Liverpool dropped two precious points at West Ham on Monday, on a night where the media fiercely criticised several Reds players.
The pressure was on at the London Stadium and unfortunately Jurgen Klopp‘s side appeared to struggle with it.
The Reds never got going, with a lethargic performance throughout seeing the Hammers deserve a draw.
Sadio Mane opened the scoring after James Milner was wrongly adjudged to be onside, but Michail Antonio levelled matters before half-time.
It was a dispiriting evening for anyone of a Reds persuasion, but it should not be forgotten that they remain three points clear of Man City.
Below we compare our ratings with those from the Liverpool Echo, the Mirror, the Independent, ESPN, Anfield Index, FotMob and the This is Anfield readers:
There was only one place to start when it came to discussing the worst player on the night, after Roberto Firmino produced one of his worst-ever showings for Liverpool.
The Brazilian earned a hideous average rating of just 4.8, with This is Anfield’s Henry Jackson describing him as “horrendous” and TIA’s readers giving him an average of only 3.3.
Not far behind was Milner (4.1), who having struggled at right-back against Wilfried Zaha a few weeks ago was given a similarly torrid time by Felipe Anderson.
It felt a little harsh to be too critical of a veteran playing out of position, but ESPN‘s Glenn Price felt he was “targeted” as a weak-link.
Interesting, though, FotMob gave Milner a surprising 8.0 rating, with five key passes produced and eight recoveries made in total. Statistics for you…
It was another disappointing night for Naby Keita (5.0), even though he showed glimpses of class as the game reached its latter stages.
The Echo‘s Ian Doyle claimed that he “had a shocker” in a defensive sense, switching off for Antonio’s clinical equaliser.
Meanwhile, the Independent‘s Jack Pitt-Brooke gave an even more damning verdict, saying the Guinean “looked like a player moving in the wrong direction”.
The one bright spark on a frustrating evening in east London was Mane (6.6), who repeated his Leicester efforts of scoring and being Liverpool’s best player.
Anfield Index’s Leanne Prescott felt he was the “one bright spark” in a match where so many failed to ignite, while the Mirror‘s John Cross lauded his work-rate despite a lack of service.
Next up for the Reds is the visit of Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon, by which point they could be behind Man City on goal difference.
City go to Everton on Wednesday night, with Liverpool not holding out too much hope on their Merseyside rivals doing them a favour.
Fan Comments