Oh boy, this is going to be fun. Just six days ago they were Arsenal’s conquerors, but today Liverpool were brought back down to earth with a toothless 2-0 defeat to Burnley. Usually I try to introduce my ratings with a funny line, but I really can’t be bothered this time. Here you are…
Source: liverpoolfc.com
Starters
Simon Mignolet – 6/10
Actually had very little to do all day. Burnley didn’t attack much, and on the odd occasion that they did, they scored. Mignolet could do absolutely nothing about either goal, so no blame is attributed to him. It is alarming though that the last five shots Mignolet has faced have ended up in the back of the net.
Nathaniel Clyne – 4/10
Usually the most reliable and consistent performer, Clyne had a bad day at the office today. Gave the ball away in the lead up to Sam Vokes’ goal, and never settled from there. Offered an attacking outlet but his final ball was poor.
Dejan Lovren – 7/10
Comfortably Liverpool’s best player today, though that’s not exactly a coveted title. Made one outstanding tackle to prevent another Burnley goal, and hardly seemed to give the ball away. Far better than anyone else in the defence.
Ragnar Klavan – 4/10
After looking so solid and strong in his maiden Liverpool outings, the Estonian suffered big time today. Gave the ball away on numerous occasions and was at fault for the second goal – just get a tackle in! Lacked the presence we’ve seen from him before, players were getting past him way too easily.
James Milner – 5/10
Source: liverpoolfc.com
I feel for Milner, being shoved out to left back. Did a decent enough job from the defensive side of things, but it’s clear that his attacking instinct was taking over. Played a few intelligent balls but his final cross was poor – usually one of his strongest attributes.
Jordan Henderson – 4/10
Henderson has been absolutely roasted on social media after his performance today, but I think it’s important to remember that he’s still not playing in his position. He is not a CDM but is being asked to play there. Gave the ball away too cheaply and from a creative viewpoint he didn’t offer enough. I really hope Klopp stops considering Henderson as a CDM because it’s ruining his game.
Georginio Wijnaldum – 5/10
He seemed to go missing for large parts today. In the patches that we saw of him he did okay, and played plenty of neat passes. Overall though I’m just not sure how much he fancies this role in the team. The game passes him by when he plays as a CM.
Adam Lallana – 3/10
I’ve been surprised to see Lallana come away from the Twitter backlash relatively unscathed, because for me he was head and shoulders Liverpool’s worst player today. He offered nothing going forward and too many times took the easy option with his pass. Gave the ball away a borderline offensive number of times too. There are a lot of limitations to his game and they’re very noticeable. This whole 4-3-3 system is set up so that we can get the best out of him, but it didn’t work today. You build your team around your best players – is he one of ours?
Philippe Coutinho – 4/10
I will never get bored of seeing Phil Coutinho score free kicks against Arsenal, but what I will get bored of is seeing Phil Coutinho take the exact same shot fifty seven thousand times and end up with the same result every time. You can’t say he wasn’t involved, a criticism that has been levelled at him before, but he needs to show more sides to his game other than cutting in and shooting. Passing range was off colour as well today, they always seemed half a yard too heavy.
Roberto Firmino – 4/10
The worry for me with playing Firmino in the false nine has always been the possibility of him being isolated and struggling to be involved in the game. That’s exactly what happened today. Apart from one long range shot, I can’t remember a single Firmino moment from 90 minutes. That’s worrying. He should’ve played the 10 today.
Daniel Sturridge – 4/10
Source: liverpoolfc.com
Jurgen Klopp’s decision to play Daniel Sturridge on the right hand side today is up there with the great unexplainable situations such as Brexit, Bobby Beale being Lucy’s killer, and the Bermuda Triangle. Just why? It doesn’t work. He doesn’t have the pace to play on the wing. He already drops into deep, wide areas anyway so why put him in a position where he’s even more inclined to? Sturridge had a bad game today, but the manager did him no favours at all.
Substitutes
Divock Origi – 4/10
Hard to rate him as he didn’t seem to get involved in the game much when he came on. Should’ve started in my opinion, or at least come on earlier.
Alberto Moreno – 4/10
I was very surprised that he was dropped, I thought that Klopp would’ve kept the faith. He came on and did okay, apart from one pass where he literally just kicked it at an opposition player right in front of him.
Marko Grujic – 6/10
The one positive to come out of today is seeing Marko Grujic’s competitive debut. He did well when he came on and was one of few players to force a save out of Tom Heaton. Really hope he gets some game time midweek against Burton.
Daniel Daykin
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