Italian strikes, as Ibe puts in another fantastic showing…
GK) Simon Mignolet – 7
Another clean-sheet for 2015’s most consistent goalkeeper, obviously! He even saved a one-on-one from Demba Ba, too.
DRC) Emre Can – 6
He’s ‘in vogue’ at the moment, but Can was pretty dodgy at the back tonight – playing two dangerous back-passes. Still, we didn’t concede, and he looked good in the anchoring role late on.
DLC) Mamadou Sakho – 7
Solid as a rock. Played some nice, direct passes up the left-hand side to the excitable Alberto Moreno, as well.
DC) Martin Skrtel – 8
Got Can out of jail on two occasions, and like most of his untroubled displays, it’ll probably go unmentioned. Tonight though, Skrtel played a major role in the clean-sheet.
MR) Jordon Ibe – 9
Brilliant, and what a perfect way to celebrate a meaty new deal. Ibe (although occasionally forgetting he was playing as a wing-back, and not a wing-forward), tormented the Besiktas fullback, who ended up on his backside on nearly four occasions. The last of which saw Ibe win us a penalty, which Balotelli bagged.
ML) Alberto Moreno – 7
Such a likeable influence down our left wing. Moreno works probably as hard as anybody in the team, and if he could only add a little classy end-product to his effort – we’d be looking at the finished article. Saying that – he almost scored with a 45-yard thunderbolt in the first-half.
MC) Jordan Henderson – 7
Ignoring his role in the penalty row – Henderson sprayed some delicious passes around this evening, much to the joy of the onrushing wing-backs. He also deserves (some) credit for humbly handling over the penalty to Balotelli – a much more seasoned and experienced spot-kick taker.
MC) Joe Allen – 6 (Lovren – 63′)
Fans will slate his performance out of habit, but that’s lazy analysis. He wasn’t terrible tonight. Not in the slightest. Allen made some tidy interceptions, chose his passes properly -and helped us dominate possession. Still – we looked better when Can took his place in the second.
AMRC) Adam Lallana – 6 (Sterling 77′)
Tries clever little turns so often, Lallana sometimes bamboozles himself. Ran with the ball well, but will do well to retain his place with Sterling fit again.
AMLC) Coutinho – 5 (Balotelli 63′)
Really off colour, unfortunately. When it doesn’t happen for Coutinho, it really doesn’t happen – and tonight was one of those nights.
FC) Daniel Sturridge – 5
Perhaps ironically, it was Sturridge who was the most selfish player on the pitch before the penalty incident. Looked rusty, and held the ball too long – but still managed a few expert flicks and turns which highlighted his natural class.
SUBS:
Mario Balotelli – 8
This is the first time we’ve written this all season, but penno-gate aside, Balotelli oozed class tonight. His touch was inch perfect, he made excellent decisions, his passes were weighted beautifully – and he held the ball up well. And he scored a pressure penalty late on. We could debate whether he should have taken it all night – but the important thing is – he scored it.
Dejan Lovren – 6
Another decent substitute showing from Lovren, who is surely close to starting a match.
Raheem Sterling – 6
One excellent run highlighted his importance to us. Should start against Southampton.
