Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl believes Liverpool have rediscovered the “identity” which brought their first top-flight title in 30 years.
Jurgen Klopp’s men were deserved Premier League champions in the 2019-20 campaign but standards dipped significantly last term as they finished 17 points adrift of table-topping Manchester City.
Hasenhuttl was left in tears on the touchline back in January after masterminding Saints’ shock 1-0 victory over the Reds at St Mary’s.
The Austrian takes his team to Anfield on Saturday afternoon and feels the free-scoring hosts – who have hit a league-high 35 goals this season – are a far more dangerous proposition than earlier this year.
“It is always a pleasure for to play against a team of Jurgen and it is always one of the biggest challenges you can imagine in football, it is always super tough,” said Hasenhuttl.
“When you see Liverpool in the moment, they’re coming back to their best shape, their biggest strength. It seems to me that they are playing again like in the season when they became champions.
“Last season it seems to me – we are discussing about a high level still – they haven’t been that hungry against the ball, not that quick in their transition, not that quick in their play like they are doing again this season.
“I don’t know what they changed in the summer but it seems they have found their identity back and it makes it very difficult to take something against such a side.
“But it is not impossible – I’ve seen Brighton take a point after being two down (a 2-2 draw on October 30) but 99 out of 100 games, if you’re 2-0 down (away to Liverpool) you lose this game.”
Hasenhuttl has received a major injury boost ahead of the trip to Merseyside, with defender Jack Stephens back in training following more than two months out with a knee issue.
Stephens is not expected to be rushed back into first-team action, partly due to rustiness but also because of strong competition for places.
“He is back training, the first week in a long time and this is good for him, good for us,” said Hasenhuttl.
“If he is ready for the weekend, I’m not sure. In the moment, it’s quite tough to come in the 18, we have a lot of alternatives in the squad at the moment.
“Normally I try to give them a little bit longer on the (training) pitch to come back. Give him time, there’s no reason to hurry.”
Midfielder Stuart Armstrong remains out due to a calf issue but Nathan Redmond returns to contention having missed last weekend’s 2-1 loss at Norwich due to the birth of a child, while Moussa Djenepo is also available following a knock.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here