| Liverpool | 1-0 | Southampton |
| Agger 43 |
I suppose you could call this one a 1-0 hammering.
On paper a 1-0 victory may seem like a close-run contest, but in truth this was one of the easiest days at the office the Reds are ever likely to have this season. This was in part thanks to a truly awful Southampton performance.
It took a while for this one to get going with a particularly scrappy first five minutes not helping things. Lucas returned to the starting eleven and looked understandably rusty in the opening stages, being caught in possession on more than one occasion.
The first decent chance arrived in the 10th minute when Suarez broke free down the right. Glen Johnson had continued his run into the box but his mistimed effort was sliced across goal. The right-back was in again in the 19th minute but picked the wrong option when a cutback to Sterling was on. From the resulting corner Gerrard's shot was cleared off the line as the Reds began to increase the pressure.
Predictably, chance after half-chance continued to go a begging with Suarez almost in after a Reina punt down field, and Jonjon Shelvey pining the inside of the post with a beautifully struck shot. I started to wonder at this point where a goal was going to come from but mercifully it arrived just before half-time.
Luis Suarez rattled the bar with a free-kick which looked like Gazzaniga may have gotten his fingertips to. Johnson then picked up the loose ball on the right and crossed left footed for Agger to brilliantly head home. It was an unusually towering header from the Dane as a palpable sense of relief filled the stadium.
The second half was less impressive although there was never any fear that the lead may be lost, such was the terrible showing from the away side. They really were shocking and aside from a couple of pot-shots from Rickie Lambert they never threatened.
Jose Enrique had a few shots at goal but there wasn't too much else to report in the chances department. Luis Suarez was booked for a daft handball in the 80th minute which now means he'll be suspended for the West Ham game. It was always going to happen sooner or later, I suppose.
The return of Lucas today was an interesting sight to watch, as although he looked short of match sharpness our midfield looked much better with him in it. Joe Allen played higher up the pitch and was much more influential and there was greater all round solidity to the team.
I wasn't exactly sure where Shelvey and Gerrard were playing today but neither of them looked particularly comfortable. Gerrard continued his miserable form which was best exemplified in the 66th minute, when he was embarrassingly dispossessed after an aimless looking forward run. The guy is a shadow of his former self at the moment. As for Shelvey, well he just didn't see enough of the ball.
It's clear that Rodgers is still experimenting with formations to see how he can get the best out of the club captain but nothing seems to be working at the moment. You would imagine that a midfield trio of Lucas, Allen and Shelvey has everything you need so can't see where Gerrard fits in to things at present.
A win today still sees us in the bottom half of the table but we are now just 4 points off 6th spot. There's really nothing in it and a couple more wins before the end of the year will see us back up near the top again.
As has been said a gazillion times before, it's a case of limping through to the new year where hopefully some quality attacking reinforcements will be acquired. The remaining six league games of the year consist of West Ham, Villa, Fulham, Stoke and QPR so we couldn't really ask for an easier run.
Subs:
Unused Subs: Jones, Carragher, Wisdom, Downing, Henderson, Sahin, Suso.
