OPINION
There is no Liverpool player who better sums up the tenacity and fighting spirit that Jurgen Klopp instills in all his teams than left back Andrew Robertson.
The Scotland international showed that again on Saturday as he produced a wonderful performance in the Reds’ 3-1 victory over Newcastle United at Anfield, a result that, coupled with Manchester City’s defeat to Norwich City, put Klopp’s side five points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
It was a display from the 25-year-old full of vim, vigour and intensity both going forward and when forced to defend his own goal. Former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore was certainly impressed by the former Hull City man.
“Exceptional fullback, down to earth kid and another superb performance today in red!,” he wrote on his personal Twitter account. “My MOTM today, thought he was brilliant.”
It’s certainly difficult to think, aside from the irrepressible Roberto Firmino, of a player who performed better in a Red shirt on Saturday than the inimitable left back.
He produced a number of surging runs down the left hand side, giving Emil Krafth a torrid time for Newcastle, and went close to scoring himself, only to be denied by Martin Dubravka. Oh, and he grabbed the assist for Sadio Mane’s equaliser.
We have become used to these sorts of displays from Robertson, but when you look at the statistics on WhoScored.com it tells you just how special this particular outing was from him.
Firstly, he had more touches of the ball than any player on the pitch at Anfield. Despite that, his pass accuracy was a tremendous 89.8%. Then you consider that he produced two key passes, behind only Firmino and Trent Alexander-Arnold in a red shirt.
Defensively he was excellent, two. He registered a tackle, a blocked shot and two interceptions – the joint most of any Liverpool star.
You have to say, then, that Collymore got his assessment of the Scot’s performance absolutely spot on. Robertson was certainly superb on Saturday.
Exceptional fullback, down to earth kid and another superb performance today in red!
My MOTM today, thought he was brilliant.
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— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) September 14, 2019
