Southampton 1 Liverpool 2

by Oliver Holt of "The Times"

They were talking about "the kid" again yesterday. They raved about him. Gerard Houllier, the new
Liverpool joint-manager, said that it made his job easy just having him in the team. "The kid" had made
one and scored one, just like he had against Argentina in the World Cup. The sight of him in full flow
yesterday was like an umbilical cord stretching back to France. From St-Etienne to Southampton, they
are all fields of gold for Michael Owen now. 

His name has hardly been off our lips since June. His face has adorned countless magazine covers, his
image has become the epitome of clean-cut sporting success. Anything other than the winner at The Dell
yesterday would have been an anticlimax. Anything else would have been a surprise and the Golden Boy
did not disappoint. Only one game has gone and he is already one ahead of Alan Shearer in the eagerly
awaited battle to be the FA Carling Premiership's top scorer. 

Owen did not play at his best - he even showed a rare touch of fallibility by missing a clear second-half
chance - but he managed still to command centre stage in this morale-boosting, battling victory for one of
the four title favourites. He created the Liverpool equaliser for Karlheinz Riedle, his striking partner, with a
fine cross and clinched the win with a clinical 73rd-minute volley just when it seemed that his side had
settled for a draw. 

Liverpool just about deserved the three points. Southampton had the two best players on the pitch in their
central midfield partnership of Carlton Palmer and Matthew Oakley and even boasted a bright English
prospect of their own in Wayne Bridge, who made an impressively assured debut. But Liverpool looked
more solid in defence at last, with Heggem and Staunton as the full backs. Ince and McManaman
prompted well from midfield and Riedle and Owen provided the cutting edge that Southampton lacked. 

It is too early to say whether this season may offer an end to their years of underachievement, but there
was a hint of a new solidity and cohesion about Liverpool that bodes well. After the game, Robbie Fowler
warmed up on the pitch to remind everyone that they have another classy striker waiting in the wings,
another player to give them impetus as the season progresses. 

Liverpool had started brightly. Less than 20 seconds had elapsed when Ince unleashed a low, 30-yard
shot that skimmed a few inches off the turf towards the bottom right-hand corner of the net and brought a
flying save out of Jones. The Wales goalkeeper had to be at his best again four minutes later to deny
Owen the dream start that everyone had been predicting for him. 

Owen collected a loose ball just inside the Southampton area and tried to thread a pass through to
Riedle. When the ball rebounded to him off a defender, though, he made space for himself with a deft
move to the right and forced Jones to hurl himself low to his left to push his stinging shot round the post. 

Carragher spurned another chance for the visitors a few seconds later, when he missed his kick in front of
goal, and the Southampton supporters, with only the wild lunges of their new signing, Mark Hughes, to
cheer, began to call fretfully for the release of Le Tissier from his imprisonment on the bench. Dave Jones,
the Southampton manager, said afterwards that he had been left out because he had had a poor
pre-season. "The time has gone when we need him to carry us," he said. 

Hughes gave the home side cause for hope midway through the half when he sneaked in front of
Carragher and rounded Friedel before prodding his shot into the side-netting. To make sure he made his
mark early on for his new club, Hughes thrust his forearm into Friedel's face soon after that and, as if it
was a cue, Southampton scored. 

Palmer, who had outplayed Ince in the centre of midfield, inspiring his team with a series of crunching
tackles and surging runs, slipped a short ball out to Ripley, another new signing, eight minutes before
half-time. Ripley fired in his cross, but its trajectory was changed when it looped up off Babb. Ostenstad
met it on the edge of the six-yard box with his head, but the ball seemed to clip Ince before it bounced
into the corner of the net. 

Two minutes later, Liverpool were level. Owen, who had drifted out to the left, collected the ball near the
touchline and curled in an inviting cross. The Southampton defence watched it sail over them and Riedle
ran in to power a fierce downward header under the despairing dive of Jones. 

When the second half began, Owen appeared briefly to have lost some of his lustre. A neat turn and pass
from Riedle sent the prodigy scampering clear of the Southampton defence, but as he bore down on
Jones, Owen miscontrolled the ball, stumbled and allowed the goalkeeper to rush out and ruin his
opportunity. 

It took little more than 20 minutes more for Owen to punish those who had allowed even a little doubt to
creep into their minds. With Dodd confined to the touchline as he waited to rejoin after an injury, Staunton
hurled a long throw into the Southampton box, where Ince flicked it on. Jones tried to claim it, but could
only push it away a few yards, to where Owen was waiting to volley the ball unerringly into the open net. 

Beattie, a late substitute, brought a fine save out of Friedel in the 77th minute with a looping header from
Dodd's cross and Le Tissier could have scored two minutes from the end, but pulled his shot narrowly
wide. No one, it seems, can steal the limelight away from the Boy Wonder. 

SOUTHAMPTON (4-4-2): P Jones - J Dodd, R Dryden, C Lundekvam, S Hiley - S Ripley (sub: J Beattie,
75min), C Palmer, M Oakley, J Beresford (sub: W Bridge, 7) - M Hughes, E Ostenstad (sub: M Le
Tissier, 68). 

LIVERPOOL (4-4-2): B Friedel - V Heggem, J Carragher, P Babb, S Staunton - J McAteer, P Ince, S
McManaman, P Berger (sub: S Harkness, 75) - K Riedle, M Owen. 

Referee: P Alcock.