ON a blustery day that was tough to watch football in, never mind play in, Liverpool had just enough to get past a disappointingly spirited Swansea side.
The Reds started well, but found it harder to create chances as it went on and Swansea bedded in. The goal came at a good time, and they’ll benefit from holding on, even though they looked determined not to at times. Anyway. Scores out of 10.
Simon Mignolet 7:
No saves to make, but caught everything he needed to in a swirling wind. Could probably do without the crowd screaming at him when the ball is in his hands. He is allowed to have a bit of a look.
Nathaniel Clyne 6:
Steady as you like again.
Alberto Moreno: 5
Nearly got the team in almighty trouble when it was clearly Dejan Lovren’s ball. Still lacks a bit of composure. Not sure how he’s ended up on free kicks on the edge of the box.
Martin Skrtel: 7
Commanded well. His positioning and reading of the game is underrated.
Dejan Lovren: 6
A couple of shaky moments, but you’d take this, wouldn’t you?
James Milner: 7
Cool as you like on the penalty, and battled well all night. Played as a third centre half one minute, a right winger the next.
Emre Can: 7
Our classiest performer in the wind. Lovely clipped ball through to Benteke early on. Love watching him barging people out the way. Looks fitter.
Jordon Ibe: 6
Wins the penalty, but should do better when put through on goal first half. Some nice turns in midfield away from a marker to get us going.
Roberto Firmino: 5
Struggled a bit, but a fair few miles under his belt this week. Missed his mate, Coutinho.
Adam Lallana: 6
Tough to remember much of note, but he moved the ball as well as anyone. Was unlucky with a couple of knock downs that didn’t quite run for him.
Christian Benteke: 5
Wasn’t a great night for him, but looks like he’ll keep being one in two for the Reds. We got notably worse at keeping the ball up the pitch when he went off. Couldn’t fault his work-rate.
SUBS
Jordan Henderson: 6
Got a great ovation on his return. Forgot how big he is. Has a great understanding of which way the ball should go, and when he should break forward.
Daniel Sturridge: 5
Minutes on the pitch to build from. Interesting to see what he does with him Wednesday.
Kolo Toure: n/a
Yer ma likes him.
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Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda Photo
A fair assessment of Moreno at last, the lad affects my blood pressure. Seems some of the crowd applaud anything he does, good or bad. Thought he was much better against Bordeaux but dreadful today.
Damn those people with positive attitudes ! ;)
Nothing but positives the past 8 days back to back Prem wins, europa league group qualification. Henderson and sturridge back
Moreno was MoM in the Guardian. Opinions are like arseholes, everyone’s got one.
That’s only your opinion, though.
I thought Moreno did well, certainly learning how to defend better. Lallana wasn’t at his best, rather peripheral.
Pretty much agree with tha considering how many we had out but I do just think at times a few of our players lose concentration very easily? Hope that changes as we become more fluid as a team..
Milner 7, really? You really are a fan
He’s definitely not a fan of Moreno who, increasingly on this site, seems to be the go-to man when there is a need to find a player to slag off. How he got a lower rating than Lallana isn’t one of the great mysteries of life, merely one of the many small mysteries.
Still love Moreno’s little face. Can’s got a bit of speed on him once he gets going, hasn’t he?
Lovren and Mignolet both played as well as anyone else on the pitch today. Mignolet did nothing wrong before holding on to the ball for a few seconds too long at one point.
There wasn’t even a lot on for him and our’12th man’ (presumably just back in their seats after spiking the half-time oranges with arsenic) immediately bawled at him like he’d just thrown the ball into his own net.
I don’t rate the guy much, but I do respect the fact that he seems to completely ignore our home fans during the game.
Well done today, Simon! A deserved clean sheet and you kept a cool head even though our fans couldn’t!
~ Ming: nothing to do whole match apart from routine. I noticed defenders didn’t pass back much (possibly under instruction by Klopp?)
~ 4 Defenders: all 7s. Getting better as a unit.
~ Can, Milner, Lallana, Firmino, Ibe and Benteke did not seem to play as cohesive unit somehow.(but they grind out the result…and that’s ok)
~ Maybe we missed Lucas and Courtinho to make the team click…
~ Maybe Allen could hold the ball better in tight spaces in the crowded mmidfield..
Mignolet, Skrtel and Lovren all to a man not rubbish. Good times.
It wasn’t pretty, and they did look tired, but 3 points when a lot of people dropped a couple, is huge. Didn’t think anyone had a bad game and playing in those conditions is a killer, no matter how good you are. It was a pain in the arse walking down the street today, let alone trying to pass a football about.
7/10 across the board.
Harsh on Kolo that.
Clearly the manager is trying to get him his 10 games which makes him the 1st player to win the league with 3 different clubs.
I was weirdly looking forward to seeing Allen on the pitch. Want to see him have a break out performance under Klopp. With Hendo back, can’t see where he’s getting any games.
Everyone is praising Can’s effort. I thought is was decent but that he on 3 or 4 occasion’s wasted the ball in the second half. Once he get’s a little more composure he will be very very good. But in mind Lucas is far superior as a defensive midfielder.
Lovren was as good as Skrtl – bare in mind that I have been rather critical towards him in the past year. But I think he deserves plaudits when playing well.
I thought Firmino was the most disappointing player on the field – to me he looked jaded out of sorts. In this point in time he does not look ready to play 3 games a week. Hopefully when he is fully bedded in he will show more consistency.
Like Firmino Benteke was disappointing as well.
I will take the 3 points all day long even on a cheap penalty. But I thought the game bar the first 25 minutes was disappointing. The lack of shorts on goal at Anfield is concerning. On the plus side winning while playing crabby is very very valuable. The top teams that get’s the most point in periods when playing bad during the season will be in contention when we get to the business end of the season. If Klopp can get Sturridge playing once a week for the rest of the season we are in with a shout. We gonna win the league – you heard it here first. YWNA
Hyperbeat me to it. Firmino is a conundrum until he can be awesome with or without Phil.
1 in 2 for Benteke sounds pretty good. But at this rate it could be even more. In the past 2 games, he has won two penalty kicks in the box and given those goals to Milner.
Why are the AnfieldWrap journos so biased towards certain players who have never really served a purpose; but have no qualms about slamming certain others who have actually contributed?
Lallana is one can do no wrong in their eyes. A 6/10 for that? Awful, and has been since he put on our shirt. One PL in the calendar year (2015); no creativity or strength; struggles for England. Stats wise he’s probably worse than Charlie Adam; and that’s saying something. Waste of funds, and a perennial waste of a shirt.
Agree with you 1000% Jeff … and the fact that Klopp plays him all the time proves how clueless Klopp is!
Nice sarcasm mel