Liverpool crashed out of the EFL Cup on Wednesday after suffering a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Southampton. Southampton came to Anfield with a win goal lead from the first leg. And they resolutely defended that at Anfield.
Southampton manager Claude Peul knew exactly what to expect when he came to Anfield. But what he did not expect was that his team would miss so many chances. Southampton missed a flurry of chances in especially in the first half. And Claude Peul was just hoping that these misses will not come back to bite his team.
The first half was more or less equally balanced with Liverpool having a slight edge. But as soon as the second half began Liverpool shifted gears. And from then on, it was all about Liverpool’s attack vs Southampton’s defense. Liverpool absolutely pinned the Saints into their own half. So much so that the Liverpool back line was playing literally in the other half.
But unfortunately had nothing to show for all their efforts. And all Jurgen Klopp could do was charge up the fans after every 5 minutes. Daniel Sturridge looked a bit out of sorts as he missed a few opportunities to score. Liverpool almost had their goal after Saints goalkeeper Forster fumbled a long ranger and the ball was just about creeping it into the net. But he managed to claw the ball out in time.
Picture by Eddie Janssens
As time went by Liverpool were increasing their attacks but that also meant leaving a rather large gap in the back. And eventually, Southampton capitalized on that mistake. Saints striker Shane Long won the match with an injury time goal for Southampton. And the goal from a swift counter attack after Liverpool failed to score from a corner.
Picture by Michael Kranewitter, Wikipedia.
Note: The images used in this article has been taken from the Wikipedia Commons Library which is licensed under the Creative Commons. The authors of the images have been credited in the caption. The author of the featured image is Michael Kranewitter, Wikipedia.
