Southampton boss names Liverpool player who is 'incredibly annoying' after Carabao Cup clash
Liverpool earned a 2-1 win over Southampton in the Carabao Cup third round.
Southampton boss Will Still admitted the loss to Liverpool typified his side’s season so far.
The Reds edged a 2-1 win over the Championship side to move into the Carabao Cup fourth round. Alexander Isak’s first goal for Arne Slot’s hosts since his £125 million transfer and a fifth strike for Hugo Ekitke either side of Shea Charles’ goal for the Saints earned Liverpool triumph.
The Premier League champions were well below their best, although a factor was that Slot made 11 changes from the team that beat Everton last weekend.
Southampton have endured a stuttering start to the campaign after being relegated from the top flight, collecting six points in the Championship and have now been elimiated from the Carabao Cup.
Still rued the ‘basic’ error that Saints made for Isak’s opener after goalkeeper Alex McCarthy gifted possession to Federico Chiesa. The St Mary’s head coach said: "We've made a really basic and avoidable mistake, which shadows a lot of the good things that we had done in that first half.
"I thought our organisation, our threat, the fact that we stood up and made ourselves accountable and showed a bit of personality was really, really encouraging.
"We've had a massive chance, hit the crossbar and somehow not put it in the back of the net. Then, 30, 40 seconds later, they've gone up the other end, and we've put it on a plate for them.
"I think that sums up our season so far. There were a lot of good bits in moments, but we seem to keep shooting ourselves in the foot, which is annoying.
"There's no denying that we need to urgently eradicate and rub out those mistakes that we are making because a lot of that was positive and good. We are sitting here saying that, and lost 2-1."
“We've created a few really interesting situations. It's just not quite clicking, and we're getting there. It's taking a bit of time, and it's taking a bit of frustration, also. At some point, it will click, and we will move through the gears. I guess that's just where we're at for the moment.”
Ekitike reunion
Ekitike was at the centre of controversy after netting Liverpool’s winner with four minutes remaining. Already on a yellow card, the striker removed his shirt when celebrating which led to a second booking and a sending off. He is suspended for Saturday’s trip to Crystal Palace in the Premier League, with Slot admitting that Ekitike’s actions were ‘stupid’.
Still had an opportunity to reunite with Ekitike at Anfield. Still was Ekitike’s boss at Reims where the newly-capped France international scored 11 goals in 28 games, which earned him a £50 million move to Paris Saint-Germain.
The duo were captured by the cameras joking before the game, with Still revealing that Ekitike quipped he would score and hand his former boss his shirt.
"Hugo cracks me up,” Still added. “He's a funny lad. We caught up before the game, and he said he'd come on and score and then give me a shirt and bugger off, which is exactly what he's done.
"Fair play to him. We sold him to PSG for £50 million, so we knew he'd got a bit about him and he'd scored a lot of goals for us as well. He's a constant threat, and he's incredibly annoying to play against."