Player ratings vs. Brighton (L. Cup)

A generally enjoyable evening of reserve team football. would recommend.

Here are my ratings:

Ward: 8 - Made one magnificent save in the first half, although Brighton scored from what I think was the resulting corner. No chance with either goal. Had a good game and was easily the best keeper in the shootout.
Daley-Campbell: 7 - Had a good first half, plenty of drive and energy as he tussled with Dan Burn. Naughty just before half time in giving Burn and injury. Didn't have the same success in the second half when not confronted by the Brighton lamppost.
Soyuncu: 6 - At times commanding but also just has mistakes in him right now.
Vestergaard: 4 - I want to be positive, but there are a lot of errors in his game right now. Missed crosses, skewed clearances, mistiming his pressing such that the opposition play around him easily. His passing is holding up but we're really putting up with him rather than getting much useful out of him right now.
Bertrand: 7 - Had a decent first half defensively, although not so strong going forward.
Thomas: 6 - Defended reasonably and passed tidily but didn't make an impact going forward. A bit anonymous.
Choudhury: 6 - Surprisingly given the armband. A bit of a bombscare in possession at times but kept his discipline pretty well in midfield and made a couple of important challenges.
Dewsbury-Hall: 5 - Defended fairly well but looked a yard behind going forward and missed a glorious chance in the first half. Yes, the goalkeeper got a touch onto the bar and out for a corner, but it wasn't going in anyway. Not near Tielemans' standard in a similar role. (You see, True Blue, I haven't forgotten you.)
Lookman: 6 - Not lacking in effort but struggled to get into the game when we were in possession. Not sure whether the role of an inside forward suits him. Although he pounced on the terrible backpass well to score.
Barnes: 7 - A mixed bag. Another pounce to intercept and score, and did some handy dribbling; but missed a great, decisive chance and really tired toward the end of the game. Needs to up his stamina in this era of pressing.
Daka: 8 - Didn't get a golden chance to score but looked dangerous, setting up two glorious chances that were both missed. Excited the crowd when he got the chance to run. Emphatic penalty. My choice for our MOTM.

Maddison: 7 - Showed what the team was missing almost straight away with a flick around the corner to take an opponent out of the game. Good in attack, but ultimately the 4-3-3 formation and adjoining tactics he became a part of wasn't set up right and got exploited as the match went on. Not his fault.
Mendy: 4 - Can be a handy player for closing down games and keeping things tight, but as soon as a game gets stretched it really plays into his weaknesses. Sat in front of the back 4 but got played around, and the yellow card made things worse. Really not his kind of situation, particularly since he cannot press at all while the five ahead of him were. This caused a big problem.
Soumare: 5 - Starting to form a partnership with Tielemans, but was back to being in the wrong place off the ball here.
Ricardo: 6 - Arguably came on too late but didn't really get into the flow of the match to truly impact it the way he can.
Iheanacho: 6 - Keen and occasionally dangerous, but again unable to really get into the match because of Brighton's midfield dominance.


I've mentioned it a few times among the sub ratings, but this match somewhat fell apart when we went to 4-3-3. It had been a good match up until then, perhaps we were fortunate having scored from Brighton mistakes, but we had played a big part in inducing those mistakes. However, the change to 4-3-3 ended up with some players pressing and some not, as a result Brighton often got into the situation of passing around the press and running straight through the gap left in our midfield. Quite simply, if Mendy's playing, you have to keep things tight - otherwise you're carrying him in a key position. Meanwhile if Choudhury's playing you should ideally press, because he'll too easily make mistakes when trying to hold his position. Meanwhile Maddison and Soumare got caught up in it all, and I'm not sure why Rodgers didn't instruct Soumare to join Mendy in a double pivot and drop everyone back because the pressing wasn't right. But anyway. Tactics and stuff.

It could be argued that we didn't deserve to win this match. However, it could also be argued that Brighton didn't deserve to win it either. Ultimately, both teams looked a bit too easy to play against, not wizened enough in the dark arts of actually properly getting a boot in and trying to win the ball. Indeed, Brighton's second came after a series of very tentative and unsuccessful challenges. Even so, on to the next round, where I expect we'll see the reserves out again.