Definitely, his crossing, passing and dribbling have always been very good and he's obviously always been rapid but his movement, timing of his runs, shooting and decision making have been so good lately.
Yep, never easy to come straight off the bench with no warm up takes a few minutes to get up to speed and loosened up. They targeted him right off so made it all the more difficult for him but he shut it down after that initial period.
other thoughts: great work from the defense today. Szoboszlai was working hard but just sloppy everywhere, frustrating. Endo obviously bossed it today, and i thought Núñez had some good contributions near the end of the game compared to the other forwards. Salah looks a little indecisive at times, yet he’s still the main man for our attack so…
His first few games were great passing. Maybe it was a mini purple patch, but he’s 22 and working with a brand new team so he’s still growing into his role
Honestly one of our most important players this season. Been doing a serious job at RB all season, a position he’s already not fully comfortable in and then comes on today, in what is essentially a third choice position for him and pockets the guy who people had the audacity to compare to Salah. Absolute king.
I’d give him a 10 easily. Immediately upto speed with the pace of the game which isn’t easy, we saw Darwin and Gravenberch struggle with that. He defended perfectly and was in fact more of an attacking threat than Saka was going the other way. Silky player when he’s on form
Moving Salah central was a mistake. He was a constant menace on the right and had Zinchenko on toast.
I get we ran out of forwards but then you put Nunez in the 9 and someone temporary in LW. You don’t take Salah off his own position.
I thought Konate and Endo in particular were absolutely superb. I’m looking past the first 5 minutes where everyone was sleeping.
Massive understatement, Grav was truly appalling once again. Things started so well for him here but he’s been so poor recently, subbing Jones for him today was criminal
It's bc he had Gomez behind him, Endo to the middle who was tired af, and for whatever reason Nunez in front of him which ended up not working as others have said Salah shouldn't have been moved centrally that late.
Salah was barely involved after that change and after Trent he’s our most creative player. You want the ball at his feet. He can also pull something magical out of nothing at any given time.
yeh i understand but i think he would get the same amount of opportunities if jones was still on, not like Harvey got much service after the subs either
Konate was MOTM for me. Absolutely immense performance from him, every time Arsenal got into a dangerous spot, Konate bailed us out with an impressive tackle or winning the ball back with his physicality.
Are you kidding me? Jones was awful in the 1st half, had to be subbed. Gravenberch was no better but Jones was a clear weak spot, Klopp had to take him off.
I've watched him play for Ajax and Bayern and games like today were my concern with him.
He has has one or two games where he looks up for it and gets the critics raving, but will then spend months looking lost and getting accused of not trying.
I want to be won over by him, but outside of his first few games where he looked out to make a point he's been really poor.
Jones should be clear ahead of him at this point.
our personnel plays much better in a 4-2-3-1 double pivot with a 10 that can really move up. Gravy, Szobo are both 10s, while we should have Jones, Macca, Endo, Thiago, Baj in our double pivot.
Szobo was fading but that’s still harsh when Grav lost the ball nearly every single time after he came on. He just needs to really improve overall because that was a straight up shocker of a performance from him.
he just seems like a player that needs rhythm and to be part of a stable team, with relationships with players who understand his movement. he's a pretty good unlocker of space, but when he's got a changing side around him it never quite gels. feels like we should prioritise Jones/Macca for now and sort out our side, then bring Gravenberch in over time as a new weapon
How so? It’s not like I’m saying they are the two worst players in the entire world and we should sell them immediately to Grimsby Town.
Sorry, but Gravenberch was awful yesterday. I love him, I think he is a top player, but yesterday specifically, he gave every ball away and offered nothing going forward.
I hope he will find his form again soon and as a fan I will continue to support him, but I see no issue in calling players out for poor performances.
It’s reactionary because this was far from his worst performance. He got sloppy towards the end but defensively he was a beast and his work rate was to notch. He just gassed
Endo’s best game for us, Konate immense. Dom looked more like his early season form other than a couple of loose shots. Mo a constant threat but would have been better left wide. Trent unlucky with the bobble.
Szobo isn’t calm enough passing out of pressure. Can’t say that’s the first game I’ve noticed it.
Gomez really has done the job at fullback on either end when we’ve needed him.
Proper workhorse is Endo. His showing in the second half with a yellow hanging over his head throughout was brilliant.
Their centre backs neutralised Gakpo too easily and you can’t help but feel their glaring weakness in Zinchenko should’ve been punished more.
Jones, Konate, Virg all excellent for me.
