Player ratings: Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea
A frustrating evening’s football then, from Chelsea’s fluke goal (I don’t care what Neville says, that was a flick on) to a lacklustre display from a number of our stars. Anyway, without any further ado…
Alisson (7) – Quiet afternoon for Ali all in all. Must’ve been frustrated at the goal conceded but it was just one of those things. Good anticipation in coming out to meet the ball on a couple of occasions and a decent stop from Mount first half.
TAA (6) – Quiet night by Trent’s standards. One sublime pass to put Hendo through first half aside, there were none of the incisive inside passes we’ve enjoyed in recent weeks and his set piece delivery was poor the whole game. Didn’t really overlap Salah either, when we could have done with the only right footed player on that side providing better width.
Van Dijk (7.5) – All the talk in the buildup was about Virgil vs Lukaku and you’d have to say it’s round one to Van Dijk after that. Lukaku struggled to have any influence on the game as Virgil managed him perfectly throughout. Long diagonals not to their usual standard though.
Matip (7) – Uncharacteristically sloppy passing in the first half. Grew into the game however and after being rolled once by Lukaku first half, he made sure it never happened again and more than played his part in keeping the big Belgian quiet, including a pivotal block second half.
Robertson (6) – Doesn’t seem to be carrying any ill effects from the injury but looked understandably rusty at times. Managed a decent effort on target first half and put one particularly dangerous cross in that almost found Salah. Too many sloppy passes though throughout and him and Mane not on the same wavelength at all. It was his corner that led to the penalty though.
Fabinho (7) – One of our better players on the day, although was playing on the edge of a yellow card the whole game. Forced a good save from Mendy with a strike from distance and played his part in nullifying Lukaku.
Elliot (8) – We have a star in the making right here lady and gentlemen. It was a big call by Klopp to start Harvey in a game of this magnitude, directly up against world class opponents but boy did he repay that faith. From the first to the last minute he was always looking for the ball and trying to make things happen. First touch is exceptional, calm and composed in the tight spaces and trying to be progressive with his passing. Sure he lost the ball a few times but he was trying difficult passes. Plus he’s 18 and playing against the European champions in only his second Premier league start for the club. Looks born to play on the big stage, I’m astonished by his temperament for one so young. What a future this kid has. For me, young Harvey was comfortably this week’s McMOTM.
Henderson (5.5) – I’ve got all the love and respect in the world for our skipper but he stank the place out today, first half especially. Showed all his usual heart and endeavour but quality on the ball was extremely poor. Had our best chance of the first half but the shot was quite comical in the end. Crosses soaring harmlessly out of play and passing sloppy at times. Didn’t look at all comfortable playing on the left of midfield. Did some good defensive work though and tried to drive the team forward. Just not his night.
Salah (7) – Ice cool converting the spot kick and put one lovely cross on Jota’s head with the outside of his left foot but was in the game in fits and starts. I would have liked to have seen Mo and Trent try and overload Alonso who is defensively poor, more often than they did. Chelsea played so narrow, we needed to try and pull them out wide to create space.
Firmino (6.5) – Started the game really brightly, pressing well and winning the ball back. Faded a bit after the Chelsea goal but it was unclear at which point he picked up the injury. Klopp said he thinks it’s a muscle problem which isn’t good news. Hopefully just a strain as opposed to a tear.
Mane (5) – I had hoped Mane’s goal last week would be a platform for him to kick on but he struggled badly again today. His work rate and the defensive side of his game are still on point but offensively he wasn’t at it at all today. I don’t remember him getting a single shooting opportunity, one he could have had 6 yards from goal bounced off him and out of play, every cross hit the first man, slowed our attack down and worryingly looks like he may have lost a yard of pace. Mane’s not been at it with any consistency for a while, he needs to find a bit of form from somewhere.
Subs:
Jota (6) – Huffed and puffed but struggled to really influence the game. Had a header flash over the bar and I remember one beautiful takedown and pass from him but there’s a a noticeable difference in our build up play with Bobby in the team. Jota is more of a goal threat however. Looks like Bobby could be out for a few weeks so there will be more games for the front three to get used to each other. I do think though that if Bobby isn’t playing, then Thiago has to be.
Thiago (6) – Much like Jota, struggled to make any real impact when he came on but another 20 minutes in the legs.
Tsimikas (N/A) – Only got 5 minutes but tried his besugtt t to be lively in that time.
Kloppwatch (6) – I think Klopp got the lineup wrong today. For as much as I enjoyed the performance of Elliot, the balance of our midfield wasn’t right with Hendo on the left. I touched upon it earlier but both our wingers and midfielders were playing on their weaker sides leading to poor crossing, or floaty numbers from deep that Mendy was dealing with all day long. When Bobby went off I’d have made a double change of Jota and probably Thiago for Elliot at halftime. I know that sounds ridiculous as I gave Elliot McMOTM but Hendo back on the right, Thiago on the left is a much more balanced team when Jota is playing through the middle in my opinion.
Summary
For perspective, a draw with the European champions isn’t a bad result but with the penalty and red card at the end of the first half, not taking all three points feels like a real missed opportunity, especially given the fact Kante also had to go off at halftime.
If we’re being honest, we had two good 15 minute spells at the beginning of each half and then seemed to lose all intensity and run out of ideas. We struggled to create clear cut chances and Chelsea were quite comfortable for most of the game.
Another thing is, our players need to stop going to ground easy looking for free kicks. They’re not going to be given now with the direction change in refereeing, that’s clear so stop looking for the cheap ones. All it’s doing is handing possession to the opposition. In saying that, penalty and red card aside, the ref gave us nothing today and allowed Chelsea to make the last half hour as disjointed as possible.
Anyway, venting my frustration aside, I think we’d all have taken 7 points from these opening three fixtures before the season kicked off and we’re still in a good place in the league. I’m not overly concerned about today. Frustrated yes but concerned no. We had a number of below par individual performances, it can happen in a game but it won’t happen every week.
We now come to the dreaded international break but due to the Premier league clubs taking the decision to not release players to red list countries, there will be fewer departures than usual so hopefully a bit of rest for any knocks and a bit more time in the training pitch together than they normally get, will have them fully firing for when the real footie returns. Now we just have to pray those who are away with their countries come back unscathed. Walk on!
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