Liverpool barely got out of gear as they strolled to a 3-0 victory over hapless Southampton on Saturday, with Xherdan Shaqiri fuelling a historic result.
Before this season, the Reds had never won seven games in a row to kick off a campaign, but with expectations high Jurgen Klopp‘s side have managed it.
Defeating West Ham, Crystal Palace, Brighton, Leicester City, Tottenham and now Southampton in the league, as well as PSG in the Champions League, has cemented Liverpool as a major force.
Favourites to challenge for the Premier League title, and hotly tipped in Europe, they can hope to satisfy supporters’ long-standing desires this time out.
Though a routine win at Anfield, Saturday’s performance was one littered with positives, chiefly in those coming into the side, with Shaqiri and Joel Matip among those to impress.
Gini Wijnaldum, Mohamed Salah and substitute Joe Gomez also stood out, on an afternoon that saw Liverpool thoroughly outclass their opponent.
But what did journalists and statisticians make of this latest win?
Below we compare our ratings with those of the Liverpool Echo, the Mirror, Sky Sports, ESPN, The Anfield Wrap, WhoScored and the This is Anfield readers:
With Shaqiri (7.8) playing a key role in two goals and Salah (7.7) ending his supposed drought with the third of the afternoon, the two standouts are clear.
The Mirror‘s Mark Jones described the No. 23’s performance on his full debut as “about as eventful a 45-minute cameo as you can possibly have without scoring a goal.”
Matip (7.5) was also deserving of a high rating, on his first start of the season after a difficult time with injury, capping this with a powerful header to double the Reds’ lead.
The remainder of the squad were impressively consistent in terms of ratings, with Andy Robertson (7.2) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (7.2) the pick of the rest.
Salah is the only player to have been given a rating of nine out of 10 by any publication, though whether he was Man of the Match is certainly questionable.
On a statistical front, Matip dwarfed the rest of the squad, as the centre-back become the fourth Reds player to complete over 100 passes in a game this season, with 112.
The Cameroonian also made more interceptions than any other Liverpool player (three) and won the most aerial duels of any player on the pitch (six).
While Salah also stood out in terms of numbers, Shaqiri was deemed less impressive by WhoScored—though this is largely due to his half-time substitution.
Despite Klopp opting to withdraw Shaqiri at the break as he “wanted to control the game,” he remained one of only four Liverpool players to create a chance on Saturday.
He could be given another opportunity to make his mark on Wednesday night, when the Reds welcome Chelsea to Anfield for the first of two back-to-back clashes, first up in the League Cup.
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