Liverpool Overcome Southampton
By: Shane Brennan.
Liverpool took on Southampton at Anfield last Saturday afternoon, as The Reds were looking to finish on a high ahead of the fast-approaching FIFA World Cup, but what exactly did we learn from the game?
The home side got off to a flying start early on, when Andy Robertson whipped in a lovely free kick that was glanced on by Roberto Firmino into the bottom left-hand corner of the net, as The Reds got off to the ideal start.
But Southampton under new manager Nathan Jones were also eager to respond in kind, and they managed to do so almost straight away, when goal scorer Firmino committed a foul near the edge of the area, it gave James Ward-Prowse the perfect opportunity to put an excellent delivery into the box, for Che Adams to head the ball comfortably past Alisson Becker to draw The Saints level.
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Thankfully Liverpool responded really well, as Robertson picked out a gorgeous pass to Darwin Nunez as he was set away down the left wing, he managed to find Mohamed Salah in the box with only Gavin Bazunuto beat, but this time around the Republic of Ireland goalkeeper was to pull off a remarkable save to keep his side on level terms.
But the pressure was soon to pay off for the Anfield faithful when Harvey Elliott picked out a brilliant pass to Nunez, for him to finish with ease into the back of the net, as the advantage was restored.
Liverpool very nearly finished off another fantastic move, when Elliott went on a terrific run up the field, he found Salah who combined with Nunez to pick out Firmino, who brought another fine stop from Bazunu.
Moments before the break Liverpool were to add to their lead, as Firmino set Robertson free, he found Nunez, as he lashed the ball beyond Bazunu this time, to give Liverpool a deserved two-goal advantage at the break.
It was Southampton that started the second half much the better of the two sides, and when Mohamed Elyounoussi went through one on one with Alisson, Anfield held its collective Breathe, but just like so many times before Alisson was equal to the challenge pulling off the save with Minimal fuss.
Then the game went from end to end, when Salah raced away from Armel Bella-Kotchap all the Southampton man could do was ease the Liverpool star man to the ground, and no penalty was awarded, but the Saints were in no mood for hanging around, as they went straight up the other end, to spring Alisson into action once again, thanks to a fine shot from Samuel Edozie.
Virgil van Dijk then almost managed to put the icing on the cake with a marvellous header towards goal, but the ball was to just go past the post.
And there was even time for one more unbelievable save from Alisson towards the end of the game when this time Adams was denied from close range, as the Liverpool goalkeeper made sure that it was all smiles as The Reds signed off for The World cup with a decent victory overall.
