Liverpool made a good showing at Anfield, picking up three points against Southampton.
Liverpool 3 – 1 Southampton
Liverpool: Firmino 5’, Núñez 21’, 43’
Southampton: Adams 9’
Pre-Match
The makeshift pause on the season comes after this afternoon’s match against Southampton. After this, the players will be going off to the World Cup for the next month. The midfield of Thiago, Harvey Elliott, and Fabinho should be a good match for Southampton.
The most important and earth-shattering Liverpool news is that Alisson Becker has shaved his beard?? Who let him think this was a good idea??
First Half
Liverpool strike first in the fifth minute. Andy Robertson served a ball into the box on a free kick. Firmino got his head on it nearly at the 18-yard box and somehow made it past the Southampton goalkeeper and into the far corner.
The Reds don’t have much time to celebrate however, because moments later, an almost exact replica of the set piece happened on the other end with the same result. James Ward-Prowse delivered the ball to the head of Ché Adams, who beat Alisson to even the score.
Both goals were the result of lackluster defending, which is concerning, unless you’re here for the lolz, in which case, potentially buckle up.
In the 17th minute, Mohamed Salah nearly scored Liverpool’s second, however as he barreled towards the oncoming ball, he could only direct his shot straight to Bazunu.
Never fear, though, the dominance that Liverpool regained over the flow of the game paid off at 21 minutes. Liverpool got several bites of the apple, as the ball got lobbed into and back out of the box several times. Finally, Elliott found Darwin Núñez on the left, who scored Liverpool’s second of the game.
Armstrong denies Núñez a brace from pointblank range, and then Núñez couldn’t quite find his feet to take advantage when Robertson got control of the rebound.
Moments before the break, he gets it right, coming in at the front post to connect with Robertson’s cross. The goal itself was very well-worked, starting with Firmino, who found Robertson.
Second Half
Liverpool came out in the second half hunting for their fourth goal. An early corner came to nothing, with Firmino’s header sailing over the crossbar.
60 minutes in, things got wibbly-wobbly, with Alisson forced into two big saves sandwiching a slick bit of thievery from Salah to snatch the ball from the foot of Bella-Kotchap and race towards an open goal. He was tugged from behind when he was clear through on goal, but the referee waved away his appeal.
Virgil van Dijk nearly gets his head on a fourth, but the ball isn’t quite on target.
Harvey Elliott and Roberto Firmino make way for James Milner and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Adams nearly got another for Southampton, but Alisson made a stunning save to deny him. Something about lack of a beard helping his velocity??
At 85 minutes, Klopp made a triple change, with Robertson making way for Tsimikas, Fabio Carvalho on for game winner Núñez, and Nat Phillips replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold to finish off the game.
Final Thoughts
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p id=”5eOqF2″>Liverpool pulled off a win to cap a good run of games before their World Cup break. The three points puts them on 22 points and into sixth place for the time being. Now we hope for no injuries and for our players to return in good spirits and ready to fight through the winter.
