Bournemouth 0-4 Liverpool: Player Ratings

Liverpool come back from a needed eleven day break with a bang away at Bournemouth, beating the 'in form team' 4-0 to go five points clear at the top of the league.

written by @bobbehfirmino (Twitter)

Alisson Becker - 7. I feel like a broken record describing Alisson’s games for Liverpool as of late. But again, it’s testament to Liverpool’s amazing defence that he didn’t very little to do in terms of shot stopping, and his 7 match rating comes from his on-the-ball work as well as my kindness, as I don’t think it is fair to give him a lower rating for having nothing to do when that isn’t a fault of his. Alisson’s next two games will be Chelsea and Arsenal, assuming Kelleher plays in the cup against Norwich, so he may have things to do soon, but hopefully not.

Conor Bradley - 9. A month and a half ago Conor Bradley would not believe the situation he is in now. He has been called upon in Trent’s absence and has played nearly perfectly in every single game. He is the first Northern Irish player to play for Liverpool in the Premier League, and the first to play a league game for Liverpool since Sammy Smyth in 1954. There aren’t enough superlatives to describe Bradley’s attitude since his emergency introduction and he is clearly going to be a backup for Trent for years to come.

Ibrahima Konate - 9. Konate: dispossessed zero times, five accurate long balls, eleven passes into the final third, two successful dribbles, 100% tackle accuracy, nine clearances, one interception, five recoveries, twelve duels won. He’s an animal.

Virgil van Dijk - 8. Van Dijk said in his post match press conference with Sky Sports that he doesn’t need to tell everyone that last season was a poor one for him, it was obvious, but people exaggerated it and that he wasn’t as bad as people were suggesting, that there was a lot of ‘noise’ around his performances which only hindered him. He also said that he has improved significantly this season and feels back to his best, which is definitely true. He’s undoubtedly the best centre half in the world again this season, and he has silenced many top forwards, including Julian Alvarez, Rasmus Hojlund, Nicolas Jackson, Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, and Dominic Solanke is added to the list. He comes up against Ivan Toney next month, and you can imagine it will be the same story.

Joe Gomez - 8. For as long as our defensive strength continues, I will try to keep these brief. Joe Gomez continues his form as well as the rest of the defence, and kept his opposing winger quiet, as he usually does. He is still yet to come but I’m sure it will this season.

Alexis Mac Allister - 10 (MOTM). I’m sure this is my first 10 rating given since I started doing these match ratings, and it has gone to my favourite player at the moment. Mac Allister went through a slightly rough patch in the first few months of his Liverpool career, but he has shown his quality recently and is looking like the World Cup winner we payed for. He won FOURTEEN duels in that defensive midfield position and has proven the doubters wrong in Wataru Endo’s absence; he is good enough for that no. 6 position.

Harvey Elliott & Curtis Jones - 7. I have given another joint rating for our midfield as Elliott and Jones have started Premier League games together, and looked decent. They play similar ‘playmaking’ roles, which put more work on Mac Allister’s plate, but we never looked overrun in that midfield, which was cause for frustration within the Bournemouth fanbase. The first half performance was fairly dire, but as they came out for the second their playmaking qualities came to fruition and we improved from there. Let’s hope Jones’ injury is not serious, as that is the last thing we need right now.

Luis Diaz - 7. Diaz has clearly left the first half of the season behind him, as, even though this game wasn’t anything ‘special’ or out of the ordinary, he looks like a competent, hungry footballer again, and was popping up on each wing trying to create chances for the team. It is refreshing to see him improve as no one enjoyed what we were seeing earlier in the season.

Diogo Jota - 10. Just like London Buses, it has taken weeks for me to give out one 10 rating and two come by at once. It was a flip of a coin to decide who won Man of the Match, but both were equally vital to this performance. Jota assisted the first goal of the game, then scored the next two in quick succession, and is proving his worth again in this team, and is calling for a starting spot when Salah returns, which could be nearer than we thought it would be. From someone who has Jota in his Fantasy Premier League team, I think I’m happier with his goal involvements than anyone else.

Darwin Nunez - 9. Another refreshing performance after a period of struggle, Nunez scored a rare brace for Liverpool, one to open the scoring and another as the icing on the cake. You could see in his celebrations that it feels like a weight lifted off his shoulders, despite his goal against Burnley on Boxing Day. As I mentioned earlier, we have Chelsea and Arsenal next in the Premier League, let’s hope he can add crucial goals in this title race to his tally.

Cody Gakpo - 8. Gakpo made the difference off the bench with a good assist to Diogo Jota’s important first goal, the second of the game, and gave Klopp a headache in terms of our front three for Chelsea, should Salah still be ruled out injured. There’s not much more to say about his performance.

Ryan Gravenberch - 7. I have been a vocal critic of Gravenberch’s, but nothing bad can be said of his performance today. He livened up that midfield, and after his and Gakpo’s substitutions, silenced Bournemouth’s questions as we sealed the win.

Owen Beck - 7. One of the three youngsters to be brought on, I think Beck’s performance was the most impressive. He filled in for Gomez and looked just as solid.

Bobby Clark - 6.

Kaide Gordon - N/A. Nice to see him back making Premier League appearances.

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