By Jordan Carreno

The Reds are back at Anfield hosting Southampton for Matchday 6. Kick off is set for 10:00am EST.

Liverpool v Southampton — 9/22/2018 1500 GMT

For the first time this season Kloppo and the Boys head into the weekend not at the top of the table; trying times indeed. The scheduling Gods have given us a nice comfortable kick off time, so there’s no excuse to not come and watch with your fellow LFC Tampa Bay members. As always, all three locations will be open and serving. With all that being said, let’s dive right into our 3 pre-match talking points.

The Only Must Win

If you went back in time a week ago and looked at the run of fixtures ahead of Liverpool, you would have most likely identified this weekend’s match as the one game the Reds absolutely had to win. With two away games to title rivals, a home game against the champions, and two Champions League matches on the menu, dropping points at home to Southampton quite clearly could not be considered an option.

Losing or drawing the match would only add unnecessary pressure to already high stake games down the line. Also, if things had gone tits up against Tottenham, 3 points might be needed to get the lads back on track.

Before this run began it was clear: Getting three points against Southampton was the only option

Fast forward to the present time and the Reds have set themselves up nicely with 2 wins in the first 2 games of this run. Exorcizing the demons of last year’s Wembley appearance and beating, arguably, our toughest group stage opponent gives us the perfect platform to take on the rest of this run; however, all that momentum and good energy can be taken away with a sub-par performance against the Saints.

In years past, this might have been the type of game the team overlooked and under performed in. The anti-Liverpool brigade will be waiting to use that narrative against us. Win and we keep the momentum we’ve built moving forward and keep outside criticism muted. In many ways, it makes the upcoming match against Southampton even more of a must win.

Time to Rotate?

It might be weird spending several paragraphs talking about how much of a must win this match is and then follow it up with several more talking about rotating the squad, but here goes nothing. One of the overwhelming positives of Tuesday night was the proof it provided of the depth that we’ve claimed this Liverpool team has. So, despite plenty of other existing evidence to the contrary, maybe I’m not insane to suggest it.

The two players that did rotate into the starting eleven on Tuesday, Sturridge and Henderson, both put in phenomenal performances. Dani was back to dancing and wreaking havoc in the box while our captain quickly righted his errors from the Leicester match. Even Shaq made a noticeable impact as a substitute by making the type of runs at the defense that earned us the opportunities to manufacture the winner. However, the success of Tuesday’s changes aren’t the only reason to argue for rotation.

It is very likely that Southampton will come to Anfield and park an away-kitted bus inside their half for 90 minutes. This will most likely signal a major adjustment to the tactics Klopp deployed against PSG. With that in mind, might we see a return to the lineup for Keita and, if so, which of the three midfielders get taken out? Of course, the meritocracy Klopp usually follows might dictate all three of them keep their spot despite any system changes.

However, in that case, might it be time to give Salah a break for someone like Shaqiri? Salah has been a bit off the pace since the international break, whilst the last two appearances for Shaqiri have been impactful. Maybe Salah could benefit from the challenge of making a difference off the bench if needed. At the very least, in my opinion, Shaq has done enough to earn his first start.

We may very well see the same side that played in the Champions League and Klopp back Mo to turn it around, especially considering a League Cup match looms in the near future. The minimal rotating we’ve done so far has worked out and as the saying goes — “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. Regardless, having the depth there is refreshing and maybe I am suffering a bit from an anxiousness to use it now that we finally have it.

Bitter Bogey Saints

Liverpool have a developed a habit of plucking talent from the Saints — something that has drawn their ire.

I know we don’t come across many here in the Bay Area so you might not know this, but Southampton supporters hate us. They hate that we sign all their players. So, as we’ve signed and signed more of their players, their hate for us has grown.

They hate us for complaining about Barcelona chatting up Coutinho and then applauding Klopp for wooing Virgil in Blackpool. They hate that they beat us with Sadio and that we then immediately signed him. They hate that Adam Lallana jumped into Klopp’s arms like a son does to a father. They hate that we loaned them Danny Ings, their best striker by far, and now he can’t play Saturday. They probably even hate Ricky Lambert for leaving them to come to us, his boyhood club.

I can’t say the feeling is mutual, but they definitely made themselves a bit of a bogey team for Liverpool. Up until last season, where we beat Southampton 5–0 over two games, Jurgen Klopp had only beat the Saints once in the League Cup. Two season ago they knocked us out over two legs in the Semi-Final of the same competition. Continuing to beat them, and handily, will help erase those memories from the current, collective consciousness.

The savory taste of victory is often enhanced by the added salt of the opposition’s demise and furor. Given that they despise us the way they do, beating them on Saturday will add an extra level of joy to my post match laughter.

Prediction

We’re back to the league this week. Dave and I are still neck and neck. Last week we only picked up 1 point each for predicting Liverpool to win. So we’re both sat at 5 points since we started this.

If you ignore the two silly moments we had against PSG where they scored, we completely controlled that game. Whilst it is true we still haven’t really hit peak powers, the game Tuesday was definitely a step in the right direction. I feel like we’re going to continue that upward trajectory and that Southampton are just unfortunate to be meeting us smack between some of our biggest games of the season (insert Lucas Leiva “unlackeeeeee”). I warned you guys at the beginning of the season that I say this every week — We’re going to smash them. Shaq starts and scores a couple of bangers and even Keita finds time to open his account. We score early and often. I am insane. 6–0!

David’s Prediction: I have as much faith as Jordan, but for different reasons. This Liverpool defense has been pretty impressive all around and with the ability to rotate fresh legged midfielders, they rarely look tired. I’m going to say Mane bags one early, Trent puts a nail in the coffin late as he finally nets a free kick. But all in all it’s a calm, cool and collected 2–0 for the Reds, just another day at the office.