Player ratings: Brighton 1-1 Liverpool
Our season of frustration continued on the south coast yesterday, with more dodgy officiating, head scratching VAR decisions and yea, you guessed it – more injuries!
Alisson (8) – Played the sweeper role brilliantly and showed incredible strength in his right arm to swat away a fiercely struck drive in the early part of the game.
Williams (4) – Young Neco’s struggles continue as he gave away an unnecessary penalty with a rash challenge and once again looked completely out his depth. Subbed at half time.
Phillips (7) – Some of his passing demonstrates why he was about to sign for a Championship club in the summer before the deal collapsed at the last minute. He’s a steady defender though, dominant in the air and committed. If he just keeps it simple, he’s adequate cover for now.
Fabinho (7) – There was a couple of times yesterday that he looked like a DM playing CB. Misread a couple of situations and couldn’t get to grips with Connelly’s movement first half but overall another decent showing at CB from Fab. Our problem now though is that we could really do with him in midfield.
Robertson (8) – Desperately unlucky to have a penalty awarded against him for that challenge, it was never a foul. VAR and unnecessary tinkering with the rules is ruining the game just now. Robbo had a lot of defending to do first half and looked like he missed Sadio in front of him but much improved second half. It was his driving run that got us into the position for Jota’s goal and unlucky not to get an assist, after Mane’s goal was deemed offside. BT Sport put up a stat after the match showing Robbo had comfortably the most touches and completed passes in the game. That takes some doing from LB so with the lack of a standout candidate, Robbo is this week’s McMOTM.
Wijnaldum (6) – Sloppy first half as we couldn’t string two passes together in midfield. Much improved second half when he pushed to left of midfield and started linking up better with Robbo and Hendo. Decent display but needed to get a grip of the game first half and show some leadership.
Milner (6) – Looked like a player in his mid thirties starting his third game in a week. Klopp had little option but to play him however but his worst fears will have been realised as Milner picked up a second half hamstring injury and looks set for a spell on the sidelines.
Minamino (5) – Lots of endeavour but doesn’t have the physicality to play in midfield although I do think he needs to do more work on his upper body strength. He’s far too easy to brush off the ball at the moment and commits unnecessary fouls because he can’t fight for the ball. He’s never going to be a bruiser but there are other players of similarly diminutive stature that can still be competitive physically. Overall though, his confidence looks shot. He’s in a catch 22 situation because he can’t build confidence with the odd game or substitute appearance here and there, invariably not in his preferred position but when he does play, he doesn’t make enough of an impact to justify a follow up appearance. I fear his LFC career may be slipping away before it’s ever really got started.
Salah (7) – Adjudged to have had a nipple offside when scoring what looked to be an excellent goal. If he meant the finish – knocking it into the ground and over the keeper then that was some take but I’m not sure he did. Registered an assist, well kind of as it was just a one yard pass to Jota who did the rest. Statistical anomaly but I’m sure he’ll take it. Lively throughout and visibly livid when subbed.
Firmino (6) – A fairly generous six for Bobby as he was on the periphery of this game throughout. Would have been a lovely assist however if Salah’s goal had stood. Great vision and pass.
Jota (7) – I was just about to post on the thread that Jota had been quiet when he popped up with his brilliantly taken goal. I’d like to see him tried more as a CF as I think he’s the most natural finisher of our attacking players. Looks like he’s going to score every game, long may it continue.
Subs:
Henderson (7.5) – We dramatically improved as soon as Hendo came on. Second half we had much more control, possession and started to look threatening. We really need to keep Hendo fit over the next period of the season, until we start getting some others back.
Mane (6) – Had the ball in the back of the net with a well taken header but was correctly ruled offside. As ever, our attack looked a lot more lively once Mane came on.
Jones (5) – Came on as our third RB of the game and it was apparent he didn’t have a clue about being a RB as he was all over the place positionally. Needs must though.
Klopp-watch (6) – I don’t envy Klopp at the moment. We’ve so many injuries, that was the eleventh CB pairing of our season so far and it’s only November. With Milner going down now too, the lack of defensive minded players in the squad is becoming stark. I’m not sure how much good ranting about the broadcasters is doing either. He’s made his point, now I think he needs to wind his neck in a bit. Don’t give the players an excuse for poor results, even if it’s a valid one.
Summary
A draw that felt like a loss then, as we fell victim to the latest baffling VAR call. If that’s a penalty then you’re basically saying football is no longer a contact sport. If two players cannot contest a 50-50 ball without one being deemed to have fouled the other if there’s contact between them, you might as well ban tackling. The powers that be really need to have a conversation about the direction football is going at the minute. If it was up to me, I’d just bin VAR and go back to human error. As frustrating as that could be at times, it wasn’t as frustrating as it is now. Football is becoming the VAR show and that’s never right.
Anyway, it’s easy to become disheartened but we need to bear in mind that even despite all our injury woes and intense schedule, we should have won that game yesterday. Two points dropped definitely but you can’t be that unlucky every week and I’m sure once we start getting some midfielders back, we’ll still have too much for this league.
No rest for the wicked then as we host Ajax on Tuesday in what could be a crunch game. I’d really like to just get the group put to bed and heavily rotate for the final group game against Midtjylland.
Hopefully the return of Ox, Trent and Thiago isn’t too far away, god knows we need them back. Get to January within touching distance of the top of the league, buy a CB to go along with our returning midfielders and push on strong in the second half of the season. For now though, we’re still in full on damage limitation mode. Limp on!
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