By: Shane Brennan
Liverpool travelled to London to face Brentford, as The Reds looked to make it three league wins out of three over the Christmas and New Year period, but just how did everyone from a Liverpool point of view cope?
Alisson Becker 6 – Made an excellent save to deny Bryan Mbeumo, but we sadly conceded from the resulting corner. Unlucky with the Brentford second goal, tried his very best in what was an abject Liverpool display. Did manage to push the ball away from goal to limit the damage towards the end of the game.
Trent Alexander-Arnold 6 – He was of a level required and did provide an exquisite assist with a lovely cross for the Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain goal, and was one of the few to stand up defensively throughout.
Thiago Alcantara 4 – when Liverpool had the odd good period in the game he managed to influence it somewhat, but he really had an off day like most of his teammates.
Check out how Chris rated the Liverpool players on the night…
Mohamed Salah 3 – Not really involved, unfortunately, didn’t get the service to have any big impact on the game, but he did thread the ball through for an excellent chance for Darwin Nunez to give The Reds the lead, but it wasn’t to be.
Fabinho 5 – Kept a disjointed midfield together as best he could, but when the rest of the team didn’t really function what could he do?!? He also had a decent shot on target that almost dragged Liverpool back into the game somehow.
Harvey Elliott 2 – He didn’t have any significant influence on the game at all, he wasn’t able to get himself involved in a difficult start for Klopp’s side. An ill-advised stepover in a dangerous area led to goal number two for the hosts.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain 7 – Another positive display from the Englishman really all things considered, when his teammates clicked into gear he played well, and scored a lovely header in the process.
Darwin Nunez 7 – Unbelievable chance early on to put Liverpool in front, but Ben Mee was on hand to clear the danger, also he had a fine finish ruled out for offside, he was also there at times when Liverpool needed him defensively too.
Kostas Tsimikas 3 – Had a decent shot that could have got Liverpool back on level terms, but David Raya produced an excellent save, other than that, not the Greek Scouser’s finest display.
Virgil van Dijk 3 – Not at it at all for someone with such high standards. Appeared to struggle with the pace of the game, and sadly no positives to take from his performance.
Ibrahima Konate 2 – Not a day to remember for the Frenchman as he deflected the ball into his own net, and towards the end of the game he was dispossessed way too easily.
Subs
Andy Robertson 7 – Made a huge difference at the start of the second half as he attempted to get a very poor performance from his teammates back on track, but when the team doesn’t function correctly, there wasn’t much he could do really.
Naby Keita 5 – Injected life into a tired display from the visitors, dynamic running made throughout the second half, whilst he got into a few dangerous areas.
Curtis Jones 2 – Little time to have an impact having been missing for a short period through injury.
Joel Matip 2 – Went on one of his trade mark runs up the field that this time around led to nothing but a poor performance overall really.
Conclusion
A desperately disappointing start to 2023, it was as bad a performance as I can remember under Jürgen Klopp’s management. It was right up there with the Watford at Vicarage Road performance in 2015, Leicester away in 2017 and Hull City away in the same year, just to pick out a few similar performances that come to mind under Klopp.
All of that being said, we can count the number of truly bad performances under the German on two hands, but Liverpool really need to get going if they are going to get into the top four at the end of the season, many more performances like that and their season will end in total despair.