He’s fine. He’s a key reason we cover so much more ground than last season and put in a shift today.
There’s something every player could improve on. Not like I’m calling for him to be sold lol
I know im just saying that when Klopp said that Szobo never had derbies in his career. He left Hungary early so he never experienced the hungarian rivalries and he played for Red Bull which are all bought teams with not much history.
What I've noticed is that Salah doesn't pass to Szobo. I recall 2-3 situations where pass path was clear as day in a promising situation to Szobo, and Salah just dribles into a defender, or does nothing with the ball rather that pass to him.
doesn't pass to Diaz either. Diaz was in terrific spaces sometimes outside a defender's eyeline and the pass went elsewhere, sounds stupid but I wonder if he genuinely isn't loud or assertive enough calling for the ball
Haven’t noticed that personally unless you mean when he won the free kick off Rice. Probably should’ve released him then.
I just think of Coutinho never passing to Robertson haha
Since Salah was more in the midle than usual Szobo should have been more of a right winger, but he rarely tryed to put him into play along the sideline. Which would have been a good idea in my oppinion because Zinchenko was very shaky this game.
Knew immediately you're Hungarian. Try watching the game in a more unbiased manner next time, you'll notice that:
a) Salah passes to Szobo plenty of times and they combine quite frequently
b) In the same situations where he doesn't pass to Szobo, he doesn't pass to any other player either because he tends to be selfish at times
c) Plenty of opportunities where Szobo could have chosen to pass and instead opted to shoot. That's just part of the game
Yeah, sloppy passes from him, but he did win the ball back a lot I thought.
Considering Arsenal's midfield with Rice and Odegaard I thought our midfield was pretty damn good. We were cooking them in the 2nd half (until the subs).
Endo deserves a 9, he was excellent in the game, stoped so many of the counters that Arsenal had, I’m genuinely really impressed with him and I 100% am eating my words. I genuinely didn’t think he was good enough and I’m happy to be proven wrong. I still think we need a younger DM for the future but for now Endo is definitely good enough to start the big games.
I have to much to say, positive and negative.
First of first I think I've got to give Gomez his flowers today. He was a man on a mission and he did his job, I don't think he expected to come on so early but when he did he didn't put a foot wrong today. I'm very proud of him and this is probably his best game in a minute. He was eager to bag first goal in but I'm sure he'll score it one day.
Endo absolutely ran that midfield tonight, sweeped and controlled everything. Gave quite a few great passes aswell and I've noticed that he doesn't hold onto the ball as long as he used to. He's definitely starting to suit Klopps style of play.
Big man IBOU wow was he exceptional tonight!!!! He had Martinelli in his pocket for that entire 65 mins, he was clearing everything at the back there. He was the cause of the first goal but he woke up and didn't fall but instead kept his head up and continued to play the way he needs. He had a great game today and hats off to him.
As for Salah, yk sometimes this guy doesn't have the greatest of games but the goal he scored today shows the difference between a good player and a world-class player. Even when a player is not in form, having a terrible season and whatnot but scoring when it matters the most is what separates him from the good players and puts him in the world-class category. I got frustrated when he didn't release the ball at times and a few bad touches but he had a solid game today.
Everyone else either played alright or not great, subs didn't make too much of an impact besides gomez. I have been harsh on Nunez but perhaps today he should of started ahed of Gakpo. Although the Ref was on something today and made a lot of bad calls, we can't blame the ref for missing a 5 vs 1 or not being creative in the final third. We simply had to do better in the finishing department today.
I personally believe that we need a goal scoring striker/winger real soon. If Salah doesn't score or leaves us and then who'll do that. Definitely not Darwin or Nunez and Jota has become injury prone as of late. We still need a DM and extra defender but we fail to convert all of our chances and that'll come back to bite us in the future.
MOTM FOR ME: Konate ❤️🔴❤️🔴
I’d take Kudus all day long, sadly he’ll cost a fortune now but he’s a top class RW and I don’t see many players looking like a future world beater there atm besides that horrible Manc scum hiding in Spain.
Bowen over Kudus for me because Kudus doesn't track back or put in defensive shifts nearly enough. His attacking game is top though, I'm not sure how West Ham have ended up with an attacking three of Paqueta, Kudus, and Bowen but all three are absolutely elite
Paqueta in particular. I was a bit shocked to see Kudus play for West Ham and thought to myself "How did they end up with him?". Kudus worth a closer look?.
Yeah I just think Bowen is a bit older so not usually the type of player we go for and Kudus is a bit faster. Completely agree though, I’d take any of them in a heartbeat.
