YES the Reds!
A thoroughly professional performance with goals by wonderful men at wonderful times.
Many of those lads have played better, but as a team they were terrific. They completely bought into the manager’s mindset and game plan. They bought into the fans’ heart without ever losing their heads. They fought and passed and won.
Scores for the brave, ballsy Reds.
Simon Mignolet: 8
Makes a big save at 0-0. Generally solid. Can’t fault a clean sheet in these circumstances.
Nathaniel Clyne: 7
Fine and dandy. Good outlet and sure touch. Didn’t seem to get at him at all.
Kolo Toure: 8
Terrific leadership and effective, if unorthodox, defending. Made up for him. And me.
Dejan Lovren 9
Huge challenge at 1-0 early in the second half. What a turn around. From liability to potential player of the year.
Alberto Moreno: 8
Threw himself about all night like a man possessed. One he keeps in second half is unreal. Rarely gave it away.
Emre Can: 9
Man of the match first half. Faded from dizzy heights second, but from the treatment table to that in a week is remarkable.
James Milner: 8
Klopp’s reaction to his tackle in stoppage time said it all. Such a huge player for the team.
Adam Lallana: 7
Quiet but reliable. Then a goal following in.
Roberto Firmino: 7
Came alive at 2-0! A turn which sent their defender not just for The ECHO but the now defunct Daily Post (RIP, GBNF).
Philippe Coutinho: 7
Not his brightest game, but fair to say he’s had a big part in getting us to Basle.
Daniel Sturridge: 8
Classy on the ball. In the right place at the right time for his goal. Delighted with how delighted he was.
SUBS
Joe Allen: 6
Fine. Dunno. Was drunk on life by then.
Christian Benteke: 6
Nice slaloming run which showed his quick feet. He’s alright at footy you know.
Lucas Leiva: N/A
Think it was him who came on. Don’t @ me if it wasn’t.
Stellar performance, star man by a million miles….. Juergen Klopp, quite simply, without him, this isn’t possible
Can was MOTM – a midfielder who can dribble – how we’ve missed him! I thought Clyne had one of his best games, offensively. Also thought Firmino was terrific. His movement, running, tackling and then there was the Soldado trick (makes me smile every time I see it – my favourite memory of tonight’s game).
GET THE FUCK IN LIVERPOOL!!!!!ARRRHHHHHHHHHHH (great review as always Gibbo)
Up the mother effing Reds.
Lallana was quiet? U having a laugh? He was one of the best on the pitch by far, him and Can were pure class. Lallana was the bloody energizer bunny in red!
Lallana was a man on a mission. He kept jürgen’s pressing engine alive from the first minute. He set the tone for the rest of the team. Tbf the whole team was boss!!
Don’t mean to alarm you John but you should be worried because you don’t seem to remember it was actually you and not Lucas who came on. The late on pressing of a man drunk on life. You won’t be playing Watford when the pictures of you on the table in mojo surface with your boots and shinnies on.
Ripped Klopp last week but the team he picked tonight was spot on. Other than the possibility of a rusty Can over Allen I was buzzing and then when it became evident early on that Can had decided to have his best Liverpool game I knew I’d been a fool to have worried. Sakho’s obviously been passing the fat burners about.
Love it.
I had a go at Klopp last week too. Now I think he was just messing.
Great team performance. At 2-0, their only route back in the game was Moreno.
Great Pink also lads.
“Potential player of the year” is hilarious. Utterly hilarious. Lovren had one good game against a team who came to defend. Been poor to average all season.
7 for Firmino?? You are funny.
Well done lad, you just won first prize in whopper of the year beating out some huge names like Owen Hargreaves and Mark Lawrenson
John,
I am puzzled with your rating for Fermino. Am I write in saying that he essentially created all 3 of our goals. If so why give him only 7 ?
Nice one John. Agreed with all,except Albie was a liability as usual (6 max) and Firmino was a monster. 8.5 for me. He assisted in all three goals, was a pest throughout. Two killer crosses and that control and pass for Studge’s goal was sublime.
Good stuff John. Always look forward to your ratings but…..Firmino = Coutinho tonight? I think I’m gonna wake up scratching my head at that one.
Moreno- 8.
Very generous score. Comfortably our worst player on the pitch. A 5 would have been more appropriate.
His lack of good positioning was very often exposed, especially in the first half. And he had another trademark brain-dead moment when we were 2 nil up, pushing over an opponent in the box unnecessarily.
Firmino easily a 9 in my book.
Not sure this wasn’t Firmino’s best game as a Red.
Motivated fans+ motivated players+motivated manager=Europa League Final!
Everyone keeps banging on about this 5000-1 Leicester stuff but if you told me after the West Ham game earlier in season Dejan Lovren will end up being a solid and reliable defender I would have sectioned you!! It’s the most unbelievable turnaround this season and I’m made up for him. He was class (again) tonight and I think if I ever meet him I probably owe him a sorry and maybe a pint!!
