Liverpool’s catastrophic start to the Premier League season continued with a 2-1 defeat to Leeds United at Anfield, their first defeat there in front of fans in over five years. Here is how we think each player performed:
Alisson Becker- 6
The Brazilian got caught out by a misplaced pass by Joe Gomez which allowed Leeds United’s Rodrigo to tap home into an empty net. The visitors could have scored more if it wasn’t for Alisson and he couldn’t do much with Summerville’s tidy finish in the last minute.
Trent Alexander-Arnold- 6
A better performance from the full-back, however got away with one when Leeds’ Aaronson hit the crossbar in the first half. Some of his passing was a joy to watch, with his perfect long pass for Darwin Nunez being the most notable chance.
Joe Gomez- 3
Really frustrating. There’s definitely a solid player there, we have seen it plenty of times over the past few years and even this season with great performances against Everton and Manchester City. However, I can’t help to worry that there is always a mistake, like the misplaced pass for the opener, on the way.
Virgil Van Dijk- 5
Another frustrating performance, with the Dutchman playing decent for most of the game. However, I can’t help but think he needs to get much tighter to Summerville to prevent that winning last minute goal.
Andy Robertson- 8.5 (Man of the Match)
One of the only players who really showed fight on the night, constantly up and down the wing and putting in challenged. Nothing got past the Scotsman down the left-hand side and his delicate cross was perfect to assist Mohamed Salah’s goal in the first half.
Fabinho- 5
Starting to feel like a broken record when it comes to Fabinho. After years of consistency and protecting the back four, this season has been an awful one for the Brazilian so far. The midfielder looks like his legs have gone at the age of 29, and the sooner he gets back to his best the better for the Reds.
Thiago- 6
A decent performance from the Spaniard in a midfield where had little to no help for most of the game. Was constantly going into challenges and wanting the ball, but it’s impossible to expect a single 31-year-old to do the work of a whole midfield.
Harvey Elliott- 5
The youngster struggled to get a proper grip of the game, but not for the want of trying. Some of his link-up play looked promising but Elliott just seemed to drift in and out of the game and constantly turning into trouble.
Roberto Firmino- 5
Similarly to Elliott, Firmino faded out of the game after the first half hour. To begin with, the number nine was dropping deep to pick up the ball but after that you would be forgiven if you forgot that he was even on the pitch.
Mohamed Salah- 7
I thought Salah had a fairly good game, working with an extremely limited amount of supply to feed off. The Egyptian King took his goal well on the volley and was a pain in challenging and running in behind the Leeds defence.
Darwin Nunez- 6
In fairness to Nunez he didn’t have much to work with up front. Should have done better with a chance in the first half following a perfect pass from Trent Alexander-Arnold but was also unlucky to not score from range with Leeds goalkeeper, Meslier, pulling off a world-class save.
Jurgen Klopp will definitely be looking for a reaction from his players as Liverpool host Napoli in the final matchday of the Champions League group stages on Tuesday night.