Who was the best in red this evening?
Here’s how we rated the players after tonight’s 2-1 FA Cup victory over AFC Wimbledon in the 3rd Round.
GK) Simon Mignolet – 6
Flappy for the corner from which we conceded – as per usual – but did actually make a wonder-save from close range before the goal. Because he’s out of form though, the pundits decided to ignore his good moments. Could very much be ousted by a new signing before the month is up.
DRC) Emre Can – 5
Struggled. He’s not a natural centre-back, and he found the physicality provided by the gutsy League 2 outfit difficult to deal with. He won’t have played against somebody like Akinfenwa before, and it showed.
DC) Martin Skrtel – 5
Shoddy marking at the corner, from which we conceded YET ANOTHER goal. The Slovakian looked good for most of the game, but he simply can’t get away with being so utterly dreadful from set-pieces. It wasn’t a complicated one either – it was drifted onto the six-yard line. Cue panic amongst our defence…
DLC) Mamadou Sakho – 6
Played plenty of simple passes at the back, most of them sideways, and some more precise ones into the centre. Was predominantly tidy, and although he doesn’t fill you with confidence (we don’t really know why?) he didn’t do too much wrong – again. Probably our best centre-back at the club, right now.
MR) Javier Manquillo (Enrique 71′) – 7
Manquillo got roughed up early on, but to be fair to the young Spaniard – he held his own in the battle, and assisted Gerrard beautifully for the opener with a delightful cross from the right. He gives us balance out wide in the 3-4-3, if little excitement.
ML) Lazar Markovic (Toure 86′) – 7
The young Serb dribbled well, and used his pace on more than one occasion to show an AFC Wimbledon player the ball before darting past him. His control sometimes lets him down actually, but his work-rate was great, and he demanded the ball, too. Promising.
MC) Lucas – 6
A typical Lucas performance. Made the tackles he needed to, and provided a platform in the midfield. Had chances to shoot from range, but naturally decided to pass the ball six-yards sideways to a teammate instead!
MC) Jordan Henderson – 7
One of his better performances in recent weeks. Henderson showed a bit of class and guile tonight in midfield, and sprayed some nice longer passes to onrushing wing-backs, while Lucas did most of his donkey-work in midfield.
AMRLC) Steven Gerrard – 8.5
After the game, Jamie Carragher made s superb point: “If Gerrard was one of the new signings aged 24 we’d be raving about him, but we judge him at 34 against himself at his peak,” and he’s our right. Despite not doing a huge amount throughout the 90 minutes, Gerrard did what he was supposed to do in the more advanced midfield position – and scored two goals. A clinical header, and yet another freekick. If anything, tonight just makes the fact he’s leaving even sadder. In two matches, Gerrard’s notched four times in 2015. Bravo, skipper.
AMRLC) Coutinho – 8.5
Ignoring the goalscorer, the Brazilian was the best player on the park by a country mile. Coutinho found pockets of space, threaded intricate balls, beat players, and just dictated everything we did going forward. With Adam Lallana injured for a month, he’s going to need to maintain this level.
FC) Rickie Lambert – 4 (Balotelli ’79)
Poor from Lambert. We didn’t play to his strengths, but he is struggling so badly to adapt to the team’s. Little movement, average holdup play, and a weak finish when presented with a chance on goal.
Subs:
Enrique – 6 – got forward, but provided woeful end-product.
Balotelli – 7 – He did more in 11 minutes than Lambert did all game.
Toure – n/a – His last game before going to the African nations. Not noticed during his cameo.
