A Totally Honest Fan Review of Liverpool vs Southampton

A Totally Honest Fan Review of Liverpool vs Southampton

It was Caraboa Cup action for the Premier League Champions as Liverpool welcomed Southampton to Anfield. Arne Slot's side were looking to continue their 100% start in all competitions this season whilst The Saints have had a relatively poor start to their Championship campaign, with them appointing football manager expert Will Still as the boss in the summer.

Did you know that Will Still led former club Reims to an 18-game unbeaten run in all competitions and Reims had to pay a £22,000 fine each time Still managed because he doesn’t have his UEFA Pro License!

Anfield was hopefully ready for another classic under the lights, with my friend and I ready for a pie and a drink, which for what it is worth, was a solid 9/10 combination.

You'll never walk alone was belted out, a handfull of honouree Southampton fans, who had made the respected five hour journey midweek, tried to drown out the anthem with the classic 'Oh when the Saints!'.

An impeccable minutes silence was observed for the late Matt Beard, former manager of the Liverpool women's side, with appreciation from everybody going out to the family and friends of a man that did so much for the women's game. Liverpool was made for you and you were made for Liverpool.

As far as games of football go, there have been better, but there have certainly been worse. About a minute after sitting down, we were all standing back up wondering how Alexander Isak hadn’t scored his first Liverpool goal after a brilliant save from keeper Alex McCarthy.

Midway through the first half, Southampton captain Adam Armstrong had an effort smash the bar, with the follow up effort from Flynn Downes just wide of the post, in which he should have scored.

In the 43rd minute, the deadlock was finally broken. Isak, to which some Newcastle journalists still admit to not being for sale, opened his Liverpool account with the Swede finally being able to release his trademark 'thumb' celebration on centreback Nathan Wood as well as a kneeslide infront of the home support. As far as aura goes, that had a lot of it.

Seeing Alexander Isak pull out that celebration right in front of me at Anfield tonight.

Serious aura.

Nice moment between him and Chiesa as well! pic.twitter.com/3gVlVHdZYL

— Slotoholic (@Slotoholic) September 23, 2025

The teams were out for the second half, with Hugo Ekitike replacing Isak at the break. for about 30 minutes, nothing happened, the atmosphere was flat, and the game was in desperate need of a goal.

That eventually came in the 75th minute, after a poorly defended corner from Liverpool resulted in a Saints equalizer from substitute Shea Charles. The away end had something to cheer about, and we were 15 minutes away from a penalty shootout at Anfield.

For those hate watching from home, however, they were disappointed, as the inevitable late goal came in the 86th minute, with Ekitike netting in front of the Kop. The Frenchman had a moment of madness, however, taking his shirt off and displaying his name to the crowd. The issue was that he was already on a yellow card, and so the referee was then the one showing the goalscorer's name on the back of a red card.

The ten men of Liverpool survived, with the home side through to the next round of the Carabao Cup! Not the most memorable of games as a fan, but one that would be remembered should Liverpool be playing under the Wembley arch come March time next year.