GK/Defence (3-4-3)
Simon Mignolet – Had little to do, which is a stark contrast to his 90 minutes at the same ground last season. One or two minor saves aside, he was fairly comfortable throughout The Belgian will be hoping he can say the same many more times this year. Rating – 6
Dejan Lovren – Could today have been Lovren’s best competitive display in a Red shirt? We certainly think so. He was very good, confident, strong in the air and didn’t look nervy once. If this is the Lovren Brendan Rodgers has been seeing in pre-season training since July then it’s understandable why he opted to prefer him to other options. Rating – 7
Martin Skrtel – Whilst Lovren was vastly improved on much of last year, Skrtel was at his underrated best. Calmly ensuring Stoke barely encroached on the Reds penalty area, after an initial dodgy start, he had a dominant game and even managed a shot on goal prior to Coutinho’s winner. He missed out on the vice-captaincy to Milner but can show he’s a real leader on the pitch with more performances like that this season. Rating – 7 – Man of the Match
Clyne had a solid if unspectacular debut
Nathaniel Clyne – A very solid display defensively but seemed too nervy to push too far forward too often. Will improve as he grows into the current team however. His link up play with Ibe was good, but the relative inexperience of Ibe and the fact that Clyne is new means it’ll take a while for them to really gel. That said, his defensive display was already a vast improvement on Glen Johnson. Rating – 6.5
Joe Gomez – A solid debut for the youngster who, when he signed last month, can’t have expected to be starting the first game of the season. But Gomez impressed a great deal during pre-season and his maturity and calmness early on today laid the groundwork for a good debut. The were concerns beforehand that pairing him alongside Lovren on the same side of the pitch was a disaster waiting to happen but both played their part in nullifying the Stoke threat. Rating – 6.5
Benteke is a share waste of money. Mario Balotelli would have handled the pressure better. Roger began with a terrible system. Emre Can and Coutinho saved the day. Fimminho not given time to shine. Lovren was much better today. Hope he keeps it up.Cline and Gomez were wonderful. Same as Ibe
I think Ibe was so rusty on the day,together with Lalanna.when Can was introduced in the game (midfield), the game automatically changed.In our next game let Rogers start with 3 midfielders in the middle of the park with Can included and also Firmiho should join up in the attack. Forever a Red.
Yes Benteke almost won all his headers, but he doesnt have the pace to freely latch onto through balls. One notable big plus is that he gives Mignolet an outlet to hoof the ball up which cuts out his wayward passing. Firminho should definately start when fit and Can too. Milner was solid but also lacks quality balls forward. We look set up to play a different more cautious game this season which seems a sensible tactic for now
are u jst bcoming a fan of football?.y will you judge a player with a match,sorry to say benteke will deliver
Yes he will deliver says you the messiah ! No one knows if he will or won’t no matter how good their football knowledge is , but a Suarez benzema or aguero he isn’t !