So, Gibbons got fed up with the abuse and Robbo decided he wanted someone vanilla to do the ratings this season who wouldn’t cause murder. So they asked me.
Well, erm, how do even start after a game like that? The Reds looking simultaneously irresistible and nerve shreddingly porous.
Went into this one thinking I’d try and take the L’Equipe approach and not put a 10 in all season, or even a 9, but I never bargained on Jürgen’s greedy, mad, red bastards.
Simon Mignolet: 8
Not so sure about doing mad stepovers in his own area, but a good performance from the Belgian. Can’t be faulted for any of the Arsenal goals. Some good punches from balls into the box and a belter of a penalty save. Encouraging from a man under pressure.
Nathaniel Clyne: 8
Took a while to find his range. Couple of over hit passes when well positioned early in the game, but a great cross for Coutinho’s second. Steady as ever defending.
Dejan Lovren: 7
How can you struggle to judge a centre-half when you’ve just conceded three goals in a game? Him and Klavan look comfortable with each other.
Ragnar Klavan: 7
Bit more of the above. Faster than I thought and we look so much more comfortable with higher balls into our defensive areas with him in the team. Waiting for him to disappoint but another good performance.
Alberto Moreno: 4
I like him. I think he has great qualities, but he sabotages himself so often it’s hard to defend him. Just do the basics, mate, and worry about the other stuff later.
Georginio Wijnaldum: 7 (subbed 88′)
Steady if unspectacular first half. Brings muscle to the Liverpool line-up and a little bit of finesse. Great awareness and technique to play in Lallana for his goal.
Jordan Henderson: 6
Surprise position for the Liverpool captain, but recycled the ball well and kept it neat and tidy. Look’s like a key position for Liverpool to draw the opposition on in dangerous areas but he coped with it well. Looks like he’s still got another gear to shift into.
Adam Lallana: 7 (subbed 76′)
Extra point for the goal, great finish at a key moment. Decent awareness and pass for Firmino early in the first half. But needs to get himself in the game more, seems to drift in and out sometimes.
Philippe Coutinho: 10 (subbed 69′)
Doubted I’d be lashing a 10 out on my first week, especially after a quiet first 25 minutes, but when he turned it on he turned the game on its head. Perfect free kick, good improvisation to shin his second in and a really good assist. Irresistible when he’s on it.
https://twitter.com/LiverpoolGifs/status/764851072309587968
Sadio Mane: 9
Pace, acceleration, tracks back and loads of end product from the Senegalese. And what a goal. Shows very little fear and was defending on the edge of his own box late on with his team under pressure. COULD be the signing of the summer.
Roberto Firmino: 7
Sloppy first half, but brightened up in the second period. Looks like a completely different player when Liverpool are forcing the issue. However, doesn’t offer enough when we need an outlet, same as Lallana. He has to show more when the hard yards are needed.
SUBS
Emre Can: 7
Shored up the midfield, showed maturity in possession and stepped up when the game was on a knife edge. Didn’t waste possession.
Divock Origi: 7
Normally wouldn’t rate someone only on the pitch for 15 minutes but he showed maturity and strength when the clock needed running down. Going to be some player this lad.
Kevin Stewart: N/A
LISTEN: The Pink – Arsenal 3 – 4 Liverpool
READ: Arsenal 3 – 4 Liverpool: Match Review
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Boss that. ..
Gibbo your ratings were always boss. Don’t let anyone tell you different.
Great one Andy. Hope the Kop figures out a good song for Mane. You nailed it on the head -,the right word for Mane is ‘fearless’. Pray to God we get a LB before the 31st.
Mane must be an absolute nightmare to play against. Slippery and strong. An electric eel of a player.
Power an pace and a guy who can finish – just what we have needed for yonks .
Haha electric eel!! Spot on.
Andy , I rate your ratings as a solid 8/10
Mane was horrifyingly good. Still convinced he didn’t really score that goal. How could have? How could anyone?
Coutinho was equally impressive. That free kick was every bit as good as anything Payet has produced. Showed up like a striker for our third too.
Moreno has had all summer to dwell on the Europa final (and the league cup final 6 months ago) and hasn’t figured out fuck all. Westerveld him now and get 2 new left backs for my well being. Firmino’s overhit pass 2v2 was equally infuriating. Maybe it’s all in the bad bonces.
Dead right on Moreno.
I love Hendo but I don’t think he is suited to that position. I reckon he’d be great at right back, haring up and down the line. Lash him in there and move Clyne across to play in the vacant left-back spot.
Brilliant idea. But I believe Klopp would keep clyne as specialist right back to attack, but Milner to sit back more and defend at the left back.
Bring back Gibbo says his dad. He needs the abuse because he’s got a big head. He’s funnier than you an all.
I think you’re the primary reason why he packed them in, Pete.
Harsh but…………
Sniper’s Dream is Gibbo with that head!
Where’s the minus in front of Moreno’s rating? The fucking donkey
I think Clyne looked absolutely gassed by 65 minutes. Nothing left in the tank, and his tiredness involved in both of their second half goals – flat footed against Chamberlain, and undercooked throw followed up by a tired challenge to give away the free kick for their third.
Noticeable that Arsenal played everything behind Moreno in the first half, and everything to the left channel in and around Clyne for the last half hour.
Perhaps the shorter pre-season showing for him?
Your correct of course, but he was superb until the gas ran out,
Himself & Lallana were as culpable as Albie for goals today but the mob have the pitchforks out only for the very young Spanish amigo.
this. Seems Sky Sports were the ringleaders in this. Neville, Carragher and Tyler were all on Moreno’s case from before kick off. They weren’t going to let anything like him actually winning the ball for the penalty or the fact it was someone else’s misplaced pass that led to the first goal get in the way of absolutely slaughtering the lad.
