A WIN! Not the best, or prettiest, but we’ll take it. We weren’t great in the middle of the park, but in the final third we looked more alive than we have for a while, and could actually have scored more than one goal. But that utopia will wait for another day.
ADAM BOGDAN: 7 Calm, commanding, imposing. It was all a bit mad really. Feels the ball into his gloves like a test match wicket keeper, rather than looking like a cat trying to grab a ball of wool. Like no-one in particular.
CONNOR RANDALL: 6 Looked a bit hurried out of it at first, but grew into the game well. Ran some great attacking angles, like the rugby league player he looks like.
KOLO TOURE: 4 That’s got to be it now, surely.
DEJAN LOVREN: 7 Might have been a Kolo comparison, but thought he did well. Looked quite happy, too. Got some clean sheet record this season now.
NATHANIEL CLYNE: 7 Poacher extraordinaire. Did well on his wrong side. Won a few tackles when they looked like they might break.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvrVukpriL0
JOE ALLEN: 5 Started like it was him making his debut rather than the young lads around him. Got into it eventually, probably helped by the change of system. Wasn’t exactly a performance that played him into contention though. Which is what he should be aiming for.
CAMERON BRANNAGAN: 5 Don’t wish to patronise him by giving him higher. He did some things ok and didn’t do a lot wrong.
JOAO TEIXEIRA: 6 Did more things better and more worse than Brannagan. Great for the goal. Showed flashes of more, but I can’t imagine him rocking up at Stamford Bridge.
ROBERTO FIRMINO: 7 Looked the classiest player on the pitch. How you stake a claim. Lively and dangerous, without having a huge amount to hit ahead of him.
JORDON IBE: 7.5 Man of the match. Aggressive in the first half, twisting and turning and picking the right moments to cross. Intelligent second half, coming inside and creating space for others. Most mature performance in red.
DIVOCK ORIGI: 5 Good for the goal. Better when he comes deep and runs with it, than his back to goal. We need him to do the back to goal stuff, though. As well as the scoring in the box.
SUBS
MARTIN SKRTEL: 6 Wasn’t Kolo Toure
LUCAS LEIVA: 7 Wasn’t Kolo Toure
ADAM LALLANA: N/A Wasn’t playing long enough
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Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda-Photo
Think Firmino should start ahead of Coutinho on Saturday, he’s been awful for several weeks now.
Coutinho in a midfield three everyday of the week for me, with Bobby in a front 3, since he’s actually a forward, unlike Phil.
Yep.
Coutinho tends to struggle on the road and against imposing clubs like Chelsea. I would stick with Firmino in the 10 until he needs a break then give Coutinho a chance back preferably at Anfield. Possibly against Crystal Palace. That would be three games on the trot for Firmino including a trip deep into Russia.
I think bringing Coutinho in off the bench for the last 20 minutes or so could have a real impact. He needs to get his confidence back and his head settled. He seems to have lost the plot not long after Gerrard’s book led everyone to link him with an immediate move to Barcelona. Go figure.
Still Firmino possesses an element of of physicality and pace that Coutinho doesn’t. Klopp is smart enough to recognizes horses for courses.
Bit harsh on Allen. Not an 8. Maybe not even a 7. But a 5?
Bogdan: ‘cool’~ and his 4 saves literally won us the match
Clyne: ‘cool’ ~ best match since he joined, and at left back too
Lovren: ‘cool’ ~ calm, assured; we need him happy, he needs our love.
Kids and Allen: ‘cool’ ~ hope they slept well after all the excitement; it must have been better than first time sex
Ibe: ‘cool’ ~ mature performance. would be an important olayer this season, both starting and super sub roles
Firmino: ‘cool’ ~ create chances like Coutinho. shoot like Coutinho too :)
Origi: ‘cool’ ~ we need him till other 3 come back; after that send him for 2 mth holidays in Jamaica, hawaii, kenya or wherever;
Skert: ‘cool’ and played like Skert
Lucas: ‘cool’ the moment he came on, i felt relax and ‘cool’ ~ nearly as important as Kaiser’s role in Istanbul 2005!
Lallana: ‘cool’ are we going to see a lot more hugs among players during substitutions?
Klopp: ‘cool’
Lucas should surely get a 10 just for that belter he nearly scored.
Can’t remember him hitting for so convincingly for about 6 years.
OK, normally I agree with your word like the gospel it is, Gibbo, but this time I’ve got to disagree on a few points.
1. Teixeira played a blinder. Better corners than anyone else so far (miles better than Milner), great free kick at the end, sharp touch, intricate passing, great movement. At the moment, on form, he looks better than Coutinho.
2. Also going on What We Have Seen, Bogdan is a better option right now than Mignolet. Great feet (notice all the flawless one-touch passes?), game-saving stops, good communication, came for everything he needed to and got it all. Didn’t fluff his lines. Just oozed confidence. Start him!
3. Origi has started to show what Kloppo clearly believes he can do. Much better movement (could easily have scored in front of the Kop towards the end when he took a gamble and slid in for Lucas’ cross, just missing the connection by a few inches), a few brilliant turns, great speed when running with the ball, and good layoffs and close control. A solid 7 for me.
4. Clyne could well be an Azpilicueta-type who for some mysterious reason plays better on his wrong side. In which case…
5. We could stick with Randall, who showed great steadiness and linked well with Ibe and Firmino.
6. That pass – the one he hit perfectly with his left foot while moving his right foot, looking the wrong way, doing his accounts, and juggling three apples? Insane. Ronaldinho would have been proud. So logically deserves a 9.
Well done, lads!
Point 6 is about Ibe, sorry for the confusion – his pass has messed my head up!
3. great to see similar view on Origi. (i posted a comment in the match rating article on Origi too).
4. till flenno comes back (or till Enrique is fit or in the plan), at least we can now rotate among the three full backs in Clyne, Moreno and Randall
Thought Texeira played himself into a strong squad choice last night, Randall looked shaky until about the hour mark and then really kicked in – until then they’d been targeting his position as a weak link all night and honestly thought that he struggled to deal with much of it.
Kolo? Yeah, got to be it, looked like he’d gone even before he went (if you know what I mean)
Firmino’s a footballer isn’t he? Beautiful to watch, inventive, surprising, gives us the unpredictability that we haven’t had since that lad that I’m definitely not comparing him to went to Spain.
I thought the most notable part of the night was the effect that Firmino has on Ibe’s game; the interplay between the two was excellent, they’re giving each other options all the way down the line. Looks like Ibe’s been told to just go out and enjoy himself.
Not read the main report yet but anybody talking formation? I thought we were heavily 4-1-4-1 with Allen being that base one when defending and moving forward into a 4-4-1-1 when attacking. Nice shape for the evening I thought.
On the Telly Lovren looked all over the place, and not in a good way, one moment stands out when he was on the right touch line and then jogged quite slowly back to the left CB position, it may have been different at the ground but I put him closer to Allen in that he looked more nervous than the new kids and left you wondering what he brings to the party
I think we all know by know that he’s the guy who brings a token bottle of Jacob’s Creek and spends the evening filling his pockets with the best stuff from the buffet before skulking off alone with his hors d’oeuvres.
Garcia man of the match for me, he deffo had his name sung more than anyone else.
I like Kolo. I hate the Kolo song. I think he will retire at the end of the season. I hope we retire that song.
Agreed mostly BUT not having Ibe over Firmino.
Did well to roast the full back often but his final ball/shot is either extremely poor OR he makes the wrong decision!
Isn’t the “Lovren was shit” even when he wasn’t stuff wearing a bit thin by now?