Like others have said, an oddly frustrating game that fortunately turned out positively at the end. About half of the team played quite well, but the other half dragged the performance down so we made a lot harder work of this than we should have. After the obvious substitutions were made, we easily broke away from Cardiff like our quality deserved.
+
Salah – by far the best of the front 3 and maybe MOM, great movement to get himself in dangerous positions – unfortunately there was zero understanding with Lallana, so until Shaqiri came on most of the cute one-touch interchanges he was attempting broke down. Once he had a proper partner, we saw what he can do.
Fabinho – another promising performance from him, already looking like our best tackler. Was proper physical, but didn't give away any fouls that I can remember. His passing was typically forward-thinking and when the attack started looking flat at the end of first half, he tried to make things happen by carrying the ball forward or stationing himself on the wing. Towards the end (after Milner came on) got a useful run-out in his "less favored" position of a sole #6 with no dire consequences. No complaints about this performance whatsoever.
Trent – had the only remotely difficult defensive assignment of the team against the pacy Murphy and did well to contain him as well as contribute in attack. Too bad both of his shots didn't quite came off, but good to see him try. I wonder though if he looked better and busier simply because it was Moreno rather than Robertson on the other flank.
Van Dijk – imperious as always, unlucky with the deflection, but he had to try to intercept it.
Gini – Barely put a foot wrong all game. Probably the best sustained run of form I've seen from him in Liverpool.
Shaqiri – immediately brought more focus and creativity after coming on and the foot-work for the goal was sexy as hell. Hopefully this side-by-side comparison will be enough to convince Klopp that he should be way ahead of Lallana in the pecking order.
=
Mane – Sadio is a type of player who thrives on making himself unpredictable, on pulling off low-percentage plays that no other player would try to make. Unfortunately when our attacking game isn't working in general, this quality seems out of place and he just brings more chaos when the game needs the opposite. Scored a crucial 2nd goal through sheer speed and persistence and got rewarded with the 2nd (and his 50th for LFC) late on.
Alisson – had to do stretches and little jogs for most of the game just to keep himself warm, which made a conceded freak goal even more frustrating. Don't think anyone can blame him there; the ball was past him before he had a chance to move.
–
Lallana – like everyone else I was surprised to see him on the teamsheet, but after a while I almost convinced myself that it made sense. After all he was one of our best players 2 seasons ago and probably deserves a chance to play back into form. I want him to succeed, but this was really hopelessly bad – for a playmaker to not have any useful understanding with any of the front 3 is simply not permissible. I can forgive a player out of match practice losing possession cheaply a few times in a game, but his whole style of play seemed so foreign in this team and I really think it dragged everybody down, even though the midfield, Salah and Mane were ready to shine in this game (and did once Lallana went off). You could say Klopp's gamble has paid off because we still won this game by 3 goals, but hopefully this performance will ensure we won't see Lallana against Arsenal.
Firmino – nothing was coming off for him in this game, the touch was unusually sloppy and he was uncharacteristically easily shoved off the ball a few times. Disappointing after he seemed on the way to finding his best form.
Lovren – I thought his performance was one of constant small mistakes; always flirting with disaster (and being bailed out by his teammates a few times). Maybe the fans as well as his teammates are getting spoiled by playing with Gomez, who is just so much faster and better on the ball that those Lovren near-panic situations would simply never arise. Maybe he's just rusty though – it was not too long ago when Lovren played genuinely well.
Moreno – didn't do anything too catastrophic, just a typical Moreno performance. One particularly stupid turn-over in midfield made me want to throw something at the screen.
The Ref – was there something about him being the youngest referee in the Premier League? Whatever it is, he seemed thoroughly overmatched at this level.
+
Salah – by far the best of the front 3 and maybe MOM, great movement to get himself in dangerous positions – unfortunately there was zero understanding with Lallana, so until Shaqiri came on most of the cute one-touch interchanges he was attempting broke down. Once he had a proper partner, we saw what he can do.
Fabinho – another promising performance from him, already looking like our best tackler. Was proper physical, but didn't give away any fouls that I can remember. His passing was typically forward-thinking and when the attack started looking flat at the end of first half, he tried to make things happen by carrying the ball forward or stationing himself on the wing. Towards the end (after Milner came on) got a useful run-out in his "less favored" position of a sole #6 with no dire consequences. No complaints about this performance whatsoever.
Trent – had the only remotely difficult defensive assignment of the team against the pacy Murphy and did well to contain him as well as contribute in attack. Too bad both of his shots didn't quite came off, but good to see him try. I wonder though if he looked better and busier simply because it was Moreno rather than Robertson on the other flank.
Van Dijk – imperious as always, unlucky with the deflection, but he had to try to intercept it.
Gini – Barely put a foot wrong all game. Probably the best sustained run of form I've seen from him in Liverpool.
Shaqiri – immediately brought more focus and creativity after coming on and the foot-work for the goal was sexy as hell. Hopefully this side-by-side comparison will be enough to convince Klopp that he should be way ahead of Lallana in the pecking order.
=
Mane – Sadio is a type of player who thrives on making himself unpredictable, on pulling off low-percentage plays that no other player would try to make. Unfortunately when our attacking game isn't working in general, this quality seems out of place and he just brings more chaos when the game needs the opposite. Scored a crucial 2nd goal through sheer speed and persistence and got rewarded with the 2nd (and his 50th for LFC) late on.
Alisson – had to do stretches and little jogs for most of the game just to keep himself warm, which made a conceded freak goal even more frustrating. Don't think anyone can blame him there; the ball was past him before he had a chance to move.
–
Lallana – like everyone else I was surprised to see him on the teamsheet, but after a while I almost convinced myself that it made sense. After all he was one of our best players 2 seasons ago and probably deserves a chance to play back into form. I want him to succeed, but this was really hopelessly bad – for a playmaker to not have any useful understanding with any of the front 3 is simply not permissible. I can forgive a player out of match practice losing possession cheaply a few times in a game, but his whole style of play seemed so foreign in this team and I really think it dragged everybody down, even though the midfield, Salah and Mane were ready to shine in this game (and did once Lallana went off). You could say Klopp's gamble has paid off because we still won this game by 3 goals, but hopefully this performance will ensure we won't see Lallana against Arsenal.
Firmino – nothing was coming off for him in this game, the touch was unusually sloppy and he was uncharacteristically easily shoved off the ball a few times. Disappointing after he seemed on the way to finding his best form.
Lovren – I thought his performance was one of constant small mistakes; always flirting with disaster (and being bailed out by his teammates a few times). Maybe the fans as well as his teammates are getting spoiled by playing with Gomez, who is just so much faster and better on the ball that those Lovren near-panic situations would simply never arise. Maybe he's just rusty though – it was not too long ago when Lovren played genuinely well.
Moreno – didn't do anything too catastrophic, just a typical Moreno performance. One particularly stupid turn-over in midfield made me want to throw something at the screen.
The Ref – was there something about him being the youngest referee in the Premier League? Whatever it is, he seemed thoroughly overmatched at this level.
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