Southamptons first match of the new season was against rival Liverpool who snuck up 3 big names of the Saints so far this transfer window. Coincidently the last name of all 3 players starts with an ‘L’ just like Liverpool themselves. Lovren was the only one of this trio to start, every time he managed to get the ball resulted in loud booing Southampton supporters.
The Southampton fans were loud from the start, as everyone could their ‘When the Saints go marching in…’ song much louder than the Liverpool fans managed to sing ‘You never walk alone’.
The Saints were starting 4 of their new signings. With Fraser Forster in goal, Ryan Bertrand as the left back, Dusan Tadic as the left wing and Graziano Pellè up front in the middle. Besides these 4 singings making their debut in the Premier League for Southampton, we still had Shane Long and Saphir Taïder on the bench. The most surprising thing is that there is no sign at all of our holy goalie Artur Boruc with Kelvin Davis being the substitute goalie.
Liverpool is trying to attack and even manages to get a few little shots within the first 10 minutes. But Fraser Forster is standing so tall that it is hard for Liverpool to beat him.
Raheem Sterling has looked dangerous from the start which makes it even more surprisingly that neither captain José Fonte nor Nathaniel Clyne is marking him, when he gets the ball in the 22nd minute. Sterling shoots from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner and scores. Forster couldn’t have prevented this.
Dusan Tadic gets a free kick in the 33rd minute, which James Ward-Prowse takes. His shot is so accurate that he almost scores, unfortunately Simon Mignolet manages to get his hands on the ball.
It seems like Morgan Schneiderlins mind is back at Southampton when he takes a shot from outside the box in the extra time. However Mignolet does save this shot in the top centre of the goal.
Southampton seem to be stronger at the start of the second half as they manage to get more ball possession and actually start to look dangerous.
Nathaniel Clyne gets the ball and passes it onto Dusan Tadic, while he continues to run upwards. Tadic reads Clyne’s play perfectly as he quickly flicks the ball backwards towards Clyne. Clyne then shoots from the centre of the box to the top right corner and Mignolet doesn’t stand a chance. Nathaniel Clyne draws Southampton level in the 55th minute.
Just 7 minutes later the Saints get another chance as James Ward-Prowse makes his way into the box, there he spots Steven Davis all free and passes it to him. Unfortunately shooting isn’t Davis his strongest asset as his right footed shot flies right into the hands of Mignolet.
New manager Ronald Koeman makes his first substitution in the 73rd minute of the match. Shane Long makes his way onto the field to replace Dusan Tadic, who has been outstanding.
In the 78th minute Victor Wanyama makes the big mistake of heading the ball backwards into the danger zone in Southamptons box. Raheem Sterling gets his head onto this ball and heads it towards teammate Daniel Sturridge. Sturridge only needs one chance to steer the ball into the inside of the left post from a very close range. Liverpool is leading now by 2-1.
Lloyd Isgrove makes his Premier League debut as he comes on for Steven Davis in the 81st minute.
Morgan Schneiderlin gets his most dangerous shot in the 87th minute as he absolutely blasts the ball into the crossbar. The ball deflects to Shane Long, the 12 million signing, who misses the complete open goal as his header goes out on the right side. This was Southamptons final chance to score and so this first game ends in a loss for the Saints.
Overall I was surprised by how well the Saints managed to play against Liverpool. I even dare say that we had the upper hand in the second half and were putting heaps of pressure on Liverpool. This match probably should have ended in a draw as both teams seemed to be equally good. However it was a great first match performance by the Southampton and they should be proud of themselves to only lose by one goal from a team who just took 3 of their best players. Yes the Saints stood their man and after seeing this match, I think they can come a long way in this season!
asaintsfcangel 