Match Thread: Southampton v Liverpool

[CCTV]

We keep seeing these kind of statistics from yet the little samurai is continually written off.

Think the Quansah criticism is harsh. Thought he played well other than getting caught under the ball right at the end.

Agreed with the Nunez comments earlier. He took his goal really well but the rest of his game was just poor. The amount of times we had a man over and he just couldn't see it.

In the second half Darwin was busting through the middle and had drawn in defenders, he had a pass to release Gakpo down the left but delayed the pass and Gakpo was offside. Said it before when people moaned about Nunez being offside, you can blame the passer as often as the pass receiver.

Quansahs head was gone at times last night and especially towards the end, I could see his big smiley head and then he remembered he was playing a game of football and started getting into a position. Lots of talents but he needs time to develop. Lucky not to see red in the end.

[jozza800]

In the second half Darwin was busting through the middle and had drawn in defenders, he had a pass to release Gakpo down the left but delayed the pass and Gakpo was offside. Said it before when people moaned about Nunez being offside, you can blame the passer as often as the pass receiver.

Quansahs head was gone at times last night and especially towards the end, I could see his big smiley head and then he remembered he was playing a game of football and started getting into a position. Lots of talents but he needs time to develop. Lucky not to see red in the end.

If it's same situation I'm thinking of the ball should have gone to Chiesa.

I don't like to criticise players too much, especially after a win.

For a complete 2nd string line up it was a good performance especially in horrible conditions.

[Insidious]

So, the semi-finals beckon and we are another step closer to the possibility of adding to the trophy Cabinet.

Newcastle
Arsenal
Tottenham or Man United

A two-legged semi-final to be played and if our luck holds, a Cup Final at Wembley.

Arsenal are likely the biggest threat to our chances. It begs a question -

- Would you rather face the strongest opposition (Arsenal in the minds of most) in the semi-final where we get a match at Anfield and more minutes overall (180+) within which to succeed?-

- Or would you rather have weaker opposition in the semi-final and take the larger degree of "luck" that comes with having control of your own fate for a lesser time period of perhaps just 90 minutes plus injury time?

If we weren't in with a shout at the League and the Champion's League I'd usually want the stronger opposition over two legs in the semi-final as I feel it increases your overall chance of winning the Tournament but this year I am not so sure - we could really do without fielding full-strength sides for two extra matches.

[CCTV]

If it's same situation I'm thinking of the ball should have gone to Chiesa.

I don't like to criticise players too much, especially after a win.

For a complete 2nd string line up it was a good performance especially in horrible conditions.

The situation I'm talking about, Gakpo knew he was offside and touched the ball nearer to their corner flag and was then called offside. The pass from Darwin initially was just inside their half.

I'm guessing you might be referring to another situation. Darwin held the ball too long and then played a useless enough pass to Gakpo to his left and just outside their penalty box maybe 5 yards out. Chiesa might have been the better option on that one.

It's good to use these games for developing youngsters. Thought they did reasonably well tbh. Quansah has lots of good qualities but he's playing in an area where errors stand out and tend to get punished.

[CCTV]

Don't really care who we get Sid, might be best ducking arsenal just to avoid arteta and his antics.

[BOBPAISLEYFAN]

I do think that Quansah is struggling with confidence right now and is continually making some really strange decisions, especially strange given how extremely composed he was last season, apart from the couple of well documented poor moments towards the end of last season.

However, I have not had a chance too look at it in more depth, but i did think watching the incident live that the possible red card incident, was not as clear cut as it first appeared..

Yes Quansah’s initial positioning was poor and his subsequent attempts at defending was clumsy, my first thoughts were that the Southampton striker was more interested in moving towards and getting into a grapple with Quansah, rather than actively attempting to actually get to the ball and was more than happy to drop to the floor the minute Quansah naively tried to get to the ball….

It will be interesting to see if on closer examination my first interpretation of that whole situation was right, or whether its more wishful thinking on my part… I must say though it does feel really odd to be on the right side of a possibly dodgy refereeing decision for a change.. ����

[Kev0909]

Or maybe we can just admit.... he's not good enough for us and top flight footballer yet..... there's been some very average cbs that have looked good next to VVD.

Ideally he'd have a loan away to help his development, but.... we don't have the depth at CB

[toshin]

With the conditions, pitch and disjointed team I think most should be given a pass.

Quansah could have taken a calculated risk fouling. Say he got a red, thats all it's be with 2-3 mins left.
It's easy to say he got caught out - yeah maybe. But unlike Robertson, in this situation id have wanted him to stop his man before he reached the box.

Nunez did the opposite of every match player with normal teammates/conditions. He had time to make a decision...and he scored.

Cheisa first game back with poor conditions in a half when the opposition had nothing to lose and were on-top. Grew into the game and unlucky not to have scored.

[Kev0909]

Funny how some players get excuses made for them every game

Others get destroyed after one bad game.