MAURICIO Pellegrino insists Saints are playing the right way and wants his side to continue in the same vein at Liverpool on Saturday.
The Argentine has come under scrutiny for failing to deliver the attacking football that was promised on his arrival at St Mary’s in the summer.
Saints are struggling for momentum too, having picked up just five points from their last six games in the Premier League. They most recently lost to Burnley 1-0 in front of their own frustrated support.
However, Pellegrino has seen enough positives in their recent performances to believe they are heading in the right direction, and doesn’t see the need for changes at Anfield.
“I’d like to continue how we’re performing in recent games,” he said about the game against Jurgen Klopp’s side.
"In 25 minutes against Burnley we played well but I know it will be difficult and tough – we are playing a good side.
"But may be we’ll feel comfortable because I imagine Liverpool will attack and we are a team that feels comfortable when we have the ball.
“I imagine it will be an up and down game. Liverpool are good in the counter-attack but I’d imagine it’s a good possibility to see how we are.”
Pellegrino will have spent the international break analysing and plotting Saints’ path through their tricky run ahead.
Saints play all of the big six in the next ten games and that punishing run will almost certainly be huge in the context of their season.
“Sometimes it’s good to have a break to think about things and do analysis,” he said.
"But we’ve had 50 per cent of the squad abroad playing international games. That’s not easy.
“Obviously, we have to adapt in this situation. If you want to bring in good players most of them are internationals.”
The tough run-in starts at Liverpool on Saturday, where Pellegrino had a spell as a player and coach under Rafael Benitez.
The 46-year-old signed a six-month contract with the Reds in January 2005 and played 13 times for the club before being released at the end of the campaign.
He later spent two years there as a first-team coach under Benitez before moving to Inter Milan with the now Newcastle manager in 2010.
“It’s a special place for me,” he said about Anfield. "I will always have good memories of this club as a player and as a coach.
“I live in some nice moments, some wonderful moments in my life but in this case I would like to win.”
Liverpool have identified Kara Mbodji as a defensive solution if they fail in their long-term pursuit of Virgil van Dijk.
The Anderlecht defender has impressed for the Belgian side and Senegal, with team-mate and Reds star Sadio Mane bound to play a pivotal role in his decision.
The 28-year-old is worth £10m, report Turkish Football, who add that Brighton are also keen.
Serie A and Turkish Super Lig clubs have also expressed an interest and watched Mbodji in action against South Africa.
Jordan Henderson has returned to full training with Liverpool as he steps up his recovery from a thigh problem.
The former Sunderland midfielder missed the Reds’ 4-1 win over West Ham prior to the international break and withdrew from the England squad to take on Germany and Brazil.
He has spent the last fortnight working his way back to full fitness and joined in with the rest of his teammates on Wednesday.
Sadio Mane was also at Melwood, but Liverpool will make a late decision on his inclusion for the visit of his former club to Anfield.
Jamie Carragher and Graeme Souness were among the stars to attend the Kenny Dalglish film premiere in Liverpool.
The great and the good of football, plus a clutch of other famous faces, were in attendance for the private screening of ‘Kenny’ at the FACT cinema on Merseyside.
Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson was also on hand to enjoy the event, as was comedian Lee Evans.
Former Reds stars Jamie Carragher and Gary McAllister were all smiles on the red carpet as Dalglish spoke to the press about the film.
He said: “We spoke to Pitch International and they asked whether we would like to do a movie.
“They’re good lads, I know them really well so I thought if I’m going to do one I might as well do it with someone I know and trust.
“It’s about football, obviously, because that was my profession, but there is some family stuff in there as well that maybe a lot of people have never seen or don’t realise is going on.
(Reuters) - Liverpool have been handed a double injury boost as captain Jordan Henderson declared himself fit and midfielder Adam Lallana returned to full training ahead of Saturday’s Premier League home game against Southampton.
Henderson, 27, missed Liverpool’s 4-1 win at West Ham United and both of England’s friendlies this month due to a thigh injury but completed a full training session on Wednesday.
“It was my first proper session back today,” Henderson told reporters at the premiere of Liverpool great Kenny Dalglish’s biopic later on Wednesday. “I felt good and hopefully I can play a part at the weekend.”
Dalglish recruited Henderson from Sunderland in 2011 and the England international was full of praise for the former Liverpool player and manager, whom he credits for having a huge influence on his career.