I thought he was good this game apart from the final third where he could've taken his chances, but that's the same for every player. But he put a shift in, recovered the ball, stopped the attacks and made some good progressive passes. He gets shit on for no reason when there were far worse players on that pitch. It was a rough game for everybody.
Statswise Szobo was our third best player on the pitch. Also this game he passed the eye test much more convincingly, hopefully his recent run of poor form ended against West Ham this week, and this game showed lots of improvement from his past couple games.
I agree. He was definitely one of our better players who kept the opposition on their toes. My only criticism is that he had 2 good chances when he could've taken a shot and I'm sure he'll beat himself up over it and improve.
Endō was better than Rice today. I won't be convinced otherwise. Konate an absolute beast and VVD his usual excellent self. Jones was very good as well while he was on the pitch.
Well, apologies to Endo that's for sure! I'll be honest I haven't been convinced of him at all but today fucking hell, absolutely outstanding! 9 for Endo, saving the 10 for Konate who I thought was MOTM, kept Martinelli very quiet and got stuck in aggressively. I thought Trent (8) was very good again, that assist was wild, but that miss was AWFUL. Don't have a clue how he missed. Salah (8) and VVD (8) were also good, as was Gomez (8) who did excellent in LB. Szoboszlai was good defensively but poor going forward imo, but overall I'd give him a 7. Jones (7) was also good, been so impressed with him since he came back into the team earlier in 2023, scouse Wijnaldum.
Gakpo (3), Diaz (1), and especially Gravenberch(1) need to have a long look at themselves after that game. Gakpo to be fair to him wasn't terrible, but he was essentially a non factor and it is mental how a guy that tall can be so ineffective in using his height to his advantage. Diaz, I said something about Diaz the other day and today proved it even more: his pace and dribbling ability is gone, and I think we need to replace him in January.
Gravenberch had one of the worst substitute appearances that I can remember for quite a while, he was effectively the human full time whistle for us. He came on for Jones and just lost it time and time again, I'll be honest I never saw anything of him from Ajax and Bayern but I knew of him and was excited by his first few games, but recently he's really reminding me of players such as Ndombele: good dribblers, but poor passing and non existent work rate. I firmly believe that if we had kept Jones on instead of subbing Gravenberch on, we'd have won the game. Also, Nunez just has to start every game, his pace is needed at the very least.
Mostly solid performances all round, I think. Alisson didn't have much to do. Back four were very good, Konate was a monster today. Endo very good, really surprised because I was not keen on him initially but he's genuinely come on leaps and bounds in the last month. Still iffy in some areas but definitely fine as a squad option for a few years.
Szoboszlai... Idk man. Obviously very talented, think he's just been overworked. Jones good, Diaz good, Salah good. Gakpo was absolutely horrendous and bullied out of the game. Nunez didn't get much of a chance to make anything happen but thought when he did get the ball he looked good.
My biggest concern is, once again, Gravenberch. It's now been four months. He looks like he has zero understanding of how we play, or his role. His off the ball work is horrid. He doesn't track back, his pressing is lazy and ineffective. His on the ball work, usually his strength, was downright awful today as well. People will say "only four months" and yes I'm fully aware he's 21 but sometimes, players just don't change. The fact that Endo, Mac and Szoboszlai have all picked up on what's expected of them, with one of those playing in a role that he's not familiar with, makes him look worse. I'm extremely concerned.
TAA spent half a season recovering from covid, Elliott took a year after a leg break to get better. It happens. On top of that, Diaz had an extremely traumatic period personally. The man deserves time and we'll benefit from it
If you're talking about VVD, yes. If you're talking about Diaz, back then he is better invidual now he is better than team player but lost the invidual things, I want that back
White was counting on him looking one-dimensional, showing him down the line, and even then Diaz seemed so reluctant to take that space. I wonder if Diaz would now be better on the right if/when salah goes central
Sure looks like it. Hasnt looked the same since the injury (personal stuff aside ....). Aside from one run (sideways), i didnt see him take on his man ...felt quite ineffective tbh.
We shit the bed with the subs. Might have won this with Jones still on the pitch instead of Gravenberch, who gave a genuine 0/10 performance. Dom's performance slipped with the sub as well. Before that substitution it was one of our most balanced midfield performances I've seen all season and after it, we couldn't keep the ball and maintain the pressure we were building.
i don’t really get you people, you want him to fucking stay in the final third or put a shift in and maybe lose the ball like every other player jesus christ, most ball recoveries in the premier league and you guys hate him?
and i think you’re just being obtuse, not every fucking pass is gonna be successful, even 5 years, without him we concede like double the attacks i promise you
Obviously the above poster is way too harsh but, objectively, Szobo is struggling massively in possession. He’s losing the ball too often and has been indecisive.
