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Southampton 4-4 Liverpool: Roberto Firmino scores on farewell as Reds rescue draw at Saints in eight-goal thriller | Football News
Match report and highlights as Roberto Firmino marked his final Liverpool game with a goal in a barnstorming 4-4 draw at relegated Southampton; Saints had fought back from 2-0 down to lead 4-2 at St Mary’s Stadium
By Laura Hunter
Southampton shared an eight-goal thriller with Liverpool as they bid farewell to the Premier League after an 11-year top-flight stay, bowing out with an enthralling 4-4 draw.
Saints’ fate was sealed way before the final day, their relegation confirmed two weeks ago, but were intent on departing with a bang, fighting back from two goals down before going 4-2 up in a bonkers, but brilliant, 90 minutes of football.
Liverpool raced into a two-goal lead inside 14 minutes thanks to strikes from Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino – the latter marking his fond farewell from the club with goals in back-to-back fixtures, having also rescued a draw at Anfield against Aston Villa last time out.
James Ward-Prowse then reduced arrears in the 19th minute, benefiting from a neat interchange between Kamaldeen Sulemana and Charly Alcaraz on the edge of the box before sweeping past Liverpool’s deputy goalkeeper, Caoimhin Kelleher.
Sulemana was found by Theo Walcott nine minutes later, finishing low to deceive Kelleher, as a topsy-turvy game continued to swing in a multitude of directions before even reaching its midway point.
Saints started the brighter after the interval, stunning Liverpool with another Sulemana scalp – only his second goal since arriving in January – before Adam Armstrong found the net 49 seconds after entering the field from the substitute’s bench.
Cody Gakpo found requisite reply for the visitors in the 72nd minute, tapping home from a sumptuous Trent Alexander-Arnold volleyed cross, paving the way for Jota to have the final say less than 60 seconds later.
Mohamed Salah released the Portugal forward, who left Lyanco in his wake before rifling emphatically into the top corner to level a frantic contest on the south coast.
How the Premier League table finished
Southampton verdict: Distrust and disunity leads to relegation disaster
Sky Sports’ Laura Hunter:
It’s been a sorry season for Southampton, characterised by a circus of commotion and erratic decision making. Three managers, a record number of games lost (26), a record amount of money spent and one relegation confirmed. Sport Republic, Saints’; relatively new majority share-owners, have assumed a controlling say over the operational running of the club in the last week – having promised to be ‘hands off’ in their approach when completing their takeover back in January 2022. Such a pledge, idealistic or otherwise, has since been rescinded.
Sport Republic co-founder Henrik Kraft originally said he does not intend “to start any revolutions”. Presumably Kraft, now listed as ‘Southampton FC chairman’ on his personal LinkedIn page, did not imagine the mess that would transpire.
Harmony has eroded, replaced by distrust and disunity. So much so that Southampton’s entire board have all been removed, bar one (Toby Steele) who is currently serving out his notice.
Much less a revolution, more a complete overthrow. Identity all but lost.
Unsurprisingly, disillusion on the south coast is rife. Fans have been worn down by the perceived mismanagement of their club, with St Mary’s becoming a place to mourn rather than rejoice. Current manager Ruben Selles, a mere placeholder, is also set to depart.
Southampton are winless in their last 13 Premier League games (10 losses), their longest run since 1989. It’s going to take a monumental effort to turn such declining form around in the Championship – presuming much of Saints’ existing talent will follow high-ranking staff members out the exit door this summer.
There are 68 days between the end of the Premier League season and the start of the new Championship campaign. Better dust off the drawing board.
Liverpool verdict: Revival comes too late to propel Reds into top four
Sky Sports’ Richard Morgan:
There can be no disguising the fact that Liverpool’s fifth-placed finish this season, to quote star man Mohamed Salah, has been a “failure” for Jurgen Klopp and his players after they came within two games of an historic Quadruple just 12 months ago.
The exertions of playing 63 matches in total and going head-to-head with champions Man City all the way to the final few seconds of the previous campaign seemed to drain the energy from the Reds, who after a shortened preseason, failed to win any of their first three Premier League games.
In fact, incredible as it sounds, Liverpool never once found themselves occupying a top-four berth in the entire season and not even a 1-0 win over City at Anfield in October could revive their faltering campaign as losses at newly-promoted Nottingham Forest, then at home to struggling Leeds United soon followed.
The Reds went into November’s World Cup seven points adrift of Tottenham Hotspur in fourth and hoping that the unique mid-season break would give them the chance of a reset by resting tired bodies and minds, before the action resumed the following month.
That proved a false hope as after two unconvincing wins against Aston Villa and Leicester City to get proceedings under way again at the end of the year, their season reached a new low with sobering defeats at Brentford, Brighton & Hove Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers by an aggregate scoreline of 9-1.
Those one-sided, lethargic setbacks proved the turning point in the campaign for Klopp, who by now had nothing to lose as the season spiralled out of control and Liverpool slipped to 10th in the table, 11 points off the top four.
With a rare full week of training in the international week at the end of March, the German began working on Trent Alexander-Arnold’s new hybrid role and with new ideas, came new energy as the Reds finished the season strongly.
However, it was too little, too late in terms of qualifying for next season’s Champions League. In the end, Liverpool’s dreadful away form – they lost eight times on the road, compared to just twice last time out – compounded by losing more players to injury than any other top-flight side, cost them dear as Klopp finished outside the top four for the first time (in a completed campaign) while in charge at Anfield.
But when you manage to collect 25 points less than you picked up the previous campaign, that is not surprising.
How the season played out
When does the 2023/24 Premier League season start?
The Premier League season will kick-off on August 12 and conclude nine months later on May 19, 2024.
The start is one week later than the 2022/23 launch as the schedule returns to normal following the Covid-19 pandemic and the Qatar 2022 World Cup, which provided disruption during the previous three seasons.
However, the fixture list provides for a return of the mid-season player break which will take place between January 13-20.
Fixtures for the new Premier League season will be revealed at 9am on Thursday June 15 and you can follow the announcements on Sky Sports News and across Sky Sports’ digital platforms.
