Player ratings: Liverpool 2-2 Fulham

Michael Sheldrake tucks into the individual performances after another impressive point against one of the big boys.

After four good results against very tough teams, the hardest test of this tricky run of fixtures stood in front of us, as we made the trip to Anfield to face a top of the league Liverpool side in fantastic form. An early goal from Andreas Pereira and red card for Andrew Robertson set us up perfectly for the remainder of the game, and we managed to take a point home after a thrilling 2-2 which had hearts in mouths throughout. A great team performance, but how did each individual player get on?

Bernd Leno

Surprisingly, the strength of our defenders today meant Liverpool were limited to just four shots on target, two of which Leno saved. In terms of the goals conceded, the first was from such close proximity it was hard for Bernd to do anything other than try to throw himself at it, and Diogo Jota had the whole goal to aim at for the second and managed to send him the wrong way. He can’t really be blamed for either goal, and he managed to waste some time towards the end to help us hold on. Overall it was a solid performance once again. 7/10

Antonee Robinson

He’s had shouts of being the best left-back in the league recently, and boy did he help prove that at Anfield, it was a world class performance from Robbo both going forward and defensively as he picked up two assists and consistently managed to find space behind Trent Alexander-Arnold. Defending against Salah is no easy task as we all know, but he was able to make multiple last-ditch tackles despite having to be cautious as he was booked early on. Amazing performance once again. 9.5/10 – man of the match

Jorge Cuenca 

Jorge was handed his first Premier League start amid the absence of both Joachin Andersen and Calvin Bassey, and he certainly got thrown in the deep end. You wouldn’t have been able to tell however, as he gave us an impressive performance against a recently rampant Liverpool front line. He racked up 12 clearances in total and put his body on the line in the box when called upon. It was going fantastically for him until he was spun by Jota for Liverpool’s second but he can still walk away from this match with his head held very high after a successful first start in the league. 8/10

Issa Diop

Another man coming in to the side since Andersen’s injury, and over the last few weeks he has proved himself to be a brilliant option, he did that once again today and it felt like almost every cross Liverpool whipped in was dealt with by the Frenchman, and his six headed clearances evidently backs this up. He was another who was booked early on, but he didn’t let that affect him, as he continues to stake a claim for keeping his place in the starting XI once Andersen returns. 8.5/10

Kenny Tete

A strange one, as he was forced off after a collision with Joe Gomez in the 55th minute. The majority of our play came down the left hand side so Kenny didn’t seem to get forward often. He was marking two players at the back post for Liverpool’s first goal as he was slightly tugged and went to ground but it wasn’t enough for the goal to be ruled out, and in all fairness, he should have had some help instead of being forced to mark two himself. He has been a brilliant player this season so let’s pray that this injury doesn’t keep him out for too long, although it doesn’t look great. 6.5/10

Sander Berge

Sander came into this game having been in great form of late, and we saw against Arsenal that the combination of both him and Sasa Lukic is something we can utilise a lot this season. He helped the back line with a few headed clearances, made five recoveries and is proving to be a perfect replacement for Joao Palhinha. So great in fact, that he has a higher defensive duel win rate than any other midfielder in the Premier League this season. 7.5/10

Sasa Lukic

Sasa is such a well-rounded player, he just consistently does everything he needs to do with no trouble, he can tackle, move the ball forward, pass well and he showed that again in this match. He blocked two shots and made two key passes, proving that he performed well at both ends of the pitch, protecting and providing. I don’t know what was more impressive, his performance, or the fact that he finally managed not to pick up a yellow card. 7.5/10

Alex Iwobi

The link-up play between Alex and Robbo down that left-hand side proved very effective once again, we saw Alex switch the play a fair few times as we looked to move the ball around and find space in behind the full-backs. He attempted a couple of shots after cutting inside but both were blocked, he also managed to make a painful block himself at the end of the game which was all worth it to take a point back to the cottage. He had five accurate long balls out of six attempted, and five recoveries. A good performance in all areas of the pitch. 7.5/10

Andreas Pereira

AP was given the nod today ahead of Emile Smith Rowe, and that proved to be a good decision from Marco, as after just 11 minutes Andreas popped up at the back post to acrobatically get on the end of Robbo’s cross and score the opener. He provides a very different style to Emile as he likes to press more and we’ve seen in both this game and earlier in the season that when he is trusted in that more advanced number 10 role his qualities show. It’s great to have the options there for Marco to choose from dependant on the opposition, however after another booking today he will not be available for selection against Southampton. 8/10

Harry Wilson

It feels like after recent performances and Reiss Nelson’s injury that Harry is starting to get the game time that he deserves. He found himself one-on-one against Alisson before Robertson brought him down and was given a straight red card, and just moments later was close to scoring from the free kick as he struck it just over the bar. He completed the most successful dribbles in the match and each time he got the ball it felt promising. He got on the end of a few crosses but wasn’t able to finish. A very good performance, getting into great positions and deserves to start the next game in my opinion. 8/10

Raúl Jimenez

Raúl didn’t really get much involvement today, he got into some good positions in the box but the ball just didn’t seem to fall to him and he didn’t have any shots. We know Raúl, and we know that sometimes all he needs is one chance to change a game, as we saw against Arsenal. This Liverpool defence is very strong and managed to limit his chances well today. 6/10

Substitutes

Timothy Castagne (55’ for Tete)

It was a 35-minute stint for Castagne to help hold the fort and he did everything he needed to in that time, made 18/19 passes successfully, wasn’t dispossessed, made two interceptions and won the only tackle he attempted, it was a very fast-paced game, which made it hard to get straight into, particularly for somebody in his position, but he performed well when he came on. 7/10

Rodrigo Muniz (68’ for Jimenez)

We are the team in the Premier League with the most goals by substitutes, and once again it was one of Marco’s changes that got on the scoresheet, just eight minutes after coming on Muniz got on the end of Robinson’s squared ball and flicked it goalwards, there was a slight deflection off a Liverpool defender’s heel and it just managed to squeeze into the side netting, not much more you can ask for when you bring a striker off the bench. 8/10

Emile Smith Rowe (68’ for Pereira)

Due to us defending with our backs against the wall for most of the time Emile was on the pitch, he didn’t have much of an impact and can’t be fairly assessed.

Adama Traore (87’ for Wilson)

Adama had one shot on target which could have won us the game but arguably should have played it back to Smith Rowe in more space, however can’t be fairly assessed given the short time he was on.

Manager

Marco Silva

It made sense for Marco to start with Lukic and Berge in this tough away fixture, as we want to be defensively solid and both of these players have the ability to get the ball forward, it was clear that the aim was to attack from wide areas, particularly down our left-hand side and it was obvious that Robinson’s overlaps were the main source of threat. I back the choice to start Pereira today in a more fast-paced game as he provides the pressing threat and always gets himself involved and gives it his all. 

One thing that does raise concern however, is conceding at the start of the second half once again, this has become a common theme over recent weeks and is something we need to iron out in future to help us gain three points. Bringing on Adama earlier could have potentially been better as we know how much threat he brings from the bench and he only got the one opportunity to show this when we could have had more, particularly with Liverpool pushing forward heavily in the dying moments. 8/10