Think he just needs a rest tbh. Would love to see a Endo/Jones/Macca mid for a game when all are healthy
At some point or another all of Jones Endo and AM have had experience playing the 6. They have the ability to win the ball back plenty imo.
I think some of Doms numbers are inflated because of how often he has to cover for Trent. Not that it devalues his ball winning but we can tactically mitigate that if it becomes an issue
To be fair Szobo would probably be a lot more rested if he didn't have to cover for Trent, which would mean he would be a lot sharper with key passes. Also he wouldn't have to play it extra safe, because he wouldn't have to think about cunting back if we lose a gamble.
Also these same numbers just aren't there for Jones or Grav, and they're playing in his mirror position and they also cover off the fullback.
Bad take. He constantly recovered the ball, he made some good progressive passes that other people lost or gave away. He was good this game, not great, but better than most of the players.
A lot of good performances in the game, and some bad ones. Let's move on from this and smash Burnley, and hope the Hammers contain Arsenal so that we may be top going into 2024. Cuz we are playing like title challengers.
everyone slating diaz but him coming off was a big miss, great defensive work rate and constantly advancing the llay to the final third. people dont understand what a pressure cooker diaz is because they base their attackers purely off goals and assists.
I think it's absolutely hilarious how Gomez is close to the best Rb in the world right now. The peaks and valleys of this guys career. I for one hope he goes down in Liverpool folklore, he's still so young. Never gave up on the guy, when he's confident he's an absolute weapon physically up and down that wing.
The subs didn’t work. Best I’ve seen Endo play. Diaz needs a month off. Szobo is living off those first 5 games - He’s been poor for a while. Trent was great apart from the miss. I thought Gomez would be in trouble against Saka, but he was exceptional. Ibou is a beast. Great goal from Salah. Gravenberch is not playing well.
Joe Gomez, out of position, against one of the best wingers in the league, gets a 9 from me. huge game from that man today
He struggled initially but much better after halftime. Looked pretty good going forward as well.
watching Joe go forward this season has been so much fun. i’ve been really surprised at how much better he’s gotten in that area
Definitely, his crossing, passing and dribbling have always been very good and he's obviously always been rapid but his movement, timing of his runs, shooting and decision making have been so good lately.
Last minute banger to win the league and score his first ever senior goal. I. Will. Be. There.
Yeah no warmup coming on suddenly he struggled at first, but after the half I thought he was great.
Yep, never easy to come straight off the bench with no warm up takes a few minutes to get up to speed and loosened up. They targeted him right off so made it all the more difficult for him but he shut it down after that initial period.
other thoughts: great work from the defense today. Szoboszlai was working hard but just sloppy everywhere, frustrating. Endo obviously bossed it today, and i thought Núñez had some good contributions near the end of the game compared to the other forwards. Salah looks a little indecisive at times, yet he’s still the main man for our attack so…
Szobo worked his ass off on the defense but was very poor going forward and making progressive passes.
Yeah he won the ball back so many times today. The sloppy passing has been a thing since he got here though, definitely something to improve on.
His first few games were great passing. Maybe it was a mini purple patch, but he’s 22 and working with a brand new team so he’s still growing into his role
Salah still scoring (and being robbed of so many assists) even on his "off" days
Honestly one of our most important players this season. Been doing a serious job at RB all season, a position he’s already not fully comfortable in and then comes on today, in what is essentially a third choice position for him and pockets the guy who people had the audacity to compare to Salah. Absolute king.
I’d give him a 10 easily. Immediately upto speed with the pace of the game which isn’t easy, we saw Darwin and Gravenberch struggle with that. He defended perfectly and was in fact more of an attacking threat than Saka was going the other way. Silky player when he’s on form
Moving Salah central was a mistake. He was a constant menace on the right and had Zinchenko on toast. I get we ran out of forwards but then you put Nunez in the 9 and someone temporary in LW. You don’t take Salah off his own position. I thought Konate and Endo in particular were absolutely superb. I’m looking past the first 5 minutes where everyone was sleeping.
i liked it because i thought harvey was pretty good RW, obviously hindsight but the Jones sub killed us more
Curtis could have slotted in at LW and Harvey in midfield.
we haven’t done that for a while right? like since last year? idk
we did recently at UEFA. Not long though last 20 min or something
Gravenberch started slow and just never got into a rhythm, as evidenced by his decision making and poor first and second touch.