I’d give Moreno an absolute straight 5 for that ridiculous push in our box. A very very lucky boy
Oh god yeah, the ref should have given that. Moreno irritated me a few times last night tbh. Not an 8 for me.
Could have just sat next to kolo for 5 when there was no need to chase it but he never really did. The lad’s got too much energy and just needs to sprint places at the drop of a hat. Luckily Lovren was sharp to sweeping round when Kolo had to turn and run after how we were punished in Spain. Still not very happy with Sakho over this nonsense he’s found himself in tbh.
ever considered he is simply following Klopps instructions? Maybe Klopp is happy for him to bomb on and leave space that maybe milner, can, kolo etc are supposed to fill?
Yeah he’s obviously been given licence because his pace up and down is his strength but it doesn’t make it any easier to watch when they look to come down his side at 2-0 last night or 0-0 late on last week. It’s probably just me being a worrier.
Firminho: “Came alive at 2-0!”
What?
He was a big part of the reason it was 2-0. One of his best games by far.
Maybe it’s the delirium but I thought a number of the lads had a top-drawer game. Phill was a little quiet, Albie hot and reckless, as usual, but the rest, high scores, high scores indeed. (Okay. Definitely the delirium.)
Firmino had one of his special games. What a player when he’s on song. What a turn.
Moreno, that push in the box could have cost us dear.. I like him but he’s a fucking liability.
Great team performance… Sturridge though, involved in all 3 goals, could of had more. The man’s a colossus and with his strike rate should always be on when fit. Up the professional reds.
What a performance that was. The delirium of getting to the final shouldn’t overshadow the fact that we absolutely tanked a really good team last night. They were about as rattled as I have seen a team at Anfield this year. For all Marcelino’s big talk of how they would be inspired by the atmosphere, they were swallowed whole. Classy club and fans though, even if they do have some $hithouse players like Suarez and Soldado.
Lovren and Toure were everything we wanted them to be tonight. Some of those aggressive, first to the ball tackles to keep us on the front foot had me punching the air with delight. In fact, the whole lot of them were just superb. BOOM!
on nights like that when these players put on a magnificent performance you begin to contemplate whether we need that much changes next season. and who out of this bunch departs ? up the mighty reds
Any idea when we get Klopp in a room with a 10 year contract extension?
Only 2 seasons left after this one ends. We need to tie him down long term, although the quotes from him are encouraging….
“I rejected clubs but I said when Liverpool came I would go, I can’t tell you why but I wouldn’t have gone to any other club,” he said.
“Maybe I’ll stay like this for the rest of my career. Just three wonderful clubs.”
Love your ratings normally John and especially after a real good win.
Bit worried about your slight downer on Bobby though. I’m not the biggest fan of his hair either, and I get that there may be a subconscious thing going on given the mispronunciation criticism you’ve faced :), but along with Dejan, Emre and Milly, I thought he was excellent.
Think firmino deserves an 8 or 9 but who cares
It has to be said; We are the most critical of our players. That said; what a team performance. Clyne amazing at creating space and time. Roll on Basel Y.N.W.A
Wank corners and giving the ball away too often isn’t the full story.
Milner one of the most under rated players this season for me.
I think he’s played somewhere in the region of 568 league and cup games and about 422 Premiership games. I may need to Wiki that to confirm haha but it says it all. He brings a lot to the squad.
P.s One of them where you only realise his worth when he’s watching from the stands.
Milner? deffo.
And the corners thing – its not just us. its across the PL most weekends. Its weird.
That was Clyne’s 50th game for us last night.
AND STILL HIS FIRST SEASON!! 63 games all in by the time we are done.
I think Clyne was a superb signing.
Just listening to the Pink. Can and Milner getting a lot of plaudits and rightly so.
Even as a Joe Allen fan I was made up to see him on the bench.
I’ve been telling my mates for a while Can/Lucas Can/Allen doesn’t work.
Can/Henderson Can/Milner works.
I can see why Lucas/Can doesn’t work because Can should be the deepest midfielder by default (with license to pillage), but I’m curious why you think Allen/Can is a no-go.
Personally, I’m harboring this secret fantasy that Klopp tells Allen to hit the gym hard and come back from the summer looking like Shaqiri. I also like to imagine that Allen trains by chasing chickens in the yard.
For a while gangly, falling-down Sakho was my obsession, but Allen 2.0 is such a fascinating thing to contemplate. The mere fact that he now has people making YouTube highlight clips about him (not me, I swear) blows my mind to no end.
That said, my initial miff about his bench status in the gronky shadow of Milner evaporated as Jimmy M had a massive game. Can got a lot of rightful plaudits, but there’s no way he has that game without Milner being magnificent.
But, looking forward, why doesn’t Can/Allen work, though? Seems like Can wins the header, Allen wins the second ball. Did I mention I have no enthusiasm for Zielinski whatsoever?
I watch the games on tv as i live in the US, and from my couch Milner looks boss. Motm material..
Sure, makes mistakes, but when u are on the ball that much its bound to happen. But as i said, could be the camera angle hahaha