Hoffenheim 1-2 Liverpool: Player Ratings

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Liverpool went one step closer to qualifying for the Champions League with a 2-1 victory over Hoffenheim in the first leg of their playoff contest.

It was a gutsy performance from the Reds following their 3-3 draw against Watford on the opening weekend of the Premier League.

Goals from Trent Alexander-Arnold and James Milner were enough to see them cross the line and they will go into the clash at Anfield next week with a crucial lead in the European play-off.

Simon Mignolet 8 – The Reds’ goalkeeper kept his place in the starting XI and it was justified after he saved a penalty and produced a crucial save in both half. He wasn’t troubled too much on set pieces but it could have been a very different scoreline if it wasn’t for those crucial stops.

Trent Alexander-Arnold 9 – The youngster was absolutely sensational. He produced a strong defensive display at right-back and scored his first goal for the club in only his first start in a European match. It was some goal too! He was easily Liverpool’s man of the match.

Joel Matip 5 – Alongside Lovren, Matip didn’t look completely composed. Hoffenheim were able to break through the centre on occasions and Liverpool were lucky not to concede in the first half. We’ll need better performances from him this season.

Dejan Lovren 4 – The centre-back looked shaky again and he was all over the place when he conceded the penalty. He was just as poor in the second half and he missed two chances to score at the other end with his head. Not a good performance from the defender.

Alberto Moreno 4 – Another poor display in defence. He looked out of place for the entire game and Hoffenheim enjoyed lots of space on the right-hand side. Lovren didn’t help him much but if he is staying at left-back this season, Liverpool will struggle.

Jordan Henderson 5 – The skipper gave the ball away cheaply a few times and one of those led to a chance for Hoffenheim in the first half. He didn’t get much opportunity to get his head up while on the ball and was substituted after an hour for goal-scorer James Milner.

Emre Can 6 – The German was fairly quiet throughout the game but he proved strong at holding the ball up and did his duties fairly okay defensively. He did give away a cheap free-kick in the second-half though and he didn’t offer much creativity going forward from midfield.

Georginio Wijnaldum 6 – Gini was probably one of the brighter midfielders after a disappointing display against Watford. He had a very quiet first half but he grew into the game more after the break and looked to play in the full-backs.

Mohamed Salah 6 – The Egyptian was constantly on the move, making runs in behind the defence and looking to get on the end of balls in the box. He didn’t make the most of his chances though and he didn’t have the same influence he has done throughout pre-season.

Sadio Mane 8 – He looked to beat players at every opportunity and usually succeeded. He was easily one of Liverpool’s best players and everything positive going forward came through him. Couldn’t take his chances though.

Roberto Firmino 6 – Bobby had to do plenty of work off the ball but he didn’t have too many opportunities to run at the defence. When he did, he got into some good positions but was unable to create much.

Substitutions

James Milner (62 mins) 8 – It was a good half an hour performance from the vice-captain in midfield and he was instrumental in the second goal as it was his cross which deflected into the back of the net.

Dominic Solanke (83 mins) – N/A

Marko Grujic (88 mins) – N/A

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3 COMMENTS

  1. i think it was the worst display of lovren. by far he is the worst player of the match. he gave away penalty. he was dribbled i think 5 times. he was the reason goal of hoffenheim wasn’t offside- of course it was arnold’s mistake to not chase the player just cuz it may be offside. and i think it isn’t fair that lovren and moreno have same rating. moreno wasn’t solid but he didn’t make a huge mistake as we expected. and finally our midfielders were absolutely awful tonight. i love wijnaldom and henderson but they are not in form these days. and emre can as always make wrong decision.

  2. Unfair rating to Moreno. He was good but never helped by his left CB partner, Lovren. Midfield was non existent as they were just passing the ball to each other than forward. The trio of Hendo, Can and Gini is poor from attacking perspective. They slow down the fluid attack. Can was better of the 3 in mid.
    Bring a good left CB or bring back Sakho. TAA was excellent so was Mane.

  3. Overall a good result. Things are getting serious with our centre backs now however, on two levels.

    Firstly, it’s patently clear this ridicuous insistance on zonal marking for set pieces is not working. I can appreciate the open play version of it in closing down passing lanes & so on, but against set pieces it doesn’t work. For the second match in a row, we had a free kick against us in the final minutes where one of the main headers of the ball had an UNCONTESTED HEADER NEAR THE SIX YARD BOX.

    People moan about Mignolet but he’s turning into a quality keeper. I don’t want Karius anywhere near our goal.

    Secondly, we have no competition in our central defence if we carry on as we are. Klavan is a backup & Klopp needs to do both, of buying VVD & stop being so stubborn with Sahko, for us to have any chance of anything this season.

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