Player ratings vs. Liverpool

There's not a lot of point doing any ratings for that; there's nobody over a 6, and that might be generous.

Ah, ok then. On request.

Schmeichel: 5 - Really didn’t help matters with his distribution and aerials. Bad game by his standards.
Ricardo: 6 - Generally held up well and read the play in the box; the team’s play wasn’t good enough for him to make much impact going forward.
Evans: 5 - Unable to claim as much control over proceedings as usual.
Soyuncu: 6 - Was far from error-free but showed much-needed spirit. If I have to pick one, I’d go for him as my MOTM.
Chilwell: 5 - Needs to learn how to get back into a match where he’s struggling. Wasn’t awful but made mistakes along with the rest.
Barnes: 3 - Never got to play to his key strength in being able to dribble at opponents. Still looks unclear what he’s supposed to be doing.
Tielemans: 3 - Crumbled more and more as the match went on. Did not give the impression of a man you’d want next to you in the trenches.
Ndidi: 6 - The only one of the midfield 3 who showed an interest in pressing. However, his close control was targeted and he was lucky not to get booked for one challenge.
Praet: 4 - Started off reasonably but failed to influence proceedings and drifted out of the game again. I’m not sure what this says about his stamina.
Maddison: 4 - Showed willing to get into attacking positions but usually only by way of a lay-off from Vardy. Ineffectual as a left winger.
Vardy: 5 - Looked lively in the rare times he was able to get involved but the midfield behind him offered almost nothing to help him.

Albrighton: 6 - Showed the right sort of drive, but his influence only lasted until the second goal.
Perez: 3 - Offered very little influence and got knocked off the ball several times.
Choudhury: 5 - Came on as the team crumbled and changed very little, but at least looked like he hadn’t given up competing.


The thing that struck me most today was just how fit everyone in a red shirt was. No sign of fatigue from all the travelling, the playing 120 minutes in the Club World Cup, the busy December or anything. Liverpool were first to the ball pretty much every time, and their concentration levels were noticeably immense.

But we sure did hand it to them on a plate. Quite aside from the midfield failing to operate as a unit throughout, the defence offered up so many chances that Liverpool should by rights have been pushing our score against Southampton. That it remained 1-0 and in the balance until half way through the second half was more than we deserved.

The way Rodgers has got us playing against most of this division has been great to see this season, flair, swagger and confidence have been well on show the last few months. Yet in the bigger games, the tougher games against the really strong teams, he has to come up with something different tactically. Against Liverpool twice and Man City, we've tried to play with the same swagger and just left ourselves entirely open. Today, we occasionally pressed, we occasionally formed a rigid formation, but then were back to chasing Liverpool around the pitch a minute or so later. It's like the opposite of our performances under Puel, where we seemed to play every match like an underdog, now we're playing every match like we're the favourite. Granted the latter has produced better results but there has to be a trade-off in matches like this.

If we do beat Aston Villa in the League Cup semis then our most likely opponent in the final would be Man City. If we're to stand a chance in that match then there needs to be a better, more respectful plan in place than what we saw today. Push up the pitch and press them relentlessly, sit back and deny them the space to play through and hit them on the counter. Either way, whichever the team are adjudged to do best. But do something.