On paper this looked like a difficult game for the Saints, but it was a pretty comfortable afternoon for the south coast side.
Liverpool looked pretty lacklustre for the majority of the game and struggled to break Southampton down. In a game of very few chances for Southampton it was about getting ten men behind the ball and trying to break on the counter. Southampton’s shape from the get-go looked a bit odd, with both the wide players sitting deep almost as if we were adopting a 4-5-1. Leaving Manolo Gabbiadini isolated up top so he barely had anything to have a go at resulted in him getting substituted early.
Liverpool haven’t played the best football in recent times and it was poor again today from the team pushing to secure a top four place. Taking into consideration that Liverpool and Southampton have played each other four times this season and Southampton haven’t conceded a goal, says something about the way Claude Puel is setting up his teams to play Liverpool.
After a disappointing result for Southampton in the Premier League let’s take a look at five players who impressed us from the Southampton squad.
