YET another game of two halves saw Liverpool’s 100% record go after a hard fought draw against Swansea City in a game where former Liverpool player Jonjo Shelvey scored one, made one for Swansea and assisted 2 for Liverpool. Here’s my player ratings.
Mignolet 7/10
Made a number of tidy saves, though one parry back into the danger zone needed Skrtel to intervene to save a goal. Made some good catches and came for the ball well. His distribution with his feet is improving, but still too slow to release the ball after winning the ball back. At times his delayed release limited our counter-attacking ability, frustrating Sturridge.
Wisdom 4/10
Really struggled all game and was substituted after gaining a yellow card in the second half. Will be lucky to keep his place with Kelly, Toure and Flanagan keen to start. Poor distribution from right-back, forever passing backwards to Skrtel or the keeper, or otherwise consistently losing the ball. Showed no attacking outlet and was in part to blame for equaliser when failing to cover Michu’s run.
Skrtel 7/10
Liverpool’s best defender on the night. Frequently winning his headers and tackles. Great saving tackle from a Mignolet rebound stopped a certain goal and was unlucky when his block from Shelvey’s initial shot came straight back to the former Red to score the first goal. Could have covered Shelvey’s run quicker for second goal. Safe if unimaginative distribution but didn’t lose the ball. Needed to be more vocal given the inexperience on either side of him.
Sakho 6/10
A mixed bag for Liverpool’s new signing. Won some big headers and great tackles but regularly dived in too often leaving team-mates exposed. Was too easily bypassed for first goal and perhaps could have dropped back quicker to help prevent the second goal. But showed plenty of ability, in particular ball retention, on a difficult place to play on his debut.
Enrique 5/10
Fairly uneventful game for Enrique. Did his defensive duties fairly well but was unable to get forward. Erratic distribution and decision making are still hallmarks of his game. Didn’t quite have the same connection with Moses as he does with Coutinho, but this was their first game together.
Lucas 6/10
Worked hard to close down Michu and win second balls. More effective in first half than second. Booked for a confrontation with Shelvey. Distribution was tidy – frequently found Coutinho, struggled to find Aspas. Ever reliable defensively.
Gerrard 6/10
A few forays forward aside, was mostly spent defending and building from deep. A couple of great passes forward that deserved better from Sturridge and Moses, but played much of the game rather too deep to affect the game offensively. Turning his back on Shelvey’s initially mis-kicked shot allowed Jonjo to bear down on Sakho leading to the first goal. Dead ball deliveries were excellent as ever. Did well considering played 90 minutes twice during the international break.
Henderson 5/10
Frequently tucked in to help the midfield and used his energy well in both halves to chase, harry and defend. Did not offer much going forward or much width, and tendency to come inside too far left too much space on Liverpool’s right side for Swansea to attack. His least effective performance of the season.
Moses 7/10
A bright debut for the Nigerian with a strong showing particularly in the first half. Scored an excellent goal, intercepting a pass from Shelvey. Beat his man/men on a number of occasions in the first half and looked dangerous. Created a fantastic headed chance for Sturridge who headed at the keeper when he should have scored. Faded in the second half and was substituted.
Coutinho 7/10
A lively first half in which he was clearly revelling in being played centrally again. Controlled the tempo of the game and frequently got on the ball and looked to probe. Perhaps could have done more in the final third, but his importance became evident when he was substituted followed a vicious challenge by Ashley Williams. Afterwards Liverpool struggled to play out of midfield and could not maintain possession at all, clearly missing the little Brazilian.
Sturridge 8/10
Considering he’d only trained for 2 days and wasn’t fully fit, this was an excellent output again from the Barclays Player of the Month. Great anticipation for the quick-fire equaliser. Held the ball up well when he was given it, showed good movement stretching the opposition defence on both flanks and was by far our most dangerous attacking player. Was visibly frustrated when, after Coutinho came off, team-mates repeatedly failed to find him when in good positions. Aspas in particular was the main culprit. Great inside out run to create space for Moses to run into and score the 2nd goal.
Substitutes:
Aspas 5/10
Got on the ball well at times but failed to make the best of some good late opportunities to play in Sturridge or get a shot away.
Toure 5/10
Replaced the struggling Wisdom. Added some much needed vocal leadership to the team, but looked rusty in the right-back position being caught the wrong side on more than one occasion.
Sterling 4/10
Came on for Moses but failed to make any impact offensively and again made some stupid late fouls allowing for opposition free-kicks from dangerous positions that fortunately came to nothing.
What are your ratings?
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Certainly was a game of two halves and this needs addressing.
Really good first half awful second.
This tendency needs fixing before it causes carnage and upsets our good start.
YNWA
Aspas does not deserve de shirt
Can someone please tell Rogers to stop his defensive tactics in the 2nd half just because we are always lucky to be leading after the first half. He once said “it’s always dangerous when the score line remains 1 – 0..” so I believe he should know better.
The game is 90minutes for God’s sake and not 45minutes, so he should get it right and not be stubborn or this might disenchant the team if care’s not taken
Ya u r correct if BR still continue with this type of game LFC cannot finished at top 6 also
since the start of this season our second half performance is dreadful and i dont think if we carry on with this trend we will attain top four … something lacking in our physical training??
second half performance yesterday was really awful ..
my own is that i don’t know whether Aspas is physically a man or woman.pls Br don’t put this waste in our game again.illori or kelly should get the nod ahead of inexperience wisdom.As for me sakho tried his best.It was aspas and wisdom that killed the 2nd half simple
I think Sakho had a decent debut. He looks class on the ball and simply needs a few games under his belt. The next 5 are games we should win, so maybe he can get a run. We look toothless upfront in the second half without Suarez and Coutinho. Hopefully the Brazilians’ injury isn’t too bad.
