Liverpool were clinical. Six goals from seven shots on target says it all.
Southampton took the lead with a Sadio Mane header, but they must have wished they hadn’t bothered. It only served to awaken in Liverpool a resolve to right things in the most emphatic manner.
Jurgen Klopp has quickly fashioned a side in his own image, and that is even before adding a single player to Brendan Rodgers’ formerly floundering squad.
The German once stated of his old club: “The fans should not only recognise us by our black and yellow jerseys. Even if we play in red, everyone in the stadium should think, ‘Whoa, that can only be BVB.'”
It is sounding more and more like a prophetic utterance.
Daniel Sturridge scored two goals in the first-half. Divock Origi completed his hat-trick in the second. Jordon Ibe chipped in too, but none of these were the stand out moment of the game.
That came from the enigmatic Emre Can. The thick set, square-shouldered German midfielder – all industry and honest endeavour – who produced a passage of play that would make Dennis Bergkamp blush.
The shift of feet to evade his Southampton marker was neat; the pass that followed obscene.
A prod of the right boot produced a pass of such delicate perfection that it would have been a personal insult to Can and all those viewing if Sturridge had missed. He did not.
Liverpool’s number 23 does this occasionally. He produces a moment of deft skill that defies his reputation as a bullish marauder.
If he adds such silk to his force and power on a consistent basis, we’re all in trouble.
https://twitter.com/LiverpoolGifs/status/672146873428353024
