mary’s. I guess they hate Lovren more than van Dijk now?
• Yeah, no I can’t even rightly say Migs would’ve saved that - a rocket of a header from Southampton at near point blank range and Loris Karius thankfully tips it over the bar.
• Winner of the day: the kid with the sign that said “Born to play for Southampton . . . and then be sold to Liverpool.”
• GOAL! Bobby and Mo are the DREAM TEAM. Bobby sends a cheeky backheel to Mo who sends it home in clean fashion to make it two for the Reds. How do we have TWO players that are this good?
• Halftime: God willing and the creek don’t rise, this could be an easy win for Liverpool. But also this is Liverpool so it could end up in disappointment so who knows.
• We’re back! No changes, unsurprisingly, but Liverpool are doing well so I imagine the only changes to come later will be to preserve the attacking three for Porto later in the week.
• OH MY GOD KLOPP IS MAKING A SUB BEFORE 70 MINUTES IN - and it’s James Milner for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain? Okay, sure, whatever.
• And now this game has turned into a couple of yellow cards and not a whole lot else.
• Loads of missed chances for Sadio Mane today, making his fall in form feel all the more tragic. Literally at least four in this second half alone.
• Adam Lallana coming on for Bobby around the 78th minute and just in case you missed it, you can definitely hear the boos signaling another former Southampton player coming on for Liverpool.
• UGGGHHHH LALLANA JUST MISSED THE PERFECT SHOT WHY.
• Dejan Lovren comes on for Salah with four minutes left and gets a butt tap from Klopp even for it, I guess to counteract the second wave of boos coming from the home fans. I guess there’s no way he can really, totally screw it up at this point.
• Ooooooh look at all those empty seats. Southampton have completely just decided to take this 0-2 result. They’ve given up.
• Final Whistle: What a win, cementing Southampton’s spot in the bottom three and keeping Liverpool in the top four. Thankfully easy for the Reds, when it easily could’ve been the opposite.

We’ll be back shortly to take an in-depth look at everything that happened in today’s game with the full recap. Until then, let us know your take on the ups and downs of the match in the comments, and if you haven’t already, join the community on the Liverpool Offside, where we’ll have full coverage and lively in-game discussion for every match this season.