Definitely a good run of games coming up, and after the Southampton game Suarez should really help our cause. If Coutinho is out next game, I would much rather not see Aspas starting. Luis Alberto scored a hatrick for the U21s.
I largely agree with your ratings, except for Sakho who was a huge liability for much of the game.
He was largely at fault for the first goal, with a poor initial clearance, and then let Shelvey run past him at the edge of the box without even attempting a tackle.
The second goal was also partly his fault, as he stepped forward from the defensive line and thereby created the space for Shelvey to run in behind him and head the ball on to Michu.
For me, Sakho was a 4 out of 10, and it was quite obvious why he was only third or fourth choice at Paris under two consecutive managers.
Thanks kengkinny. I think Sakho did make mistakes during the game (which unfortunately had an impact on the result) but I saw a lot of good things in his game. He made a number of excellent headed clearances and tackles that are easily forgotten. He never gave the ball away and was very comfortable in possession. He clearly has pace and power to burn. However it was his first game, having been drafted in in the last day after Agger’s surprise injury. He hasnt played with his colleagues at all, and certainly the team would have prepared for an Agger / Skrtel partnership. I saw enough to be pleased by his signing, but I agree that he’ll have to do better in the future.
Rodgers did a great job getting rid of the deadwoood and had a wonderful opportunity to rebuild, instead he brought in too many low impact players. As much as I would like to see LFC break into the top four, I just cannot see it happening. A team full of Borini’s aint going to win anything and let’s not forget who brought them in.
Bruce….you sound as if we are at the bottom of the league, stop being so negative. We just need to play for 90 minutes and not 45, if we do that we can progress much better, in my opinion
Yes 100% correct, LFC must progress for 90 minutes not for 45 minutes u look at Swansea they play vary well for all the 90 minutes, they draw because of two mistake of Jojo Shelvy, if not they can win the game.
Sakho was just panicking at the Back. Wisdom was nt wise but rather foolish and childish with his decision.. Kelly and ilori should be tried.. Aspas is a *… Coutinhos absence pushed us back.. Allen should have cum in.. In place of coutinho, Moving Gerrard upfront..
I hope Kelly comes in for Wisdom. I’d even prefer Flanagan ahead of him at the moment. I wouldn’t mind giving Sakho a run at left back, he looked very comfotable and calm on the ball and very physically imposing. If Coutinho isn’t fit for Southampton game I’d actually plump for Luis Alberto, Iago Aspas should definitely not start IMO. After that Suarez is back and he’s our best option for the No.10 position.
I think, Sakho is getting much more bashing than he should have in a very difficult debut. He wasn’t suppose to start & probably didn’t had enough time to prepare mentally for his EPL debut. Don’t know why he is held responsible for first goal – he wasn’t last man & in box couldn’t have fully committed in first minute. & for second goal, British media is trying to protect U21 Captain from a horrible match at the expense of a Frenchman. He looked to be extremely comfortable on the ball, very good in air & in passing. Only thing he seemed to improve is his slidings & tackles. For me, he was no lower than any of our defenders & should get a 7; while Wisdom a 2. Rest is fine.
I think last night showed we need another attacting midfielder, once courtinho went off that was it
Yup. Don’t know if there’s anything left in the coffers for a buy in January. But having lost out on Mkhtariyan, Costa and Willian not sure there’s a good option available.
I have said it many times, Wisdom (all Liverpool conceded goals so far came though him)will never be a Liverpool player, and Sterling has always been overhyped and over-rated, Ibe should always be ahead of Sterling!.
We need to defend from the front, not backs to the wall against Swansea . We made them look world beaters in the last 30 minutes.
Holding on to one goal leads is all good but luck would run out sooner or later. Against villa we were lucky, against stoke we couldn’t take another chance, conceded a penalty…. Must improve.
Lets hope we improve against southampton this sat, and then Sunderland.
YNWA
u sakho haters what do u have to say about agger and skrtel last season and agger against stoke.if agger had been in yesternight’s game he would have surely concided a penalty.wisdom looks like he’s bribing Rodgers to get the nod ahead of illori,kelly and even toure,Brendan Rodgers i hate u’re favouritism as much as i hate u !!!!!!!
Sorry bro we cannot improve at the time because we don’t have good attacking team.we must bring some marquee signing.stevie cannot play for more than 70 minutes ready,Lucas not a good attacker n can’t score anny goals . Henderson don’t know what he going to do.Aspas I think he must do better than what he did at the moment .Mainly our manager must change his mantletty.
Lucas is not meant to be an attacking player but I agree that Aspas has been underwhelming and Henderson needs to get a better balance by providing more in attack. He should look at the way Thomas Muller plays that role for Bayern.
I think Chealsea can win the title this year n Man City 2nd, Arsenal 3rd, Man u 4th, Tothneam 5th n Liverpool 6th
I was disappointed of been a Liverpool fans yesternight, which has never happen to me in my life. I just want.BR.to that that kind tatics ccan’t help us @all. We are lack of winning mentality couple with lack of aggression. Am fed up totally, I hope this message will be shown to BR please Admin. We can’t continue like this. YNWA.
tm kumasram u are a real joke manu will win the league,chelsea 2nd,arsenal 3rd,liverpool 4th just watch and see.Y.N.W.A