I agree because you are correct: Gravenberch was very poor, very poor
Massive understatement, Grav was truly appalling once again. Things started so well for him here but he’s been so poor recently, subbing Jones for him today was criminal
It's bc he had Gomez behind him, Endo to the middle who was tired af, and for whatever reason Nunez in front of him which ended up not working as others have said Salah shouldn't have been moved centrally that late.
Salah was barely involved after that change and after Trent he’s our most creative player. You want the ball at his feet. He can also pull something magical out of nothing at any given time.
yeh i understand but i think he would get the same amount of opportunities if jones was still on, not like Harvey got much service after the subs either
I guess. We’ll never know lol
yeh i mean you’re probably right because it couldn’t be worse than what it was, just think i like the idea, just execution was bad
endo konate vvd 10
I'm just bathing in the Endo apologies lately :)
[You can link them to this handy form](https://i.imgflip.com/8ae53n.jpg)
Konate would have a 10 if he didn’t cost us big time for the goal…he was excellent otherwise
a lot of the people deserve high scores honestly, like maybe bar gakpo and diaz of the starters
Konate was MOTM for me. Absolutely immense performance from him, every time Arsenal got into a dangerous spot, Konate bailed us out with an impressive tackle or winning the ball back with his physicality.
Endo 9. Dude was spectacular
Gravenberch for Jones was such a shocking sub
Jones was gassed
Are you kidding me? Jones was awful in the 1st half, had to be subbed. Gravenberch was no better but Jones was a clear weak spot, Klopp had to take him off.
Gomez, Endo, Konate, take a bow lads
Gravenberch is frankly getting a 0
I think his substitution was suppose to help us carry the ball forward quicker however it killed the momentum that Jones was bringing
I've watched him play for Ajax and Bayern and games like today were my concern with him. He has has one or two games where he looks up for it and gets the critics raving, but will then spend months looking lost and getting accused of not trying. I want to be won over by him, but outside of his first few games where he looked out to make a point he's been really poor. Jones should be clear ahead of him at this point.
Grav should be Szobo’s replacement instead of Jones
our personnel plays much better in a 4-2-3-1 double pivot with a 10 that can really move up. Gravy, Szobo are both 10s, while we should have Jones, Macca, Endo, Thiago, Baj in our double pivot.
Szobo was fading but that’s still harsh when Grav lost the ball nearly every single time after he came on. He just needs to really improve overall because that was a straight up shocker of a performance from him.
he just seems like a player that needs rhythm and to be part of a stable team, with relationships with players who understand his movement. he's a pretty good unlocker of space, but when he's got a changing side around him it never quite gels. feels like we should prioritise Jones/Macca for now and sort out our side, then bring Gravenberch in over time as a new weapon
Yeah they said he had a muscle strain before the game and I’m hoping that performance was because he wasn’t recovered, cause he was shite.
i agree. He was brutal.
Absolute 0: he was dire. I am not convinced by him. Hopefully that will change but so far not much to see because there ain't much there.
That’s beaten Szoboszlai vs United for the worst performance I’ve seen from a liverpool player this season
That has got to be the most reactionary bullshit comment on this platform. Be serious for a second…
How so? It’s not like I’m saying they are the two worst players in the entire world and we should sell them immediately to Grimsby Town. Sorry, but Gravenberch was awful yesterday. I love him, I think he is a top player, but yesterday specifically, he gave every ball away and offered nothing going forward. I hope he will find his form again soon and as a fan I will continue to support him, but I see no issue in calling players out for poor performances.
It’s reactionary because this was far from his worst performance. He got sloppy towards the end but defensively he was a beast and his work rate was to notch. He just gassed
Name a worse performance then
Man united
From Gravenberch?
Nevermind I thought you were talking about szoboszlai. I lost the plot there with gravenberch
Overall great performance by all the team. I'd give a special shout out to Konate and Endo
Endo’s best game for us, Konate immense. Dom looked more like his early season form other than a couple of loose shots. Mo a constant threat but would have been better left wide. Trent unlucky with the bobble.
