Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has promised his side will improve on Sunday’s scrappy 2-1 win over Southampton at Anfield.
Rodgers’ men lacked the fluency and attacking spark they showed last season against Southampton and victory was only sealed with 11 minutes left when Daniel Sturridge poked in from close range.
Raheem Sterling’s opener had been cancelled out by a Nathaniel Clyne effort and at times, Southampton looked the more likely of the two sides to win. Liverpool, who faded late to finish second in the Barclays Premier League last term, did just enough, with Sturridge’s predatory instincts around goal proving crucial.
Rodgers felt the nature of the match made Liverpool’s win more special as he now looks ahead to a trip to face the team who pipped them to the title, Manchester City on Monday 25 August.
“We had to grind out a result,” Rodgers said. “Today was a brilliant win for us because it was a tough game. [I am] really, really happy with that determination and character to win a football match.
“As the season rolls on, we’ll get better and more fluent. [It was] very hard-fought. They’re a good side, I don’t think you can think that just because they have lost players, that it was going to be a walkover.
“They’ve got some very, very good players and an experienced manager [Ronald Koeman] that’s come in and got them organised. It was always going to be a difficult game. So to get the three points was vital. We had to show guts and determination. I thought it was a great win.”
Rodgers has added several players to his squad in the wake of Luis Suarez’s departure to Barcelona and was pleased that he had the options available to change the match.
“Thankfully today, we could change the game,” he said. “We got to one [goal] each and I can look to the bench and think we can change the way we work. So we flipped to a diamond and put big Rickie [Lambert] on and he unsettled them a bit. They obviously know his qualities [as a former Southampton player].
“We started to cross the ball into the box and obviously that led to our second goal, where Raheem wins a great header and Daniel makes a lovely touch on the ball to get the winner.”
Rodgers also reserved special praise for goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, who made an outstanding reaction save to deny Morgan Schneiderlin in the closing stages, and revealed that Suarez had sent him a text message on the morning of the match wishing Liverpool good luck.
Koeman confidence
Southampton manager Ronald Koeman insists his side will take plenty of confidence from their display at Anfield. The nature of Southampton’s performance, particularly after the break, pleased the Dutchman, who urged his players to believe in themselves.
“We played a great, impressive second half,” Koeman said. “After the [Clyne goal to make it] 1-1, there was one team on the pitch playing and that was Southampton.
“We did everything well, minus to score the second one. We create two great possibilities, opportunities, but the quality of Liverpool – they don’t need a lot of opportunities to score two goals and that made the difference. The way how we played, that brings us a lot of confidence. And if we play like [that], the points will come.
“We have to believe in our qualities. That was one of the messages that we gave the boys before the match. Little by little, we did it. We played a great, impressive second half and that’s the way we like to play. If we play like that, with that team spirit, I don’t think we will struggle [for] the whole season.”
One area that Southampton can improve on, though, is their defensive shape, something Koeman intends to target in the coming weeks.
“How we did the pressing, the high pressing, in the second half, it was a little bit different than in the first half,” he said. “In the first half we lost a little bit of attention in the transition to attack of Liverpool, because they got two chances about that, one was the goal.
“It was not a good defensive organisation at that moment [when Sterling scored]. [But] we played well, we deserved a better result and that gives us a lot of confidence.”
source: premierleague.com
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 