New Southampton boss Nathan Jones highlighted some ‘absolutely wonderful’ Alisson Becker saves and moments of quality from a ‘world-class’ Liverpool side as his Premier League reign began with a 3-1 defeat at Anfield, speaking to Hampshire Live.
This was less a case of a new manager being thrown in at the deep end, and more like one tossed out of a helicopter, without a life jacket, into a shark-infested ocean.
Liverpool might not have hit their usual Patronas Towers heights this term. But Anfield away is still about as daunting a challenge as you could face on your managerial debut on the top-flight. And while there were positives for Jones on Saturday afternoon – Che Adams scored, James Ward-Prowse was ever-so-slightly improved while Sam Edozie once again caught the eye off the bench – Liverpool’s star quality at either end eventually made the difference.
Liverpool beat Nathan Jones’ Southampton 3-1 at Anfield
“I thought we were really passive in the first half. We conceded a really poor goal from a set play where we need to be better,” says Jones, who’s side were breached after just six minutes via Roberto Firmino.
“We did score with a nice set-play with a wonderful delivery but then I felt we were really passive and I felt we were just waiting for the inevitable to happen and that’s not what teams that I have do.
“In the second half, I was really proud of how they reacted. Really proud of the performance and how they went about it. Young players, game changers that we brought on. And, to be fair, Allison has made three absolutely wonderful saves to deny us. That’s the story of the game.”
‘We didn’t do the basics’
Liverpool’s Brazilian goalkeeper used every inch of his gigantic frame to keep out Edozie, Moi Elyounoussi and the aforementioned Adams, while Firmino’s opener and two more from the increasingly effective Darwin Nunez secured three points for Jurgen Klopp’s hosts.
“We conceded from a free-kick because we lost headers and we were too deep on a defensive line. We let runners go, we gave people too much space and we didn’t close the ball down. All those things that are near the basics, we didn’t do,” adds Jones; a coach who is clearly going to demand a lot from his charges between now and May.
“We let runners go off the back, we didn’t defend the cage well enough. And all those things we didn’t do well enough. And because of that we’ve lost again. As I said, in the second hal, I saw a really good reaction. But we need to be better in both of our boxes. And if we do that, then we can start to build.
“(At half-time) I told them we were passive and we were giving world-class players too much time and space. So we didn’t do that in the second half. We were more aggressive.”
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