Player ratings: Liverpool 4-3 Leeds
A thriller to start the season then and an all important victory but there were some major areas of concern for me. Let’s see how the lads got on.
Alisson (6) – A keeper of Alisson’s class should have saved Leeds first goal in my opinion. It had power but wasn’t particularly near the corner of the goal. Did well later in the half to contain Bamford when one on one though. Dealt steadily with crosses
TAA (5) – Did absolutely nothing in the first half apart from get skinned every time Leeds attacked down his flank. Slight improvement second half but struggled to get involved and delivery not up to its usual standard. The linesman spared his blushes after he nodded into his own goal too. God only knows what he was doing there.
Gomez (5) – Shocking opening 20 minutes. Looked like he couldn’t tackle a fish supper on his own, never mind one of Leeds attackers. Again slight improvement second half but needs to be much stronger. His best play came from bringing the ball out from the back but much improvement needed.
Van Dijk (5) – His goal saved him from scoring a 4. Fine header but what on Earth was he doing for Leeds second? Carragher called him arrogant in commentary and you couldn’t argue. He’s become too cocky by half and needs to have a word with himself. Believing his own hype.
Robbo (6) – Opened his assists account for the season with a well taken corner and during the game I was thinking he was the only one of our defenders actually defending but then he inexplicably stood off the Leeds attacker in the build up to their third, giving him the freedom of Anfield to pick his pass. The whole defence need to have a word with themselves.
Henderson (6) – What an engine this guy has got. To have missed the last few games of last season and the whole of preseason, his energy levels are something else. Showed some rustiness at times and some of his defensive positioning was poor but he was still our best midfielder on the day.
Keita (5) – Passenger for the most part. Struggled to get involved, lacked the drive we were used to seeing toward the end of last season and worryingly looked absolutely exhausted after an hour. Never looks like he’s got 90 minutes in him which is a concern at his age.
Wijnaldum (4.5) – Missed two absolute sitters and his passing was poor throughout. I’ll give him some credit for getting in the scoring positions but had to do better.
Salah (9) – First games of the season don’t come much better than scoring a hat trick, even if two were penalties. His other goal was an absolute rocket into the top corner too. Still infuriating with his decision making though – shooting when it isn’t on and running down dead ends but when he’s backing it up with the goals, it’s difficult to criticise. Looked sharp from the off. Comfortably wins the first McMOTM of the season.
Firmino (4) – Bobby’s form is starting to become a concern for me. He’s contributing absolutely nothing most games. Had to shoot in the early stages when he found himself clean through but opted to cut back. His big chance in the second half though, only he knows what he was doing. Six yards out just slide the ball home with your left foot instead of trying some ridiculous flick with your right. I noticed one nice touch and one nice turn from him yesterday, that was it. Fine he works hard but on its own it’s not enough. Needs serious improvement this season.
Mane (6) – Caused Leeds some problems at times but had left his shooting boots at home, most notably after a nice counter attack involving him and Salah. Didn’t have quite the telepathic understanding with Robbo that we’re used to seeing either but that can be put down to first day of the season.
Subs:
Fabinho (6) – We looked slightly more solid when Fab came on and he won the foul for the winning penalty
Jones (6) – Made a difference when he came on I thought, always looking forward, trying to make things happen. Keita should be looking over his shoulder at this young lad.
Matip (N/A) – Good to see him back fit.
Klopp-watch (6) – He must be wondering what’s happened to his defence. To be fair to Klopp, the work on the training pitch he values so much has been seriously curtailed by the ongoing Covid19 saga but I’ll be surprised if Klopp really believes that we don’t need a signing or two.
Summary
So we got the win and in some ways that’s all that matters but the performance left a lot to be desired. The reality is, if Leeds could defend set pieces, we’d have been on the receiving end of a drubbing yesterday.
What on Earth has happened to our defence? Since the restart we’ve been ridiculously easy to play through. Teams look like they can score against us every time they attack and the high line that worked so well for a while, is now just giving the opposition multiple free runs at goal every game.
Firmino is offering nothing and it isn’t new, he had a poor season last year and started off in the same vein this season. If his form continues, it’s time to give Minamino an extended run in the team. Our poor finishing yet again yesterday, begs the question why we didn’t pursue a deal for Werner and our midfield display once again emphasised our need for a player in the Thiago mould, who can control a game. We were all over the place.
A victory then but a better team would have turned us over yesterday and it’s a worrying trend that’s setting in. A combination of things being a bit stale and our players believing their own hype. This is why you make signings. It freshens things up and keeps the established players on their toes. We can only hope that on the back of our end of season form and that display yesterday, that Klopp agrees and we see one or two additions before the end of the window. In the meanwhile, get those boys on the training pitch Herr Klopp, as like I said, we were all over the place yesterday. Big improvements needed then if were to have any hope of retaining our title. Walk on.
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