I thought he had a decent enough second half.
Although he did make the slightest contact with the ball he completely messed up an easy clearance because he was trying to clear the man out at the same time. He also headed a ball straight to Ramsey which he luckily miss controlled and Moreno dived in dangerously 2 footed which the ref was probably thinking about when he gave the pen.
The lads thick as 2 short planks and needs replacing, he will do this again and again if we stick with him.
Relieved someone else has already made this point. Team Sky showing us what confirmation bias here – they don’t like that Moreno isn’t a ‘traditional’, “I’m a defender so I stand on the corner of my own box”, English grock and will only note his activity in a game when it can be linked to poor play. The anger at Moreno’s positioning is really shallow punditry – completely neglects that Moreno may well be instructed to charge down his wing when we win the ball back – a trait that wide players in Klopp’s teams are renowned for. If the manager tells him to do that, hows it his fault that he’s on the halfway line when Lallana loses it 30 yards from goal?! Bit disappointed that ex-pros like Neville and Carra don’t suggest this, maybe they aren’t much better than the MOTD boys after all.
Martin Tyler made the point that Moreno was only the stand-in for first choice left back James Milner!!! And that’s before the game even kicked off.
Neville and Caragher – why did Sky feel the need for 2 analysers????? – were on Moreno within 5 minutes.
It was pathetic.
There’s an un-nerving momentum about the Moreno stuff that reminds me of a time that led to a Champions League winning manager leaving…
He made 2 awful mistakes one would have been a goal if Ramsey controls the other was a pen. He’s not good enough at defending and has the concentration level of a child with ADHD. He will cost us points over a season.
To me it looked more like Ox-C was on fire so they tried to get the ball to him as much as possible. Causing Clyne to be under pressure.
Don’t know why Wenger doesn’t play him more often but why do I care.
Well done, Andy! A 10 for Coutinho.
You are a lot more generous with the numbers compared to Gibbo.
I like LFC’S cunning plan to fool the third assistant by having two Klopps in the dugout…..
WTF is all that about? Who is the Kloppelganger?
I think he’s the new fitness dude.
Ha ha well in Andy, fair play for taking over what sounds like the TAW poisened chalice,
Tell Gibbo to toughen up, the abuse was never that bad and plus when someone is having a meltdown over .5 of a score you do have to just laugh,
One of the boys on the Pink said Mane made the most sense as a signing in yonks and I totally agree, he’s exactly what we needed, he’s a better Sterling and the way he kept the ball in the corner at the end for ages made me admire him even more,
30 yard worldie – done
Keep the ball in the corner for most of added on time – done
Decent debut id say from a lad many scoffed at mainly because we were signing him from Southampton, mental logic that,
himself & Klavan had been quietly impressive in pre season and it’s refreshing to see two new signings really hit the ground running,
Considering the injuries that was still a strong bench today also, Klopp looks to have had a really tidy first transfer window at the club and that bodes well,
Thought Migs had a strong performance also, apart from the pen save he had some excellent punches and seemed more louder? Commanding/decisive than normally, the heat is on for him, if Degsy Lov can turn it around then maybe Migs can,
Moreno is the obvious worry for most,
I like him and try to defend him but I can see the point people make on his positioning and rashness etc, has bundles of pace & enthusiasm for the cause,
He’s still dead young and if Klopp reckons he can work with him, well then, who am I to argue,
My Mom burnt her kitchen down Sat night after falling asleep with a chip pan still on,
Lucky to escape alive, damage was limited due to swift response of fire brigade,
Stressful weekend as you can imagine,
Welled up seeing her kitchen this morn,
These Reds lifted my spirits today though,
It’s only superficial damage, good clean, lick of paint,some new appliances, it can be done,
37 more games, that also can be done,
Up the spirit lifting Reds.
There are suggestions in Neil’s match review thread that Mignolet was at fault for their third. My immediate reaction was that it was just one of those free perfectly placed free kicks that are very difficult to defend. So I was interested to see that you didn’t place the blame on him for it Andy.
What is the thinking on coming out to punch those in swinging free kicks? I’m thinking it must be pretty difficult to get it right with curve on the ball and 10 guys running towards you.
Ratings are spot on, what a game … what a start to the new season
I hope that no one notices that Klopp has been playing Mane on the 1.5x fast cheat mode.
I thought Hendo was by far our best midfielder. Surprising to see Gini and Can rated higher than him
I watched the brilliant match on LFCTV which I had recorded. But I wondered if anyone else spotted an object being thrown at the Liverpool players when they were celebrating Coutinho’s 2nd goal? On the screen an object is thrown at the players when they in a group celebrating the goal, just as Henderson arrives and puts his arm around the other players. The object, which looks like a white stone or pebble, hits Henderson on the arm and then appears to bounce towards either Coutinho or Lallans’s head. It is hard to see in normal time but very clear when slowed down. I have shown it other fans who are concerned and wonder why it has not been mentioned?
I meant to put that the object appears from the right on the screen and hits Henderson’s right arm.
Sorry, I also meant to add that it is hard to see in normal time but very clear when slowed down.
Sorry again. Ignore last post. I realised I did mention the slowing down bit in the first post. Anyway, I reported it to LFCTV a few days ago (Incident ref: 160816-000117) but nothing appears to have been done, as yet?
Just been notified by a phone call from LFC that the matter has been passed on, so it will be up to Arsenal and the Police to look into it. This could mean nothing will happen but I guess we will just have to wait and see.