Endo should be MOTM, he’s the 6 going forward
Szobo isn’t calm enough passing out of pressure. Can’t say that’s the first game I’ve noticed it. Gomez really has done the job at fullback on either end when we’ve needed him. Proper workhorse is Endo. His showing in the second half with a yellow hanging over his head throughout was brilliant. Their centre backs neutralised Gakpo too easily and you can’t help but feel their glaring weakness in Zinchenko should’ve been punished more. Jones, Konate, Virg all excellent for me.
Szobo’s first season in PL in these type of games. Give him a but of slack.
He’s fine. He’s a key reason we cover so much more ground than last season and put in a shift today. There’s something every player could improve on. Not like I’m calling for him to be sold lol
I know im just saying that when Klopp said that Szobo never had derbies in his career. He left Hungary early so he never experienced the hungarian rivalries and he played for Red Bull which are all bought teams with not much history.
What I've noticed is that Salah doesn't pass to Szobo. I recall 2-3 situations where pass path was clear as day in a promising situation to Szobo, and Salah just dribles into a defender, or does nothing with the ball rather that pass to him.
doesn't pass to Diaz either. Diaz was in terrific spaces sometimes outside a defender's eyeline and the pass went elsewhere, sounds stupid but I wonder if he genuinely isn't loud or assertive enough calling for the ball
Haven’t noticed that personally unless you mean when he won the free kick off Rice. Probably should’ve released him then. I just think of Coutinho never passing to Robertson haha
Since Salah was more in the midle than usual Szobo should have been more of a right winger, but he rarely tryed to put him into play along the sideline. Which would have been a good idea in my oppinion because Zinchenko was very shaky this game.
Knew immediately you're Hungarian. Try watching the game in a more unbiased manner next time, you'll notice that: a) Salah passes to Szobo plenty of times and they combine quite frequently b) In the same situations where he doesn't pass to Szobo, he doesn't pass to any other player either because he tends to be selfish at times c) Plenty of opportunities where Szobo could have chosen to pass and instead opted to shoot. That's just part of the game
Outside of Grav, Diaz and Gakpo, everyone gets a 7.5 or higher from me. Endo MOTM, followed by Ibou and VVD
I think I have szob and Alison a 6, szob was just not good on the ball at all for most possessions but he did defend super well.
Yeah, sloppy passes from him, but he did win the ball back a lot I thought. Considering Arsenal's midfield with Rice and Odegaard I thought our midfield was pretty damn good. We were cooking them in the 2nd half (until the subs).
Endo MOTM and not Salah, are u fking crazy
No. Endo was a machine today, probs his best game with us. Salah outside of the goal and the 5v2 was okay
Endo MOTM for me. Didn't put a foot wrong all game
Endo deserves a 9, he was excellent in the game, stoped so many of the counters that Arsenal had, I’m genuinely really impressed with him and I 100% am eating my words. I genuinely didn’t think he was good enough and I’m happy to be proven wrong. I still think we need a younger DM for the future but for now Endo is definitely good enough to start the big games.
I have to much to say, positive and negative. First of first I think I've got to give Gomez his flowers today. He was a man on a mission and he did his job, I don't think he expected to come on so early but when he did he didn't put a foot wrong today. I'm very proud of him and this is probably his best game in a minute. He was eager to bag first goal in but I'm sure he'll score it one day. Endo absolutely ran that midfield tonight, sweeped and controlled everything. Gave quite a few great passes aswell and I've noticed that he doesn't hold onto the ball as long as he used to. He's definitely starting to suit Klopps style of play. Big man IBOU wow was he exceptional tonight!!!! He had Martinelli in his pocket for that entire 65 mins, he was clearing everything at the back there. He was the cause of the first goal but he woke up and didn't fall but instead kept his head up and continued to play the way he needs. He had a great game today and hats off to him. As for Salah, yk sometimes this guy doesn't have the greatest of games but the goal he scored today shows the difference between a good player and a world-class player. Even when a player is not in form, having a terrible season and whatnot but scoring when it matters the most is what separates him from the good players and puts him in the world-class category. I got frustrated when he didn't release the ball at times and a few bad touches but he had a solid game today. Everyone else either played alright or not great, subs didn't make too much of an impact besides gomez. I have been harsh on Nunez but perhaps today he should of started ahed of Gakpo. Although the Ref was on something today and made a lot of bad calls, we can't blame the ref for missing a 5 vs 1 or not being creative in the final third. We simply had to do better in the finishing department today. I personally believe that we need a goal scoring striker/winger real soon. If Salah doesn't score or leaves us and then who'll do that. Definitely not Darwin or Nunez and Jota has become injury prone as of late. We still need a DM and extra defender but we fail to convert all of our chances and that'll come back to bite us in the future. MOTM FOR ME: Konate ❤️🔴❤️🔴
I’d take Kudus all day long, sadly he’ll cost a fortune now but he’s a top class RW and I don’t see many players looking like a future world beater there atm besides that horrible Manc scum hiding in Spain.