Lallana, who has not played for Liverpool this season due to a thigh injury, could return for a reunion with his former club along with winger Sadio Mane, who is recovering from a hamstring tweak on Senegal duty.
Liverpool are fifth in the standings and last beat 13th-placed Southampton in the league at St Mary’s in 2015.
We ran the north London derby and Soccer Saturday Super 6 line-up through the latest version of Football Manager, and it produced some dramatic results.
The nation’s most popular football management game is forecasting another goal fest between Arsenal and Tottenham, live on Sky Sports Premier League from 11.30am on Saturday, plus Manchester City continue to run riot and West Brom and Chelsea play out a five-goal thriller.
Here’s what happened when seven selected games from this Saturday were run through Football Manager 2018…
The Gunners come flying out of the blocks thanks to goals from Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil in the 11th and 22nd minutes in front of a packed Emirates Stadium.
However, Dele Alli strikes back in the 37th minute and, despite Mousa Dembele limping off injured, Harry Kane steps up to salvage a point for Spurs in the 77th minute.
Arsene Wenger is left to rue not only losing a two-goal lead but also failing to make the most of having twice the amount of shots as the visitors, who also had Davinson Sanchez booked in an otherwise relatively disciplined derby.
The Cherries continue their recent resurgence with a second successive 1-0 victory thanks to Callum Wilson’s 13th-minute strike.
Eddie Howe’s men had twice as many shots on target and 14 attempts overall to their visitors’ eight, while cards were also plentiful, with no less than five bookings handed out.
Chris Wood sweeps aside the jetlag from Wednesday’s World Cup Qualifier play-off with New Zealand to bag a match-winning double against Swansea.
It was a well-earned victory for the Clarets as they fired six of their 19 shots on target while enjoying 63 per cent of possession, although they did lose Ashley Barnes to injury, with Renato Sanches also limping off for Swansea.
Wilfried Zaha scored either side of half-time to heap further misery on Everton and secure Crystal Palace their second win of the season.
Ross Barkley had made a miraculous return from injury to score just four minutes, but Zaha found the net either side of Christian Benteke’s 37th-minute effort to ease the Eagles’ relegation worries.
Pep Guardiola’s men made it 10 successive wins to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League thanks to a first-half blitz.
Leroy Sane opened the scoring after just eight minutes and wrapped up the win in the 21st minute, five minutes after Sergio Aguero had doubled their lead.
It was a comfortable afternoon for Liverpool but for a nervy final five minutes after substitute Charlie Austin gave Southampton hope.
However, Philippe Coutinho’s 15th-minute opener and Fraser Forster’s 25th-minute own goal were enough to see Jurgen Klopp’s side secure the victory.
Chelsea also held on for a narrow victory in a five-goal thriller at The Hawthorns. Willian opened the scoring after 16 minutes, but the game really opened up in the second half.
Nacer Chadli levelled in the 54th minute before quickfire efforts from Alvaro Morata and Cesc Fabregas just before the hour mark, although the visiting fans were subjected to a tense finale following Matt Phillips’ strike in the 76th minute.
Liverpool have been handed a double injury boost as captain Jordan Henderson declared himself fit and midfielder Adam Lallana returned to full training ahead of Saturday’s Premier League home game against Southampton.
Henderson, 27, missed Liverpool’s 4-1 win at West Ham United and both of England’s friendlies this month due to a thigh injury but completed a full training session on Wednesday.
‘It was my first proper session back today,’ Henderson told reporters at the premiere of Liverpool great Kenny Dalglish’s biopic on Wednesday.
‘I felt good and hopefully I can play a part at the weekend.’
Dalglish recruited Henderson from Sunderland in 2011 and the England international was full of praise for the former Liverpool player and manager, whom he credits for having a huge influence on his career.
Lallana, who has not played for Liverpool this season due to a thigh injury, could return for a reunion with his former club along with winger Sadio Mane, who is recovering from a hamstring tweak on Senegal duty.
Liverpool are waiting to see whether manager Jurgen Klopp will be fit enough to start preparations for Saturday’s match against Southampton after the German was taken ill.
The 50-year-old was released from hospital on Wednesday evening after having admitted himself earlier in the day, missing the first training session of his full squad since their return from international duty.
Liverpool have said Klopp may require further check-ups in the coming days but it is yet to be seen how that will affect his presence at the club’s Melwood training ground.
The club issued a statement on Wednesday afternoon, just as the team were due to begin training, in which they confirmed Klopp’s absence.
