The Week That Is #4 – Yin Yang and the Curse of Southampton

Article by e-Liverpool Correspondent Tony Thorne

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As I posted on Twitter immediately following the game against Swansea last weekend, “if I wasn’t convinced before, I am now. My beautiful #LFC are going to be the death of me”. I went on to use the hashtag #HeartLivingInMouth.

With every game one of two teams turns up: those who kill teams off with a blistering first half hour or those who trundle along helplessly exposed at the back. Regardless of which it is, we are without doubt the most exciting team in the league this season. The problem for Liverpool fans is that we can be exciting for the wrong reasons too often.

Stability and confidence in the defence is certainly the biggest issue. We have seen many individual errors, both minor and major, during this season and the Reds players know it. The defining characteristic was seen against Swansea, when Glen Johnson, Kolo Toure and Simon Mignolet used the ‘calm down’ gesture to their teammates numerous times. The gesture seemed to fall on blind eyes however, as edginess seemed to seep through the team in the second half of a football match once more.

However in an attacking sense, Liverpool are on fire. Jordan Henderson showed his worth in the middle of the park, chiefly pushing forward, Raheem Sterling played through an exquisite ball for the first goal and Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez combined as deadly as ever.

But Liverpool need to find the team who blitzed Arsenal, Tottenham and Everton to have a hope of beating Southampton. The reasoning behind this is simple; in the seven games that Liverpool have played against Southampton since the start of the 2003 season, we have lost five. Since Southampton’s re-emergence in the Premier League, Liverpool have won once and lost twice, including the only home defeat of this season back in September. In short, Brendan Rodgers has never beaten Mauricio Pochettino. The curse of Southampton seems to be starting to have a pull over Liverpool, and this needs to change.

The Saints are in indifferent form at the moment, winning and losing two of their last five games, with one draw, against similarly mid-table and lower league opposition. The game against Liverpool is likely their least important of their next three, which also takes in games away at Crystal Palace and home to Norwich.

What the Reds need is to find a way to stick with Yin and forget Yang. Hit Southampton early and play their game better than they do: counter attack and press high up the pitch. If Liverpool explode out of the blocks and then maintain a modicum of defensive stability, they will comfortably break the Southampton jinx. Let’s hope the curse is lifted by tonight.

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