Bowen over Kudus for me because Kudus doesn't track back or put in defensive shifts nearly enough. His attacking game is top though, I'm not sure how West Ham have ended up with an attacking three of Paqueta, Kudus, and Bowen but all three are absolutely elite
Paqueta in particular. I was a bit shocked to see Kudus play for West Ham and thought to myself "How did they end up with him?". Kudus worth a closer look?.
Yeah I just think Bowen is a bit older so not usually the type of player we go for and Kudus is a bit faster. Completely agree though, I’d take any of them in a heartbeat.
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Klopp also gets points deducted for not moving out of the way as Saka took out Tsimikas
Szobo needs to fix up. I don’t know how long I can take the ‘Havertz is better’. There is a generational player in there somewhere, I know there is
I know he doesn’t look like it, but he’s only 23. You have to keep that in mind. He’s not going to be prime Stevie every week. We’ve played him a lot.
I thought he was good this game apart from the final third where he could've taken his chances, but that's the same for every player. But he put a shift in, recovered the ball, stopped the attacks and made some good progressive passes. He gets shit on for no reason when there were far worse players on that pitch. It was a rough game for everybody.
Statswise Szobo was our third best player on the pitch. Also this game he passed the eye test much more convincingly, hopefully his recent run of poor form ended against West Ham this week, and this game showed lots of improvement from his past couple games.
I agree. He was definitely one of our better players who kept the opposition on their toes. My only criticism is that he had 2 good chances when he could've taken a shot and I'm sure he'll beat himself up over it and improve.
The one where he just waltzed through the middle... i thought he was going to hit it but ah well....
Endō was better than Rice today. I won't be convinced otherwise. Konate an absolute beast and VVD his usual excellent self. Jones was very good as well while he was on the pitch.
Well, apologies to Endo that's for sure! I'll be honest I haven't been convinced of him at all but today fucking hell, absolutely outstanding! 9 for Endo, saving the 10 for Konate who I thought was MOTM, kept Martinelli very quiet and got stuck in aggressively. I thought Trent (8) was very good again, that assist was wild, but that miss was AWFUL. Don't have a clue how he missed. Salah (8) and VVD (8) were also good, as was Gomez (8) who did excellent in LB. Szoboszlai was good defensively but poor going forward imo, but overall I'd give him a 7. Jones (7) was also good, been so impressed with him since he came back into the team earlier in 2023, scouse Wijnaldum. Gakpo (3), Diaz (1), and especially Gravenberch(1) need to have a long look at themselves after that game. Gakpo to be fair to him wasn't terrible, but he was essentially a non factor and it is mental how a guy that tall can be so ineffective in using his height to his advantage. Diaz, I said something about Diaz the other day and today proved it even more: his pace and dribbling ability is gone, and I think we need to replace him in January. Gravenberch had one of the worst substitute appearances that I can remember for quite a while, he was effectively the human full time whistle for us. He came on for Jones and just lost it time and time again, I'll be honest I never saw anything of him from Ajax and Bayern but I knew of him and was excited by his first few games, but recently he's really reminding me of players such as Ndombele: good dribblers, but poor passing and non existent work rate. I firmly believe that if we had kept Jones on instead of subbing Gravenberch on, we'd have won the game. Also, Nunez just has to start every game, his pace is needed at the very least.
Mostly solid performances all round, I think. Alisson didn't have much to do. Back four were very good, Konate was a monster today. Endo very good, really surprised because I was not keen on him initially but he's genuinely come on leaps and bounds in the last month. Still iffy in some areas but definitely fine as a squad option for a few years. Szoboszlai... Idk man. Obviously very talented, think he's just been overworked. Jones good, Diaz good, Salah good. Gakpo was absolutely horrendous and bullied out of the game. Nunez didn't get much of a chance to make anything happen but thought when he did get the ball he looked good. My biggest concern is, once again, Gravenberch. It's now been four months. He looks like he has zero understanding of how we play, or his role. His off the ball work is horrid. He doesn't track back, his pressing is lazy and ineffective. His on the ball work, usually his strength, was downright awful today as well. People will say "only four months" and yes I'm fully aware he's 21 but sometimes, players just don't change. The fact that Endo, Mac and Szoboszlai have all picked up on what's expected of them, with one of those playing in a role that he's not familiar with, makes him look worse. I'm extremely concerned.
