Player ratings: Liverpool 1-4 Man City
There’s no getting away from it, that was a tough one to take. A game we had to win to have any hope of putting up a title defence evaporated in a crazy second half spell that’s out us firmly in a top four scrap. Let’s peek through the slits in our fingers and see how the lads got on…
Alisson (2) – I love Alisson, I think he’s a world class goalkeeper but from the day he arrived I’ve been calling him on the nonsense we saw that led to two of City’s goals tonight. We had a warning of it first half when he and Curtis almost got themselves in trouble and then second half, you can see it coming. Trying to be too clever. The second mistake is even worse! Trying to prove he really is that good! It’s just unnecessary. I’m all for a keeper being good with his feet but there’s a time to keep it simple. He’d normally save Foden’s shout for their fourth as well but by that time you could see his head was gone.
TAA (4) – Sterling was having a field day down our right flank. Trent was flat footed defensively on a number of occasions and botched a clearance in the build up to their second. Had started to grow into the game towards the end of the first half but the calamitous start to the second half knocked the stuffing out of him. His struggles this season continue.
Fabinho (5) – Got away with one first half after his trailing leg led to a penalty that Gundogan promptly put into the stands. Struggled to contain Sterling and conscious of having conceded the penalty was then guilty of not making any attempt to win the ball at all in the box. A night to forget for Fab.
Henderson (6) – Left sided CB is very much a specialist position, that players who have played the position their entire careers don’t tend to peak at until they’re about 28. It’s a big ask for a midfielder to play that role against a team as talented as City. He put in a solid enough display however, wasn’t at fault for any of the goals and always looking for the ball over the top. We badly need to get him back into midfield though.
Robertson (5) – Robbo looks totally burnt out, when he’s running, he’s running with the gait of someone in pain and it’s short bursts as opposed to the kind of lung busting runs we’re used to from him. Robbo’s played almost every minute of every competition for both club and country this season, it’s time Tsimikas earns his wages for a week or two.
Wijnaldum (6) – Some strong forward running and good play in possession first half but disappeared somewhat after the break.
Thiago (5) – Needlessly booked after two minutes which meant he was tentative in the challenge for the rest of the game. Still could have been sent off for a challenge on Sterling during a City counter. Sterling actually did him a favour by not making a meal of it. I like his combative nature but stupid yellows are prohibitive to your performance in a game if this magnitude.
Jones (7) – One bright spark today was that of Curtis who I thought could be proud of his performance. One dodgy moment in defence with Alisson early doors and a couple of times he could have been braver on the counter attack but overall I thought he played really well and was unlucky to be subbed second half. One brilliant piece of defensive backtracking stood out as his all round game continues to develop. It wasn’t a vast pool to pick from but Jones is this week’s McMOTM.
Salah (6) – Won the penalty with a bit of a dive and promptly converted it but was really quiet aside. Zinchenko is not a good defender and can be rash, I’d really like to have seen Salah try to isolate him one on one but it’s all too predictable at the moment from Mo.
Firmino (5) – Some nice footwork and one decent strike first half but was nonexistent second half as he struggled to get involved and passing let him down on multiple occasions.
Mane (5) – Mane is another who is struggling. That explosiveness and bursting past players has been absent for a while now and he seems low on confidence in front of goal. Should have scored with a headed chance first half.
Subs:
Shaqiri (5) – Barely remember him getting a touch.
Milner (5) – As per Shaqiri’s rating.
Tsimikas (N/A) – Probably not how he imagined his Premier League debut.
Klopp-watch (6) – Quite a difficult game to score the manager on because he can’t account for his goalie being totally mental. We were well in the game and even starting to get the better of it. It was harsh subbing Jones but I think the plan was to have Gini and Milner sitting and add Shaqiri to the front three to give us more attacking threat. Five minutes of madness from Alisson basically flushed his tactics down the toilet and that was that.
Summary
I now hear pundits slating us and Klopp and while I’m as frustrated as any, we just played against one of the top three sides in European football with NO centre backs. I just don’t see how that can be ignored. I would say ourselves, City and Bayern are the three best teams in Europe but I believe if any of us have to play the other with no centre backs and two of your first choice midfield in the back four, it puts you at a massive disadvantage.
We are being compared to last year’s standards and that just isn’t fair. Liverpool with Fabinho and Hendo in midfield today are a completely different animal and that’s without mentioning Van Dijk, Gomez or Matip. The balance in our team is totally gone, there’s no use trying to find someone to blame, it’s through circumstance.
We need to get Hendo back into midfield though and if that means a baptism of fire for Kabak, or a Nat Phillips and Fabinho partnership, I don’t mind but we need our skipper back in midfield.
It’s a tough one to take then troops but we’ll come again. The new signings and the imminent return to training of Jota provide some glimmers of hope. Now is not the time for finger pointing, we just need to accept the situation for what it is and hope the more players we have returning/coming into the team, the better our displays will become. Walk on!
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