Liverpool 3-0 Southampton: 5 Hits and Flops

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Ahead of their weekend game, Liverpool were expected to struggle having played an emotional and energy sapping game in mid-week against PSG. Although Liverpool dominated the game in its entirety, they made it hard for themselves in order to get full points from that game.

Here though, Liverpool started on the front foot and more or less settled the game in the first half itself. An early own goal helped their cause and it gave the new recruit Xerdan Shaqiri to settle in and cause havoc for the Saints defence.

That said, Mark Hughes will ask questions of his Southampton defence as they were found wanting on each of the occasions they conceded. All in all, it was game of positives for Liverpool as they calmly won their sixth consecutive game in a row in the Premier League and seven in a row across all competitions.

#1 Hit: Wijnaldum’s tireless efforts and selfless running

As a squad, Liverpool seems more complete this season. The arrivals of Keita and Fabinho have given a sense of comfort to the existing central midfielders. And one of the primary beneficiaries of the arrivals has been the surging rise of Wijnaldum.

Plucked from Newcastle United a couple of summers ago, the Dutch international has been at the heart of Liverpool’s plans since Klopp’s arrivals.

The Dutchman is effective in a multiple of roles and over the course of the game oscillates at times between box to box midfielder to a deep-lying midfielder.

His interchanging of positions with Henderson and earlier on the season with Keita has helped this team maintain the momentum in midfield. That said, the arrivals of other signings has freed the Dutchman in a manner that he doesn’t hold back anymore and one can see the likes of Milner alongside him giving their all throughout the entirety of the game. An example of that was the late tackle against PSG by Milner, which led to the winning goal by Firminho.

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