Nostalgic afternoon leads away to professionalism for Liverpool

Daniel Sturridge of Liverpool scores the second goal during the Premier League match against Southampton.

Like last season’s opener at Anfield, Liverpool left it late in the day to overcome Southampton and claim all three points. The hero that afternoon was Simon Mignolet and this time around as well. Rare has been the pressure so much on Rodgers as was indicated by his celebrations. Pre-season saw a lot of questions asked of Liverpool. After a productive tour of the US, it was the pressure of the Premier League which Liverpool had to face at last without their former star man and FC Barcelona’s latest big money recruit, Luis Suarez.

Given that Rodgers had openly accepted his game’s team-plan last season to flourish with Suarez’s attacking instincts, it was interesting what Liverpool would put on display this time around. Southampton have also faced a major upheaval of their own and the evidence of that was present in the starting line-up, substitutes bench and in the stands; as their three most important players adorned the Anfield setup. The Saints though weren’t slow of the mark and were playing some enterprising football of their own, Tadic being at the heart of everything and assisted by the excellent James Ward-Prowse.

A tactically astute Koeman had set up his team in a manner which gave the creative players a fair bit of expression along with disciplined and positive movements throughout the match. The team looked cohesive at all times and the players were extremely comfortable with high pressing or falling back as the situation demanded. But rarely do teams coming to Anfield get results without an intent to attack and Liverpool after assessing their oponents for a while suddenly found the space and opening to take the lead as long as the 23rd minute. Given the manner and intensity in which Liverpool blew away teams at Anfield within the opening quarter last season, a 23rd minute goal actually looked late.

Sterling was there to apply the finish after Henderson won a 50-50 challenge and then curved a beautiful through ball who applied a measured finish. The half finished with Southampton fnishing strongly as Ward-Prowse curled a delightful free-kick which almost caught out Mignolet. With the ball swirling in the wind there were certain moments of indecisiveness but Mignolet dealt with most of them comfortably.

Mignolet though was helpless about Clyne’s rocketed finish in the 56th minute which threatened to take the net off. Such was the delightful inerplay between Tadic and Clyne that the Liverpool defenders were left grasping thin air as Clyne skipped past to smash an unstoppable shot past Mignolet. The Saints were in the ascendancy but failed to make it count and Steven Davis missed out on a gorious opportunity to put Southampton into the lead.

As things turned out it was too good an opportunity missed and once Liverpool settled they took the lead thanks to a combination of slack defending and opportunistic finishing. Sturridge who had scored the winner last opening day was on hand to apply the finishing touches to a cushioned header from Sterling. The finish was a deft touch, more likeable to a brushstroke but it served the purpose as Liverpool took the lead.

There was still time for Mignolet to be forced into action and like last season when he pulled of a penalty save, this time he was on hand to divert a Schneiderlin volley onto the crossbar which bounced off in front of the line before Long headed the rebound wide. As the clock wound down Liverpool played out the remaining minutes preferring more to be solid than to be enterprising.

The curtains may have come down on the opening day at Anfield but the Reds faithful were more than happy with the points this time round rather then the manner played. On the evidence displayed the project has just started on “We go Again – II”