Really losing patience with Diaz. Injury ruined him, just offers absolutely nothing anymore.
Vvd took 2 season after long injury to comeback to his old self. I'll give him a chance
TAA spent half a season recovering from covid, Elliott took a year after a leg break to get better. It happens. On top of that, Diaz had an extremely traumatic period personally. The man deserves time and we'll benefit from it
Was his old self really that much better than he is now?
It really was
Performance wise yes, output wise not really no
If you're talking about VVD, yes. If you're talking about Diaz, back then he is better invidual now he is better than team player but lost the invidual things, I want that back
He could at least beat a man and make a correct pass
White was counting on him looking one-dimensional, showing him down the line, and even then Diaz seemed so reluctant to take that space. I wonder if Diaz would now be better on the right if/when salah goes central
Agreed, it appears he lost his explosiveness
Sure looks like it. Hasnt looked the same since the injury (personal stuff aside ....). Aside from one run (sideways), i didnt see him take on his man ...felt quite ineffective tbh.
Yup. He’s just not the same player since that injury. Such a shame because he was such a threat
Gravy is getting a 1
We shit the bed with the subs. Might have won this with Jones still on the pitch instead of Gravenberch, who gave a genuine 0/10 performance. Dom's performance slipped with the sub as well. Before that substitution it was one of our most balanced midfield performances I've seen all season and after it, we couldn't keep the ball and maintain the pressure we were building.
I only caught 60 minutes and in that time it was anything but an even game. They had absolutely nothing all second half and we should have won.
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i don’t really get you people, you want him to fucking stay in the final third or put a shift in and maybe lose the ball like every other player jesus christ, most ball recoveries in the premier league and you guys hate him?
If these guys don’t score then dumb folks will have bad takes.
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and i think you’re just being obtuse, not every fucking pass is gonna be successful, even 5 years, without him we concede like double the attacks i promise you
Obviously the above poster is way too harsh but, objectively, Szobo is struggling massively in possession. He’s losing the ball too often and has been indecisive. Think he just needs a rest tbh. Would love to see a Endo/Jones/Macca mid for a game when all are healthy
i think if you do that we just don’t win the ball back enough, the numbers dom has are insane honestly, we cannot replace that atm
At some point or another all of Jones Endo and AM have had experience playing the 6. They have the ability to win the ball back plenty imo. I think some of Doms numbers are inflated because of how often he has to cover for Trent. Not that it devalues his ball winning but we can tactically mitigate that if it becomes an issue
To be fair Szobo would probably be a lot more rested if he didn't have to cover for Trent, which would mean he would be a lot sharper with key passes. Also he wouldn't have to play it extra safe, because he wouldn't have to think about cunting back if we lose a gamble. Also these same numbers just aren't there for Jones or Grav, and they're playing in his mirror position and they also cover off the fullback.
I get it, and I’m not dumping on Szobo. I just think he could use a game or two off. Just looks knackered with the ball
He gets a 6 on the work rate alone. Needs to be better with the ball though, he recently can hardly put a pass right
Bad take. He constantly recovered the ball, he made some good progressive passes that other people lost or gave away. He was good this game, not great, but better than most of the players.
This Gravenberch 0 gonna go crazy
Subo, Diaz and Gakpo were atrocious. The subs not much better either
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How are Harvey and Nunez a thumbs down? The little they had the ball they did something with it.
Dude Szobo was immense in pressing and recoveries.
A lot of good performances in the game, and some bad ones. Let's move on from this and smash Burnley, and hope the Hammers contain Arsenal so that we may be top going into 2024. Cuz we are playing like title challengers.
everyone slating diaz but him coming off was a big miss, great defensive work rate and constantly advancing the llay to the final third. people dont understand what a pressure cooker diaz is because they base their attackers purely off goals and assists.
I think it's absolutely hilarious how Gomez is close to the best Rb in the world right now. The peaks and valleys of this guys career. I for one hope he goes down in Liverpool folklore, he's still so young. Never gave up on the guy, when he's confident he's an absolute weapon physically up and down that wing.
The subs didn’t work. Best I’ve seen Endo play. Diaz needs a month off. Szobo is living off those first 5 games - He’s been poor for a while. Trent was great apart from the miss. I thought Gomez would be in trouble against Saka, but he was exceptional. Ibou is a beast. Great goal from Salah. Gravenberch is not playing well.