Dream Training : The Champions

At his pre-match press conference, Ralf Ragnick confidently said he would beat Southampton. One of Liverpool's shortcomings this season appeared in the back line. Van Dyke wa injured again along with Matip who was also injured. This made Liverpool's defense more fragile than usual. On the other hand, Sisinho's performance up front was also unstable this season.

Ironically, that Liverpool's midfield was now the strongest sector owned by the Reds. The arrival of players such as Tony Cross who had played against Southampton while he still in Bayern Munich uniform, then Maddison who last season was at Leicester and lastly Coutinho. The Brazilian was less well known but he has played quite well at the start of the season.

"Welcome everyone, I, Jim Kaglin, accompanied by Carragher here, will accompany you to watch the 11th round of the Premier League. This time Southampton will host Liverpool at Saint Marry's Stadium.

At the moment Southampton are firmly at the top of the table with 24 points while Chelsea are trailing behind them with 22 points. Liverpool are stranded in 7th position with 15 points. Van Dyke's injury at the start of the season made Liverpool's defense fragile. It will be very interesting to see if Southampton will be able to beat Liverpool like they beat Tottenham and also City or if Liverpool will give Southampton their second defeat in the league."

Carragher then explained his opinion, "Liverpool had a chance to beat Southampton. Arsenal beat Southampton, even though Southampton were playing with half a substitute players at the time. Wolverhampton also beat Southampton. I don't think this team is so perfect. The only thing that makes this team look strong is Kazuki's presence."

"So do you think Kazuki was the only player who brought Southampton to the top of the table?" asked Jim Kaglin.

"That's not what I mean, of course there are some other players who are doing well but you can't deny that half of Southampton's achievement now is the presence of this Japanese player," explained Carragher.

"Okay then let's look at the formation of the two teams. In this match Southampton fielded a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Goalkeepers: Dean Smith;

Defenders: Freddy, Okhalo, Hilton, Ben Carter;

Defensive midfielders: Simone, Rudolf;

Attacking midfielders: Rustan, Ryan, Wright-Phillips;

Front: Kazuki;

Meanwhile Liverpool lowered the 3-5-2 formation.

Goalkeepers: Jim Becker;

Central defenders: Glen Johnson, Joe Gomez, Luis Enrique;

Midfielders: Coutinho, Henderson, Steven Roger, Tony Cross, Maddison;

Forwards: Ahmed, Sisinho;

It is very surprising to see Liverpool playing with only 1 pure central defender namely Gomez. It looks like Henderson or Gerrard will step down and become a central defender for Liverpool. Meanwhile, Ragnick seems to want to take advantage of the midfielder's advantages as much as possible. Can this be done well? With so many midfielders of the same type it's possible that there will be players who have overlapping tasks."

Carragher was also seen frowning at Ragnick's formation. He did not hide his surprise, "This is a very risky gamble. Do Liverpool really take Kazuki seriously? One centre-back was definitely not enough to keep this player.

"I think it will be an interesting game. Let's see how the first half between Southampton and Liverpool goes."

Southampton started the first half kick-off. Liverpool immediately applied aggressive pressing as soon as Southampton finished the first half kick-off. The ball fell to Hilton's feet, Sisinho came towards him to press Hilton. The Southampton centre-back gave the ball to right-back Freddy. At that moment Luis Enrique, who was a center back, turned out to be far forward, he blocked Freddy from the front while Maddison blocked the path between Freddy and Simone. Freddy was forced to give the long pass forward.

Coutinho aggressively grabbed the ball that was about to be received by Bennet then he kicked the ball to Steven Roger. Steven Roger received the ball and passed it to Maddison. The former Leicester player dribbled the ball forward. Luis Enrique did not hesitate to help Maddison. With one two pass, Maddison managed to break into the penalty box. Then he immediately gave a flat pass to the side.

Ahmed ran through the gaps between the players and poked the ball into the Southampton goalpost. At that moment Saint Mary's Stadium suddenly fell silent. They did not think that not even a minute into the game Southampton had conceded first.

"Goaaaalll! Shocking! I can't believe this, Liverpool managed to score against Southampton in 42 seconds. This is Liverpool's fastest goal of the season. They played very aggressively. It was surprising that Enrique showed even though his position was central defender on paper but he went forward way forward to helping Maddison. A brilliant calculation from Ralf Ragnick."

Carragher shook his head "I'm disappointed in myself for doubting Ragnick. He's a genius, I don't think even the Southampton coach could have guessed how a centre-back would go so far forward in a 3-5-2 formation. Yet this formation is synonymous with defending because usually in this formation when defending it will turn into 5-3-2. But in fact Ragnick turned 3-5-2 into 2-5-3 with Luis Enrique coming on."

The game continued, Southampton started kick-off again even though one minute ago they just did it. Liverpool pressed Southampton again. But this time Southampton was more prepared. The rest of Southampton's players came down to help cope with Liverpool's tight pressing.

After a while Southampton finally entered a stable state, Liverpool's pressure was not as dangerous as at the beginning. Even so, with so many players in midfield, it was difficult for Southampton to build an attack. This made Southampton rely on direct pass forward.

Southampton's front line only leaves Kazuki and Rustan. Rustan was vital on the counter-attack while Kazuki was also vital to keep Liverpool's centre-backs from getting too forward.

In the 7th minute, Simone provided a long pass forward. Henderson guarded Kazuki tightly. He dueled Kazuki to head the ball. Kazuki won the header but Gomez immediately brought down Rustan who just got the ball from Kazuki's header. He didn't want to risk letting Southampton launch a counter-attack.

Southampton's free kick gets from the middle of the field. Simone again kicked the free kick. The ball slid forward. This time Steven Roger managed to head the ball to the side. Glen Johnson then ran quickly forward and grabbed the ball that had Roger's headed. When Rudolf tried to stop him. Johnson provided pass to Coutinho.

The player carried the ball diagonally to the center. Then, he gave the ball a through ball forward. The ball slid past the Southampton centre-back. Ahmed tried to reach it but Dean Smith got the ball first.. Liverpool's attack failed because Coutinho's pass was too strong.