“There are currently no plans for Jurgen to remain in hospital beyond his appointment and he will therefore return home; however, he may require further check-ups in the coming days,” said the statement.
“The club urges that the privacy of Jurgen, his family and other patients is respected while attending hospital visits.”
In February 2016 Klopp, who last week made a trip to South Africa for a charity event, missed the 2-2 draw at home to Sunderland after being hospitalised after suffering appendicitis.
On that occasion assistants Peter Krawietz and Zelko Buvac oversaw the team’s 2-2 draw and they, plus coach Pepijn Lijnders, took Wednesday’s training in the manager’s absence.
Players joining the session after international duty included Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino, who both played for Brazil against England at Wembley, Simon Mignolet (Belgium) and Joe Gomez, Dominic Solanke and Trent Alexander-Arnold - who represented England at senior and under-21 level - and Wales duo Ben Woodburn and Danny Ward.
Senegal’s Sadio Mane, who came back on Tuesday after complaining of another problem with his hamstring while on international duty, has not yet been ruled out for the weekend.
A reunion that barely reunites anyone sounds an unsuccessful affair. As there are times when Liverpool’s scouting policy has seemed to consist of buying a season ticket at St Mary’s, Saturday’s game against Southampton ought to be a get-together of familiar faces. But injuries mean that Nathaniel Clyne will not feature and Adam Lallana and Sadio Mane might not. While former Liverpool defender Mauricio Pellegrino is now Southampton manager, Dejan Lovren could be the lone man actually playing against a former club.
And even he would have stood a lesser chance of starting had Virgil van Dijk become the latest to take the increasingly familiar path from the banks of the Solent to Merseyside. Instead, it is the reunion that isn’t. Van Dijk did not join Liverpool. He did not become the most expensive defender ever, as a mooted price of at least £60 million would have made him.
He submitted a transfer request. Liverpool had already submitted an apology after Southampton alleged they had tapped up the Dutchman. Van Dijk apparently met Jurgen Klopp in Blackpool, a favourite holiday destination of Bill Shankly’s but a place the Reds have only needed to visit once for footballing reasons – a 2-1 defeat in 2011 – in 47 years.
So this promises to be an awkward occasion for suitor and the object of their affections alike, a chance for each to see what they could have had. Because, three months into the season, it is hard to see that anyone has benefited from Southampton’s refusal to sell: not the Saints, even though they have a fine defensive record; nor Liverpool, who certainly do not; and not Van Dijk, who seems a man in limbo.
This is not a repeat of Mane’s move, a deal that benefited Liverpool and a player who took his game to another level, but cost Southampton, who lost incision and excitement with his departure. Nor is it a sequel of Lovren’s departure, when Southampton banked £20m and posted a significantly better defensive record in the first season after the Croatian’s exit.
Instead, Liverpool have the sixth-worst defensive record in the division. They have kept clean sheets of late but against unambitious opponents, in Maribor and Huddersfield. They have also let in three goals to Watford, four to Tottenham and five to Manchester City. The manner has been as dispiriting as the numbers and if the structural failings and set-piece difficulties mean it is simplistic to suggest one player would have been a panacea for all their problems, it is evident Liverpool required a top-class centre-back more than, say, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The 4-1 evisceration by Spurs is the sort of result that could ultimately cost Liverpool a top-four finish.
Lovren’s harrowing afternoon at Wembley, where he was substituted after half an hour after having been directly at fault for two Spurs goals, represented the nadir, but it was far from the only issue. Ragnar Klavan was little better in the 5-0 thrashing at City. The left half of defence, usually staffed by Lovren and Alberto Moreno, is a weak link. It has not helped that Lovren has been playing in pain, nor that Klopp’s tactics, with a high defensive line and full-backs who double up as wingers, mean his centre-backs have to be able to defend one on one. Van Dijk allies the speed to cope with presence and conviction, two things Lovren sometimes lacks. At his best, he exerts a magnetic effect on the ball.
Not that Southampton have seen Van Dijk at his commanding, confident best. They have conceded every 75 minutes with him on the pitch, and every 107 without him. He gave away a penalty in the defeat at Stoke. He has been a complication when Pellegrino perhaps wanted to move on. The £15m summer signing Wesley Hoedt has been dropped to make way for Van Dijk; so, too, the in-form Maya Yoshida, the other half of the potential partnership of the future.
He is a superior player to either but Southampton do not need a £60m centre-back. A side with nine goals in 11 league games require more firepower and a greater threat in the final third. A team who have failed to score six times already this season over all competitions perhaps could have profited from investing a windfall in a striker and a creator.
