Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Last night saw the first of this weeks two EFL Cup Semi Final 1st Leg matches and Tonight we are able to witness the second as Southampton play host to Liverpool.
Going into this game the talk has been dominated somewhat by centre backs. With Jose Fonte handing in a transfer request his future at St Mary’s looks somewhat murky, so much so that the Portuguese international will not feature in this Evening’s encounter.
While Liverpool have a defender who may also be on the move shortly with the news that Mamadou Sahko’s has been tagged with a £20m transfer fee with his days at Anfield now all but numbered.
When looking at matters on the pitch both sides only managed frustrating draws in the F.A. Cup at the weekend with home side Southampton being held away at Norwich and Liverpool failing to break down Plymouth.
For Southampton it was a failure to see the game out as Steven Naismith bagged an injury time header to send the game to a replay next week.
While for Liverpool it was a case of the supporting cast not quite being up to scratch. Jurgen Klopp made 11 changes from the side that drew 2-2 away at Sunderland and you could perhaps argue that it was a decision that backfired.
But on the other hand when you look at Liverpool’s fixtures unfortunately the F.A. Cup probably sits as the lowest priority what with Tonight’s trip ot the South Coast and also not forgetting the small matter of playing Manchester United on Sunday.
For Klopp he will have to decide how many players come back into the fold for Tonight’s fixture with Sunday’s all important Premier League clash in mind.
When it comes to Cup Football though if you get this far in a competition then now is not the time to be playing your fringe players as it may almost render all the previous progress pointless.
It’s hard to say exactly how many regulars will start Tonight but you would have to imagine a much stronger side from the one that drew a blank on Sunday Afternoon.
For The Saints the absence of Fonte will be a major blow but if he is to leave the club as expected then they are going to have to get use to life without him. The hope for Claude Puel now is that he can keep Virgil Van Dijk at the club until at least the end of the season.
Both Fonte and Van Dijk have been in impressive form this season as Southampton look to be the best of the rest what with the Top 6 already all but sewn up and it’s that form that has attracted the attention of some of the league’s leading clubs.
Their team has been one that has not particularly scored too many goals this season but they have managed to offset that by being tight at the back and you get the feeling that will be the kind of gameplan that they will operate Tonight.
The last time these two sides met Liverpool ran riot as they hit Southampton for 6. A 6-1 win for The Reds at this ground saw Jurgen Klopp’s side reach this very stage of the Competition and Southampton will want to exact some revenge for that thumping they received back in December 2015.
Can they get a modicum of revenge though against a Liverpool side that will want to bounce back from a draw on Sunday that came with a small element of embarrasment. With cup fixtures coming so thick and fast then that draw with Plymouth is almost already forgotten and will be even more so should Liverpool win Tonight.
And personally I think Liverpool will win this one and give themselves a nice advantage going into the 2nd leg, that’s not to say the tie will be a foregone conclusion by the end of the night but the Merseysiders will be in the box seat. An away win for me.
