5 things we learned as Liverpool crush Southampton 4-0

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Liverpool won 4-0 vs Southampton on Saturday afternoon in a dominant Anfield display. Here are five things we learned from the fixture.

Klopp goes strong

We thought Jurgen Klopp might go with a very strong XI here and predicted as such. Then he talked on Friday about the struggles of playing Wednesday-Saturday and had us doubting things.

But our initial suspicion proved correct. Klopp went with largely his best XI and the strongest of the season so far.

It’s a sign that, even with all the injuries, Liverpool aren’t doing too badly. Fortunately, they’re avoiding problems with key players this season.

Attack, attack, attack

The gameplan ahead of this one was fairly obvious. Southampton can’t score goals and you can actually afford to give them a few good chances before they find the net.

Thus making this a shoot-out was always beneficial for Liverpool. They did just that, scoring inside two minutes and blowing the Saints away early on.

Scary stuff

In a lot of ways, this was the scariest Liverpool have looked all season. If only because they didn’t actually play all that well.

They made mistakes at the back, were pretty sloppy with their final ball and clearly moved down a gear for the second half. And they still won 4-0.

Southampton aren’t a side with a poor defensive record, either. Only Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool and Wolves had conceded fewer goals heading into this matchweek.

Liverpool still saw out a fairly routine 4-0 win vs Southampton, however. That’s got to worry the title rivals.

Salah

And on top of that, Liverpool won 4-0 in a game where Salah didn’t score. He didn’t even come particularly close to scoring, in fact, as Southampton did a good job of keeping him away from goal.

Again, though, Liverpool still found a way to score four goals. Salah set one of them up, of course – he was always going to affect the game somehow.

Not that anyone really needed evidence but this side is far more than just their magic Egyptian going forward. Shut him down and someone else should find a way to score.

Red vs Blue

So this sets up a very intriguing game against Everton in midweek. Liverpool are in fantastic form while their neighbours….aren’t.

Last season’s games against Everton were essentially nightmarish. We saw Virgil van Dijk ruled out for the season at Goodison and then they actually won a game at Anfield.

Time to set the record straight, then, and Liverpool will head into the fixture absolutely flying.