Liverpool's Bad Day at The Office, a Backlash Of Arsenal Match Or Just another Glitch
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Liverpool's Tuesday night UCL match away to FK Crvena Zvezda of Serbia was supposed to be a straight 3 points in the bag according to most pundit, but Liverpool's performance on the night left little to be admired as they lost and suffered their 3rd successive away from home champions league defeat for the 1st time in their history.
Was it a draw back of their Saturdays exhausting and unexpected EPL draw at Arsenal or it was just one of those night when nothing seems to click.
In the night, the Merseyside teams defence was shambolic in the 1st half, the midfield trio of J. Milner, A. Lallana and G. Wijnaldum deployed by Liverpool gaffer Klopp did not do enough either to protect the defence.
If the defence was poor, attack lacked potency and wayward with their shooting, as Liverpool 1st shot on target came on 71st minutes of second half. The major culprit for this was Daniel Sturridge, one of the changes to the team that played Arsenal, he was not only poor for the night but was also branded selfish. His performance does not augur well for his push for 1st team football, he was rightly chucked off at half time along side tired looking Trex Alexander-Arnold.
Liverpool's starting lineup and substitutions. (m.goal statistics )
Klopps starting line-up raised few eyebrows as there was no Keita who was on bench or Fabinho to screen the defence in the line-up, the duty was entrusted in the hands of wijnaldum and Milner, a job they obviously did not do well. Was Klopp trying to rest some of his key players after last weekend EPL match with Arsenal or did he underrated his counterpart from Belgrade, Serbia.
Liverpool's players rating after the match by Sky Sports rightly showed that the team was below par to their usual effective self;
Alisson - 5: he made couple of decent saves, but could do little or nothing for the goals conceded.
T. Alexander-Arnold - 4: looked tired and isolated down the right, he was rightly replaced at half time.
Joel Matip - 5: he was coming into the 1st team for the first time in about 2 month, a tough match and night for him.
Virgil Van Dik - 6: Liverpool go-to man for the night, they could have conceded more, had it not been for his clearances.
Andy Robertson - 6: decent performance for him, but yet below his potentials.
James Milner - 6: probably his below par performance this season, he's one of Liverpool standout performer so far this season, but Tuesday night was not good enough, he gave away the possesion that led to the second Zvezda goal.
Georginio wijnaldum - 5: he was too lightweight infront of Liverpool back four, Zvezda's Pavkov went pass him to easily for his second goal.
Adam Lallana - 5: he has had little or no run-in with the 1st team since coming back from injury, put in a few forward passes, obviously suffering from match rustiness.
Saido Mane - 6: he was Liverpool livelier forward player, always gonna put in a fight, but cannot do it alone.
Mo Salah - 5: still blowing hot and cold, he certainly blew cold in Belgrade, couple of poor 1st touches in final third let him down.
Daniel Sturridge - 4: culprit for Liverpools not getting a goal in the first half as he missed a glorious scoring chance that came begging in the earlier exchanges, five minutes later, Pavkov made Liverpool paid.
Roberto Firmino - 5: he came in at resumption of second half and added bite and fire power to the attack, but it was little too late.
Joel Gomez - 5: he was also a second half cameo, and he calmed and settled the defence, but the damage already been done.
Divock Origi came in much later in the last 10 minutes and could hardly combine with teammates.
This rating shows that not just Liverpool midfield trio were poor but the whole team. It had better be a glitch of a performance from the Merseyside club.
Blog is also posted to Scorum
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