Southampton 1-2 Liverpool: What Did we Learn?

Anyone else staggered how we made it so difficult for ourselves in ten league game against these? Many didn’t like three out of the very few fit senior defenders we had available starting this one and we’re delighted to see two of these withdrawn at half time. The wind and rain were absolutely horrible, but the travelling kop was in fine voice for this one and so they rightly should have been. It started easy and it was made ire difficult by ourselves, but it’s into the hat for the final four. We look at the lessons learned from a Carabao cup quarterfinal victory.

Nice Goals, Different Reasons

The reds were well on top before a bit of fortune struck and Trent’s deflected pass seemed to fall nicely into the path of Darwin Nunez. The Uruguayan forward didn’t snatch at it and maybe aided by McCarthy’s slip, finished with aplomb. The second was even better as a nice team move saw Cody Gakpo feed Harvey Elliott who drilled home a finish for the second with his weaker foot. Two players who could both have used a goal for different reasons too. Flynn Downes was died enough chasing man of the match Elliott’s shadow in this one and it was fitting that was the winner.

Endo Battling Throughout

He played this one as almost a centre-back that often inverted into midfield nd the Japan captain had the armband for a fair portion here. He was in the walls a lot on this one and it was defection of his face that started the attack for their goal. Endo was superb though, recording the most tackles won (4), most duels won (10) and being the most fouled player on the pitch (4). Finishing with a 94% pass completion rate, 2 interceptions and 4 recoveries, he’d certainly earned the applause from the travelling kop. Interesting to see what happens with him in January.

Quansah Drop-Off Worrying

It’s amazing to think that Jarrell Quansah finished last season as first choice centre-back and nearly made England’s World Cup squad. Since that first half against Ipswich where he was withdrawn at the break, it’s been a struggle when he did get minutes. He was partially at fault for the goal against Fulham at the weekend and he had a part in the Southampton equaliser in this one. He was very very lucky to not see red late on and maybe it was good there was no VAR in place for this one. The long and short of it is, Quansah looks utterly devoid of confidence and you hope he can get some back quickly.