Liverpool 4-2 Newcastle: Player Ratings

Written by @bobbehfirmino (Twitter)

Alisson Becker -6. It is very rare where the opposition goalkeeper performs better than Alisson, but tonight was one of those games. Conceding two goals and making just one save, getting a score of 6 emphasizes how imperative he is to this Liverpool side. He still completed 37 passes, made one high claim, and made six recoveries.

Trent Alexander-Arnold - 9. Trent continues his fine form into the new year. As I said last week, this version of Alexander-Arnold may be his best and most complete. Finding himself inside more often than out wide, Trent stayed consistent throughout the whole game, creating two chances but not adding to his assist tally this time out. However, like Arsenal, I must talk about his missed chance, which luckily made no impact in the final result this time out. Although it was not as easy a chance as some made out, he definitely should have done better with the rebound from Mohamed Salah’s penalty miss, looping the ball straight over the bar from a mishit.

Ibrahima Konate - 8. You’ll see a common theme with this defence, despite conceding twice from five shots, they will all receive high ratings. Konate was given a rest on Boxing Day at Burnley, but proved again why he’s the second best centre back at the club, even creating a chance today, and missing one, failing to kickstart his Premier League scoring tally from a corner in the first half.

Virgil van Dijk- 9. Another world class van Dijk performance, recording seven accurate long balls, completing 100% of his tackles, making one last man tackle, making two clearances, and winning two duels. He was also the most accurate passer to play over 45 minutes, with a completion rate of 94%. Again, there was not much to do for the defence, which still conceded two goals, but the all round play for the back 4 and Alisson was class, yet again.

Joe Gomez - 9. Gomez is blowing us all away at the moment. Putting on consistent 7+/10s in a fairly unfamiliar position and providing great cover for the injured Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas. No one watching Gomez for the first time this season would guess his best form came at centre back and had not been in said form for nearly four years now. As always, I have to mention that he is still yet to score, but he didn’t really have a chance today, which emphasised how good he was elsewhere in the game.

Wataru Endo - 9. There is not much to say about the defence and Endo anymore, we have come to know what a good performance of his is, and he showed that again today. It is a shame that he has to go off to the Asian Cup with Japan, but hopefully he comes back with some silverware and returns to form. Endo’s quality of late will probably be the reason why Liverpool do not reinforce in the January transfer window, and you will not be able to blame the decision if that is made.

Dominik Szoboszlai - 6. The ratings temporarily drop as we reach Szoboszlai, who wasn’t terrible, as some usually suggest, but didn’t take the game by the scruff of the neck, that job was left to the likes of Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez, who we will get onto later. Szoboszlai still completed two long balls, two dribbles, won four duels and creating numerous chances from corners.

Curtis Jones -9. It will take some time to see whether the Curtis Jones we are seeing is thanks to form, or if this is how good he is now, but it is safe to say Curtis Jones is clearly the frontrunner in that left central midfield position. He is looking like a veteran every game, looking calm on the ball, helping the midfield stay compact, and even bombing forward and finding himself on the scoresheet regularly now. In a way Klopp has been helped with Endo going away, selection wise, as he would have had to pick between Jones and Mac Allister, or even between Jones, Mac Allister and Endo. That is a ‘problem’ for another day.

Mohamed Salah - 9. What an interesting Mohamed Salah game. He missed a penalty early in the first half, which is always a possibility with his technique, but other than that he was decent in the first half. You could clearly tell he was affected by the miss, but he composed himself and opened the scoring four minutes into the second half. But potentially the most highlight reel worthy moment of Mohamed Salah’s game was his trivela assist to Cody Gakpo, who miscontrolled the ball past Martin Dubravka and put Liverpool 3-1 up. Botman pulled one back before Jota raced away, past the goalkeeper and down, winning a penalty and giving Salah a chance to rectify his first half blunder.

Darwin Nunez - 8. A lot will be said about Nunez’s performance, who failed to find the scoresheet despite having three big chances and numerous other ‘half’-chances. However, he still took control of the game, gifting Diaz a goal in the first half which was ruled out, and doing the same to Mohamed Salah. ‘Nunez, Nunez, Nunez’ rung out on the Kop to salute another interesting Darwin Nunez appearance. It was most definitely a step in the right direction, however big or small.

Luis Diaz - 9 (MOTM). Wow. What a game from Luis Diaz who is my Man of the Match. It is funny how football works. Diaz has been in poor form for a good few months, and has less to show for his performance last night than he did last time out against Burnley, goal involvement wise, but he looks revitalised, like the Diaz of his first half season of the club. Some people are getting carried away, which is to be expected, but he’ll need to take it a game at a time. However, Arsenal away is a great game to make a statement that he is back, around 15 months after his injury at the Emirates in the 3-2 loss.

Ryan Gravenberch - 5. A nothing performance from Gravenberch. Not awful, nothing to shout about. Nothing to get worried about either.

Cody Gakpo - 8. The first of the other three substitutes to make an impact, Gakpo gave us the comfort goal in the second half to make it 3-1, from Salah’s amazing assist, as mentioned earlier. Gakpo adds to his Liverpool tally to make it ten league goals for the club, 11 months on from his first, on his 39th appearance. To put that into perspective, that is one game over a full Premier League season in which he scored double figures. That is for anyone worrying about Gakpo’s ‘lack’ of goals.

Diogo Jota - 8. Jota looked amazing coming off the bench in the 64th minute in just his second appearance back from injury. He missed the opportunity to make it two in two after he was taken down by Dubravka, but still made a big impact on the game, winning the penalty, creating two chances, and getting a registered assist for winning the penalty (PL app).

Alexis Mac Allister- 7. Just in time for the Asian Cup, Mac Allister returned also made an impact in the final 15-20 minutes. As well as keeping the midfield compact, he sent Jota through on goal with a brilliant defence splitting pass, and should have had an assist if it wasn’t for Dubravka. Some would say Mac Allister’s first period at the club before getting injured was underwhelming, but I think we will all agree that his absence was felt somewhat, despite still picking up wins, and we are all glad he is back, and excited to see him kick on.

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