Liverpool 4-1 Chelsea: Player Ratings

Written by @bobbehfirmino (Twitter)

In the Reds' first league game since Jurgen Klopp announced his impending departure at the end of the season, they dismantled Pochettino's Chelsea, winning 4-1 at Anfield.

Alisson Becker - 6. The usual, didn’t have much to do, was decent when he did have something to do. Probably could have done better for Nkunku’s goal but it was a lapse of concentration from everyone. Not much needs to be said about his performance.

Conor Bradley - 10 (MOTM). This performance from Bradley is the best individual performance I have seen from a Liverpool player in a very long while, it competes against Salah of October 2021 and even longer before that. He took his goal very well, he had to run a fair way after receiving the ball, into yards of space, and as it looked like crossing to Nunez was the best option, he struck the ball into the far bottom left corner from just inside the box and wheeled away in celebration. He also added two assists to his tally, a decent pass to find Jota who still had a lot of work to do, and and inch-perfect cross to meet Szoboszlai’s head. He wins my Man of the Match and gets a perfect 10/10 score for the second game in a row for.

Ibrahima Konate & Virgil van Dijk - 9. Both centre halves receive the same 9/10 ratings. I don’t want to hear anything about either of Van Dijk’s ‘penalty shouts’, especially not the first one. The second one could have gone either way, that does not mean Chelsea were ‘robbed’ just because it went our way. Pochettino said Liverpool deserved the win and has no complaints with the refereeing decisions. Both were solid, not much to face but they were near-perfect when they did have things to do. I expect that to be the pairing against Arsenal on Sunday.

Joe Gomez - 9. Another proper solid performance by Gomez, proving why he should be the starting left back for now, and that Robertson shouldn’t get straight back into the team because of who he is. I also expect him to start on the left against Arsenal and keep Saka and the rest quiet like he did last time. Tonight he won all of his tackles, won nearly all of his duels, made some recoveries etc., and that is as far as my analysis will go on him, as there’s not much more I can compliment him with, he’s just solid.

Alexis Mac Allister - 9. Mac Allister returned to the starting 11 after a short period out and played superb again. I worry for his injury in the second half because, although he looked fine to play on, it didn’t look good at first glance. He will be imperative if we are going to want to walk away from the Emirates with all three points. He won an impressive seven duels and ELEVEN tackles, compared to Moises Caicedo’s zero and three. Just saying.

Dominik Szoboszlai - 9. Szoboszlai scored another goal for Liverpool, and it wasn’t from outside of the box. It was definitely his most ‘simple’ goal for the club so far, but he had far from nothing to do. He leapt above Axel Disasi and past Petrovic into the back of the next, and gave Liverpool a 3-0 lead, an extremely important goal in the game. He created two chances and had two blocked shots (free kicks) before he scored his goal, and added another fine performance to the collection.

Curtis Jones -9.We’ve come to know what to expect from a Curtis Jones performance. He’s the one that makes the midfield tick and ‘link’ with the front line. He’s calm and composed on the ball and leaves the risk taking to his partner. He is so good at what he does and he is going to be a big part of Liverpool Football Club for years to come. Although he did have a surprisingly ‘low’ pass accuracy of 88% today. Do better, Curtis!

Diogo Jota - 9. Jota scored yet again in Mohamed Salah’s absence, this time the opener to begin the scoring with great improvisation and skill to squeeze through the Chelsea defence and slot it into the back of the net. He is clearly taking the role of ‘main man’ during AFCON, which belonged to Fabinho back in 2022. He will definitely be starting at the Emirates and will potentially be adding to his growing tally at Arsenal.

Darwin Nunez - 8. Darwin, Darwin, Darwin. How can I even summarise this performance? He had a 1.45 xG, missed 11 shots and still gets an 8/10 rating. I think only Darwin Nunez is capable. Obviously it’s disappointing, his missed chances and his missed penalty, but he became the first Premier League player to hit the woodwork four times in the same game. If that doesn’t tell the tale of Nunez then I’m not sure what does. One thing’s for sure, we will need his ‘chaos’ on Sunday.

Luis Diaz -9. Yet again, my happiness in Diaz’s resurgence in form continues. He has well and truly left his poor form behind with another goal and assist to add to his respective tallies, and could make something really special of his season. I’m looking forward to seeing how he does, as he has taken up a new ‘creation-heavy’ role on the left side, usually cutting in to create instead of unleash more often.

Trent Alexander-Arnold - 7. Trent was decent when coming on for Bradley, initially starting at right back, but drifting more centrally than usual and more often, and was solid against counters. It is very tight deciding whether I would start him or Bradley on Sunday, but I edge it to Trent, just. Bradley was clearly ready for Chelsea at Anfield, but Arsenal at the Emirates? Maybe slightly too soon to start.

Andy Robertson - 6. Robbo didn’t really do much when coming on, I think he as well as us are still getting used to seeing him back on the pitch, and I don’t think he’ll be ready to do full 90 minutes for a slight while still, regardless of the Joe Gomez debate.

Cody Gakpo - 7. Gakpo came on in the midfield and looked lively, made things happen and even had a couple of shots to himself. He’s unlucky that the front three that started tonight have clicked so well, and will probably start on the bench again on Sunday, but this is natural when we have such good attacking depth. He’ll get another proper chance eventually, when the stakes are slightly lower, whenever that is.

Harvey Elliott -6. Like Robertson, Elliott didn’t really do much off the bench at either side of the pitch. Like Gakpo, he’ll get his chance eventually.

Bobby Clark - 6. Didn’t have much to do by the time he came on, the game was wrapped up, but Klopp shows just how much trust he has in the youngsters at the club yet again. And Clark shows his maturity.

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