A truly abysmal opening half-hour didn’t prove as costly as it looked it would as Liverpool fought back to sensationally beat Newcastle 2-1 late on.
Alisson – 8 (out of 10
He couldn’t stop goal in a one-on-one situation but made an amazing save to unleash a furious volley that hit the crossbar shortly after as the onslaught began.
Performs well in the air, tolerates set-pieces and generally maintains his form, although we continue to question tees taken in the ring. forbidden, especially a person underweight in the selection.
He’s made the most saves in any Premier League game.
Trent Alexander-Arnold – 5
Penalized a few minutes later for throwing the ball away after thinking he had fouled – then could have gotten a second just a minute later for a hand over Anthony Gordon.
He got through that one time, but not the next, when Trent controlled the wrong ball, trying to send Gordon off again, but both times failed and saw The winger scores.
After that, produced nothing of note at either end except for a clearance from the far post.
Joel Matip – 5
I didn’t have a particularly good game. But how much responsibility can we assign to the centre-back?
He hasn’t really played any significant minutes since February, this time he has another partner in less than half an hour and has no movement or option to move into midfield.
In fact, he didn’t look good enough when he started for the third time in over a year, but for sure he will now have another match at least to consider.
Virgil van Dijk – 4
Made some early saves and looked like he was dominant in the air, but then made the rather inexplicable decision to deal with Alexander Isak…through him.
Yes, I got the ball back, but only after hitting the striker’s ankle. He also went the wrong way in the run and ran through it, instead of restoring the run.
A red card was shown, but Van Dijk escalated the situation by berating the referee, initially refusing to leave the field, then appearing to curse at the fourth referee and being led into the tunnel.
A few gloomy minutes all around.
Andy Robertson – 5
Unable to block crosses, connect passes or assist the midfielder in a bad first half. The second half started with a free kick for the black and white jersey.
He defended better against later crosses, but still couldn’t block much of Miguel Almiron’s.
Wataru Endo – 5
Runs a little easy a few times in the first few minutes and to be fair, it was an unknown factor as Newcastle started to dominate possession.
He’s going to have to be a lot more aggressive, nimble and responsive, and likely to show off his technical prowess more than we’ve seen in the first few weeks – he’s capable. capable of doing that, but he has to keep on his feet.
Alexis Mac Allister – 7
Clean, tidy, hardworking. Sometimes excels in close combat to keep control, but is too demanding of him to be both a ball-taker and a receiver.
Once again, the defensive midfielder was fouled and his lack of pace was constantly present with dribbles past him.
Dominik Szoboszlai – 7
It seems the only player on this team who sometimes plays with real direction, intent and quality.
He works hard and keeps the ball when he can, although this is not the game to show his creativity and steady progress.
Mohamed Salah – 6
I ran a lot on the open green grass, almost never getting close to the ball. I have no support or service.
He worked hard and was conscious in his moves, but we didn’t see Mo the Magician because the game didn’t allow it – until injury time, where he made a pole pass. It’s fun to split the defense and help the winner.
Luis Diaz – 6
He had a great run when he got past two players and forced Nick Pope to make a save…then the only player to score in our two games this season was substituted.
Cody Gakpo – 4
Restored as a central striker and produced a completely anonymous performance in less than an hour.
No real goal threat or tie when we have 11; takes the left wing over the red and has even less of an effect on our defense or attack.