It is understandable if Van Dijk saw the precedents and assumed Southampton would cash in on him, just as it is logical that Saints wanted to shed their image as a selling club. But that is easier said than done, and they perhaps picked the wrong player. Van Dijk is 26; his value may soon decrease if they do not sell, while Southampton have slipped down the standings with him. If keeping him was a statement of ambition, the league table makes a different kind of declaration.
But buying him would have remedied a weakness at Anfield and enhanced their chances of making Champions League qualification an annual event. Liverpool have had cause to rue the ones who got away before. They have had seasons that were defined by players they lost, whether it be Xabi Alonso in 2009-10 or Luis Suarez in 2014-15, but rarely by one they never signed to begin with. But that is the worst-case scenario. This could be remembered as Van Dijk’s year at Anfield. Just not in the way Liverpool envisaged.
Richard Jolly covers the Premier League and Champions League for ESPN FC. Twitter: @RichJolly.
A real mixed bag. After a very bright start, they were rocked by a heavy defeat to Man City and took time to recover from that. They’ve looked great going forward but vulnerable defensively – 16 of the 17 league goals they have conceded have come on their travels. After last month’s 4-1 defeat to Tottenham at Wembley the alarm bells were ringing with a big focus on Jurgen Klopp’s failure to strengthen defensively in the summer window. However, since then the gloom has been lifted by three straight wins against Huddersfield, Maribor and West Ham. With Liverpool fifth in the Premier League and top of their Champions League group, they have a decent platform to build on with the return to fitness of Adam Lallana and Philippe Coutinho bolstering the squad.
How has the return of European football affected the club’s fortunes?
I don’t think they can blame the added demands of European football for their indifferent league form. Being back in the Champions League after a three-year absence has given the whole club a lift. They were lucky with the draw for the Champions League as they were placed in a very average group. With two games remaining they are well placed to reach the knockout stages. Klopp will be desperate to go into next Tuesday’s game away to Sevilla on a high after beating Saints.
How has Jurgen Klopp’s approach changed, if at all, from last season?
I don’t think it’s changed much. But the signing of Mo Salah has given Klopp greater options going forward and he’s been a revelation so far. He’s surpassed all expectations with 12 goals already this season. Last season Liverpool were much more reliant on Sadio Mané, now they have a really potent threat on both wings. Klopp still prefers 4-3-3 but he has started to mix that up a bit. At West Ham before the international break he went with 4-4-2, although the wingers were so advanced that it was virtually 4-2-4.
How has Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain settled in at Anfield?
After a slow start, he’s starting to find his feet. It was tough for him initially with Klopp saying he needed time to adjust to Liverpool’s style of play. He endured a poor full debut at Leicester in the League Cup and has done plenty of bench warming, but in recent weeks he’s shown signs of living up to his £35million price tag. He capped his full Premier League debut for the club at West Ham with a goal and that should do wonders for his confidence.
Sadio Mané, another former Saint, has been in and out of the side. Is he expected to feature on Saturday?
With the red card against Man City followed by a hamstring injury on international duty, it’s been a stop-start season for Mané so far. He was brilliant on his comeback against West Ham but then aggravated the problem helping Senegal qualify for the World Cup last weekend. Mané is now back at Melwood undergoing treatment with Liverpool still hoping he will be fit enough to play some part against Saints.
Why do you think Liverpool have struggled in recent meetings with Saints?
Southampton have certainly been a bogey team for Klopp since that 6-1 thrashing Liverpool dished out at St Mary’s in the League Cup in December 2015. Liverpool haven’t won any of the five meetings since and haven’t even scored in any of the last four games. I think it underlines the issues the Reds have had with teams who are very resolute defensively and set up to frustrate them. Liverpool have shown signs of being better at breaking down stubborn opposition this season. With Salah and Oxlade-Chamberlain on board, they certainly boast more firepower.
The January transfer window is edging closer and closer, with just over a month until clubs are allowed to start buying and selling players again.
Because the opening of the window is nearing, more and more transfer rumours and reports are starting to appear.
Whether they involve Manchester City - who want to sign another star player to tighten their grip on the Premier League title - or Crystal Palace - who are chasing the men to secure their top flight survival - there are sure to be a number of transfer made over the winter.
But who could be switching teams? Click the right arrow, above, to see the transfer targets being chased by every club in the Premier League…
| 
| 
| 
