Southampton’s goals, from James Beattie and Kevin Phillips in the second half, both came against the run of play and owed something to factors other than pure skill, while Antti Niemi, the goalkeeper, defied the Liverpool attack with a string of saves, including one from a penalty by Michael Owen, for whom it was another wretched day in front of goal.
Sturrock admitted that his team had enjoyed all the luck and now knows the scale of the task he has inherited. “The goalkeeper kept us in it and the back four did manfully, but I had to have a word at half-time,” he said, a fact confirmed by Niemi, who recalled old times under Gordon Strachan, Sturrock’s predecessor. “Hearing a Scottish accent having a go at us gave us a big lift,” Niemi said. “I was quite busy today, as Liverpool played well, but it’s your job. Sometimes it goes your way.”
The fans at St Mary’s Stadium gave Sturrock a warm welcome, but he must have wondered what he had let himself in for as Liverpool tore into his team from the kick-off. Harry Kewell, who was playing only because Bruno Cheyrou, whose injured ankle failed to make it through the pre-match warm-up, sent Niemi sprawling after only nine minutes.
Southampton could not get out of first gear and were lucky not to reach the interval two down. After 22 minutes, Owen’s diagonal pass found Steven Gerrard in space on the left of the penalty area, but the England midfield player’s attempt to swerve the ball round Niemi was way off target. And in the final minute of the first half, Kewell’s through-pass put Owen clear, but his shot lacked conviction and Niemi, who had dashed off his line, blocked the ball.
Phillips had been the only Southampton player who looked dangerous, just failing to reach Rory Delap’s prod forward before Jerzy Dudek, who had taken over in the Liverpool goal from Chris Kirkland, who will miss be out for six weeks after fracturing a wrist in training. Phillips then produced a dangerous cross from the right that Igor Biscan’s challenge prevented Beattie from reaching.
Southampton’s first goal, seven minutes after the restart was a surprise, not so much that it was scored than the fact it was allowed. Phillips was “three yards offside” when receiving the ball from Beattie, according to Houllier, before his unimpressive attempt at control became a perfect return pass to Beattie, who lifted the ball delicately over Dudek. “You have to be disciplined and I thought we were, but a major mistake made by the linesman obviously changed the balance of the game,” Houllier said.
His team were stung into action and should have drawn level after 58 minutes. Niemi did well to parry Gerrard’s effort but must have expected Owen, following up, to score anyway. Instead, from two yards out, he scuffed the ball against the foot of an upright with his studs.
After that, it was Niemi against the Liverpool forwards. Their best chance to beat him came after 72 minutes, when Dermot Gallagher, the referee, awarded a penalty for a mild challenge — and one that was outside the penalty area — by Jason Dodd on Kewell, but the Finland goalkeeper beat away Owen’s kick.
To emphasise that it was not Liverpool’s day, Southampton broke away five minutes from time to score a second, Phillips’s shot from distance looping over Dudek off John Arne Riise’s attempted block. Even then there was time for Niemi to pull off another save, from Kewell. “The turning point was when the linesman didn’t give the offside. Their keeper was man of the match, which says it all. There were many reasons to feel hard done by,” Houllier said.