The Liverpool keeper excelled in the penalty shootout
GK/Defence
Simon Mignolet – There was a brief moment in the second half where Mignolet and Sakho epitomised themselves. Mignolet refused to leave the safety of his goal-line, whilst Sakho let a ball bounce twice in front of him, with Stoke players all around. Heart in mouth moments. But Mignolet grew in extra time, as his team mates tired and was the hero of the shootout. For that alone, he deserves our man of the match. Rating – 7.5 Man of the Match
Jon Flanagan – A very decent return for Flanagan, who was probably the most assured of the Reds’ back four, and most effective going forward. Having been out for over a year and a half, don’t expect to see the best of the honorary Brazilian for a while yet. Rating – 7
Kolo Toure – Kolo, for the most part, has been an able deputy for Skrtel and Lovren but his age and lack of pace showed at times last night, leading to his eventual substitution. Another soft goal conceded didn’t help either, despite actually being offside. Overall, decent enough game but Lovren should go straight back in once ready. Rating – 6
Mamadou Sakho – Once again, many will point to stats to prove Sakho had a good game and, while he didn’t particularly have a bad game, like Mignolet, the good is often peppered with the atrocious. Simply because he didn’t suffer at the hands of his own indecision doesn’t mean it can be ignored. There were a few moments where he lost his man in the box, let the ball bounce too many times in dangerous areas whilst deciding what to do and a few times, a ball over the top had him beaten before he could turn. That said, he was strong in the air against Crouch, although Crouch – despite his height – has never been the most deadly there. And he is at least vocal, which is a rarity in Liverpool’s backline these days. Rating – 6.5
Alberto Moreno – The down turn in Moreno’s form has been alarming in recent weeks and very much resembles his rise and fall last season. He was not entirely to blame for the build up to Stoke’s goal, but the trouble once again came down his side and his crossing and forward passing left a lot to be desired. He couldn’t have picked a worse time to go completely off the boil, what with Flanagan’s return and Brad Smith’s emergence. Rating – 5
In all fairness, Flanagan should have been sent of for kicking an opponent’s knee when already on a booking. Clearly lacking sharpness after such a long time out.
As for Moreno, well, we have other areas to work on in the transfer market, but I wouldn’t be surprised, if he was replaced in the summer. He seemingly can’t defend to safe his life. Or he might be turned into a winger.
How Emre Can, who seems to be pretty much of form lately gets picked over Allen every week now is quite puzzling.
And we should do everything we can, and those in the stadium yesterday did that, to make sure that Benteke’s confidence goes up again. He certainly has a lot to offer.