That was a wonderful performance from Southampton at Man City today. The passing and movement was amazing for a side just promoted and facing a match at the home of the champions.
Comparing the way the Saints played today and the way Liverpool played at the Hawthorns was a million miles away. This is the way I expected Liverpool to play in their new system but all we got was more of the same rubbish from last season.
I was taken aback that there seemed to be more passion and hunger with the Saints players but is sadly missing from Liverpool players at the moment. Remember that West Brom are no Man City but the Reds suffered the same result as last season at Man City.
The Saints were up against it in the first half and after Tevez put City ahead, it was looking likely that they would win probably 4-0. In the second half the Saints really put it up against City, took them on, attacked them on the counter and even turned the score around to lead 2-1.
It was exciting to watch and the Saints fans were proud of the performance at the end even though they lost, instead of Reds fans returning home from the Hawthorns, humiliated and embarrassed.
I am even more embarrassed to hear that Nigel Atkins brought in 15 players at a deficit of £3 million. We buy £250 million worth of players and all we get is dead wood.
Every Liverpool player should be made watch that Southampton match and see what is needed from them. The only hunger and desire I see from a Reds team, is in the reserves. If the first team don't apply themselves then ship them out and start again with the youngsters.
Liverpool used to do that in the days of the boot room, bring in a player from the lower leagues and unleash them after learning the Liverpool way. Now we buy players that haven't proved themselves at over inflated prices.
I would prefer to gamble on a youngster for half a million pounds than spend £20 million on a player that needs time. I am sick of that excuse and players like Henderson been built up as needing time. He should be ready to play for the first team or why are we buying players like that in the first place? Or even buying injured players and paying their wages when we don't know what they are going to be like after their injury.
We have seen today that there are players out there that have a passion for their club. We need to go back to way we used to do things before Benitez and not waste millions on over hyped and indulgent footballers.
