Grinding our way through the start of the holiday onslaught of fixtures.
At the moment, LFC are not only coming off of two nice victories, but are also beginning to get slightly more healthy as a squad. Southampton, meanwhile are coming off of a loss to lowly Norwich City (which may have gotten the benefit of the “new manager bounce” in that game).
A glance at the table would indicate that Southampton have had a decent season so far, as they currently sit in 13th place. But, just as the table is crowded at the top end, so too is it crowded at the bottom. Southampton have only 14 points, which puts them just five points over the relegation zone. It’s not horrible. But it’s also not safe. Southampton have had a few impressive results, most notably managing to eke out a nil-nil draw against all-powerful Pep and his Sky Blues. And, despite having a poor season last year, Southampton nonetheless managed to win in its most recent visit to Anfield.
But that was then…
Tomorrow’s matchup SHOULD be a very easy one for the Reds, relative to most Premier League encounters. Southampton generally play aggressively. They usually press (although not always with a high press), and they also like to play out from the back. Indeed, Southampton have attempted fewer long passes this season than any other team in the league. Curiously, the top three MOST long pass attempts in the league thus far are: 1) Liverpool; 2) Man City; and 3) Burnley. Statistics. 🙂
In any event, as we saw last week against Arsenal, playing out from the back against Liverpool is a very dangerous proposition. Few teams do it. Against Liverpool, most teams after recovering the ball deep in their own half just hit it long and hope. A few, like Brentford, bravely keep a couple of attackers high up the pitch when defending, so that they have a good outlet whenever they gain possession — but that still involves a long pass over the head of the LFC forwards and midfielders. Against LFC, even mighty City — which hardly ever hoofs a directionless clearance — nonetheless tends to pass almost exclusively along the sides of the pitch while in their own half, in order to avoid giving the ball away in the middle, where the turnover is more dangerous.
But, based on what I know about Southampton, they are likely to try to work their way slowly out from the back using short passes — and often going through the middle of the pitch — just as Arsenal did. Good luck with that.
More rotation is likely tomorrow. Keïta is apparently still nursing the hamstring, although they had expected to have him back in training this week. And so we are left muttering the Keïta clarion call: “maybe next week…” I expect Henderson, Fabinho, and Milner to start tomorrow, given that: a) all of them were fit enough to come off the bench on Wednesday; b) Ox and Thiago have both started the other two games this week; and c) the other three senior central mids are still out of commission.
Matip probably needs a rest, and VVD will return. Robbo and Trent should both come back in after a mid-week rest. The forwards should be the usual three (given Firmino’s ongoing absence).
Thus:
LFC 4 – Southampton 0
Make it so.
