Match week two saw Liverpool playing Southampton away at St.Mary’s in front of crowd of 31,700. Match referee was Andre Marriner. Lineups: lineup - Southampton lineup(1) - Liverpool                     Liverpool made three changes to the starting eleven that played Chelsea midweek in the UEFA Super Cup, bringing on Trent Alexander-Arnold, Georginio Wijnaldum and Firmino for Joe Gomez, Jordan Henderson and Divock Origi. Southampton was able to name their captain in the starting lineup after recovering from an illness. And Maya Yoshida was also restored to the team. Danny Ings was left on the bench and unable to start against his former side. There was good news for Liverpool as Mo Salah had managed to score 5 goals in 4 games prior to this match. First Half Analysis: Southampton started the half brilliantly, attacking Liverpool and controlling the midfield. Oriol Romeu was their key man, imposing himself as the enforcer for the home team. Liverpool’s midfield trio containing Wijnaldum, Milner and Oxlade-Chamberlain failed to link well with their forwards due to this and were also unable to release their full backs. For Southampton this gave rise for Nathan Redmond to play freely and was very good in the first half. Adrian almost gifted the home side with the opening goal of the match when he was caught by James Ward-Prowse trying to clear the ball; luckily it ended being just a goal kick. Southampton were again denied when Maya Yoshida jumped highest to reach a James Ward-Prowse corner, only for Adrian to deny him with a brilliant save from close range. Liverpool were unable to keep the ball well in the first half, tiredness may have been a factor. On the other hand, Southampton looked compact and solid. Liverpool scored against the run of play, thanks to a brilliant strike from former Saints man Sadio Mane. Second Half Analysis: The second half saw a resurgent Liverpool side, placing Southampton on the back foot. Salah was sent on his way with a wonderful through ball and Angus Gunn did brilliantly well to deny the Liverpool forward. There was a period of incessant pressure by Liverpool, and Southampton struggled to win the ball. Danny Ings was brought on by Southampton replacing Oriol Romeu and this led to Liverpool winning the midfield battles easily. Mane and Firmino combined brilliantly on the left hand side for Liverpool, and the former set up the latter with a chance which went just wide of the post. The second goal came for Liverpool after they won the ball from a throw-in, and Firmino rounded off a few players and coolly put if past Gunn. A lot of Liverpool’s attack came from the left hand side, Mane and Robertson heavily involved in the build-up plays. Southampton managed to find a goal after a howler from Liverpool goalkeeper Adrian who kicked it straight to the feet of oncoming Danny Ings. The Southampton goal scorer had an opportunity in the dying minutes to equalize but failed to capitalize and saw the shot go just past the post. MOTM: Andy Robertson. The Liverpool left back had the most touches off the ball than anybody else on the field. He was equally good at defending and attacking for Liverpool and supported Mane in creating spaces on the left hand side. Things to take away:

  1. Liverpool looked decently comfortable in defence sparing the goal keeper who showed lapses in concentration from time to time. Trent Alexander-Arnold also failed to recover at times and help out in defence after going on the attack.
  2. Sadio Mane looks to be in red hot form after scoring 3 goals in the last 2 games. He has already scored 20 goals for Liverpool this calendar year, truly a man in form!
  3. Southampton played well in the first half, they were compact and solid. Unfortunately they couldn’t replicate it in the second half. Ralph Hasenhüttl has a good team with a lot of young players, but they look to be in for another year of battling to stay in the premier league.