Liverpool 3-0 Southampton - 5 Talking Points and Tactical Analysis, Premier League 2018-19

#2 Southampton offered no threat up front

Redmond put a few testing crosses into the box in the first half

Danny Ings was ineligible to play this game against his parent club, and the Saints sorely missed their top-scorer of the season so far. For all of Shane Long's good attributes, his goalscoring record is rather abysmal.

He has now scored just two goals in his last 62 games for club and country. Let that sink in. Two goals. In SIXTY-TWO games. So, it was always going to be a difficult afternoon for them against a Liverpool defence that has not conceded at Anfield since February.

It was not that they didn't try to attack either. They got into plenty of decent positions that would've allowed them to cause a discernible threat to the Liverpool goal, but it was just a little bit of quality that was missing.

In the first half, Southampton were afforded plenty of space on their right wing, as Nathan Redmond and Cedric Soares put in quite a few testing balls into the box. But most of them were met by a Liverpool head or foot.

There were some instances when all that was lacking was the striker's instinct. If Long had gambled and gotten in front of the man guarding the front-post, he could've made himself a few opportunities, but in the end, it was not to be for Southampton.