For 11 minutes and 55 seconds before Mo Salah had the winning goal in the back of the net, Liverpool kept Southampton out of their half in one example of their domination.
The Reds made Sunday’s trip to the south coast more dramatic than it needed to be, but their 3-2 win over Southampton was more dominant than the scoreboard may lead you to believe.
“I think we dominated the whole game,” is how Arne Slot assessed the match, with the hosts making the most of the two chances they created to put the pressure on Liverpool.
However, when it mattered most, the Reds put the squeeze on the league’s cellar dwellers.
They did so by not allowing Southampton a touch of the ball in their half for 11 minutes and 55 seconds before Salah scored the winning goal from the penalty in the 83rd minute.
Slot’s side kept the Saints penned in their own defensive half by recycling possession and winning free-kicks to build the pressure that ultimately led to the fatal mistake.
The clock read 70:26 when Southampton had their last touch of the ball in the opposition half and by the time it ticked over to 82:21, Salah was already wheeling away to celebrate making it 3-2.
Every Liverpool player, with the exception of Caoimhin Kelleher, had a touch of the ball during this passage of play.
Opposition fans may not have been convinced by the victory but, as FotMob‘s data showed, Liverpool dominated the match that sent them eight points clear at the top.
Lesson in taking chances
Statistics do not always tell you everything about a match as this one certainly felt dramatic and frantic, but Liverpool did dominate.
“They only created two chances, which the first one wasn’t even a chance, and scored two,” Slot assessed of Southampton post-match, noting that they “were really effective.”
Across the 90 minutes, the Reds restricted the Saints to seven shots, though they scored two of the three big chances they created – one of which was from the penalty spot, let’s not forget!
The hosts also only had 98 passes in the opposition half compared to Liverpool’s 352, and had just 17 touches in the box while the Reds had 51.
Liverpool, meanwhile, had 27 shots (11 on target) and created seven big chances. They missed five, which would have made the scoreboard a lot more comfortable!
If anything, this was a lesson in making the domination count on the scoreboard, but in the first game back from the international break, three points was all that mattered.
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