Liverpool 3-0 Southampton - 5 Talking Points and Tactical Analysis, Premier League 2018-19
Liverpool made it six Premier League wins in their first six Premier League games, as they thrashed Southampton 3-0 at Anfield, to further their perfect start to the season. The Reds scored three goals in the first half, and then took their foot off the gas after the interval, as they prepared for tougher tests that lie ahead in the next two weeks, with a controlled display.
A Wesley Hoedt own-goal got things going for Liverpool, as Xherdan Shaqiri ran proceedings in the first half. Joel Matip, starting his first game for Liverpool since March, doubled Liverpool's lead with a fabulous header in the 21st minute, from a Trent Alexander-Arnold corner.
Mo Salah then rounded off the half with his first goal in four games, as he was there to tap home a rebound after a fierce Shaqiri free-kick came off the bar.
Here are some points of discussion from the game.
#5 The "drought" is over
Much has been made and said of Mohamed Salah's supposed lack of form to start the season, but right from the first minute today, the Egyptian was a man on a mission to shut the doubters down. He started in a more central role today, and he was a nightmare for Jannik Vestergaard all afternoon.
Salah's pace is always a threat, even when he isn't really playing well, and Vestergaard found it immensely difficult to deal with, because the Egyptian was actually playing really well. He linked up brilliantly with Roberto Firmino and Shaqiri and should have had more than just the one goal that he ended the afternoon with.
The big Danish centre-back was simply not able to read when Salah would go short to receive a pass, and when he would turn and make the run in behind the defence. Firmino found Salah once, with a delicious ball over the top, that the Egyptian collected and ran at Alex McCarthy.
He was held up by Vestergaard, but with his back to goal, he provided an outrageous flick that dribbled inches wide of the mark. Salah was not to be denied for long though. He gave up free-kick duties to Shaqiri, and when the Swiss thundered a strike against the crossbar, Salah was there to tap in from a yard out.
Salah was always a threat in the second half too, and should have had his second of the game, when he had the ball in the back of the net, off a rebound from James Milner's shot that was cleared off the line. He was denied by the linesman's flag, but replays showed that the ball may have struck a Southampton defender last.