Southampton: Walcott was awful again in Liverpool defeat | OneFootball

Southampton’s woeful Premier League form in 2021 continued as they were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool at Anfield, with Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side missing a number of big chances against the Merseyside club.

Sadio Mane’s header gave Jurgen Klopp’s side the lead moments after Che Adams missed a golden opportunity before Thiago made the points safe late on for the Reds.

The Saints are fortunate that the likes of Fulham and West Brom haven’t picked up more points in recent weeks, as Southampton’s terrible run of results has seen them slip to 16th in the Premier League table, just 10 points clear of the relegation places.

Although there were a number of disappointing performances at Anfield, the man who arguably disappointed the most was Theo Walcott, with the 32-year-old continuing his poor recent form in Hasenhuttl’s side.

As per SofaScore, the winger would earn a generous 6.6/10 match rating for his display, with only Che Adams (6.3), Jan Bednarek (6.3), Jack Stephens (6.3) and Kyle Walker-Peters (6.4) rated lower of those who started the game.

Considering Walcott’s vast experience, you would hope that he would still be able to have an influence in games such as these, where Southampton would need to keep possession and frustrate the hosts, especially in a season where their fearsome home record has completely evaporated.

However, the former Arsenal man would complete just 9/15 of his passes during the game, resulting in a less than impressive 60% success rate.

This was the joint-fewest passes with Adams played by any player who started the game, whilst it is also significantly fewer than the 19.8 passes he has averaged per game in the Premier League this season.

Despite being involved so little, the £5.4m-rated Walcott still managed to lose possession on 11 occasions, whilst he also failed to contribute a single shot or dribble during his time on the pitch.

Hampshire Live journalist Tom Leach certainly wasn’t impressed with his performance, as he rated him a 3/10, writing:

“He was quiet and struggled to get into the game. He was easily forced wide and crowded out in possession, creating next to nothing. His form seems to have vanished during the second half of the season.”

Hasenhuttl will surely be fuming that one of the most experienced players in his side was completely anonymous at Anfield and considering Walcott’s poor recent form, the Austrian should surely think twice about signing him permanently this summer.

And, in other news… Southampton suffer huge setback with “exciting” £9m-rated gem, Ralph surely fuming