Joe Gomez and Fabinho were dreadful as Liverpool crashed to a 2-1 defeat to Leeds United at Anfield on Saturday.
Goals from Rodrigo Moreno and Crysencio Summerville sealed a stunning upset for Leeds United over Liverpool at Anfield on the night, as the Reds’ season continues to go from bad to worse.
Leeds grabbed an early lead after a mistake from Joe Gomez allowed Rodrigo to fire into an empty net. While Mohamed Salah got the home side back into the contest in the 14th minute, Liverpool could not make the most of their chances for the remainder of the game.
Salah and Darwin Nunez had the opportunity to put the game to bed before Summerville scored an 89th-minute winner to silence the Anfield crowd. The win lifts Leeds United out of the drop zone, and it is their first victory since August.
Jesse Marsch will be relieved with a morale-boosting win, and it remains to be seen whether Leeds can build on this performance and get their season back on track. As for Liverpool, the title race was already beyond them, and it looks like they could miss out on the top four if they keep performing at this level. Here at The Hard Tackle, we look at how the Liverpool players performed on the night.
Alisson Becker: 6/10
The Brazilian goalkeeper had a decent outing, and he could have done very little to prevent the two goals he conceded. The first one was a mistake from the defender, and the second one was an impressive finish from Summerville. However, Alisson did well to deny Jack Harrison and a few others with important saves.
Trent Alexander Arnold: 6.5/10
The Liverpool right-back did reasonably well during his stay on the pitch. He produced impressive tackles and interceptions at the back and created a goalscoring opportunity for Darwin Nunez with an exceptional long ball.
Joe Gomez: 3/10
Gomez was probably Liverpool’s weakest link on the pitch on the night. He gave away the ball for Rodrigo’s opener and struggled throughout the game. Caught out of position multiple times.
Virgil Van Dijk: 5/10
The Dutchman lost his 70-match unbeaten record at Anfield in the Premier League, and he deserved it. Van Dijk was struggling throughout the game and played a big part in Summerville’s late winner.
Virgil Van Dijk loses his first-ever Premier League match at Anfield.
The unbeaten streak ends at 70 games ❌ pic.twitter.com/8432RS1UQt
— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 29, 2022
Andrew Robertson: 8/10
The Scottish left-back was probably the best player on the pitch for Liverpool. He was solid defensively and created a number of chances for his teammates going forward.
Fabinho: 3/10
The Brazilian defensive midfielder has not been at his best for a while now, and he dropped another poor performance against Leeds United. The visitors bypassed Fabinho in the midfield with ease, and he struggled against the intense pressing from the away side.
Thiago Alcantara: 6/10
The Spanish international was probably the best midfielder for Liverpool on the night, and he did well to break the lines with his vision and passing. Thiago worked hard defensively as well.
Harvey Elliott: 5/10
The youngster struggled to assert himself in the game and barely created any opportunities for his teammates. Elliott is still a young player who is learning and is currently a work in progress.
Roberto Firmino: 5/10
The Brazilian forward was deployed at the tip of the diamond on the night. But he struggled to link up with the likes of Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez. Firmino did not create too many opportunities for his side either and fluffed his effort when he had a goalscoring opportunity late on in the game.
Mohamed Salah: 6.5/10
The Egyptian scored the only goal of the game for his side and tried hard to create opportunities for his teammates. However, his passing was lacking in sharpness in the final third, and he seemed selfish at times.
Mohammed Salah has now scored 122 Premier League goals for #LFC, overtaking Steven Gerrard as Liverpool’s 2nd top Premier League goalscorer of all time:
🥇 Robbie Fowler – 128
🥈 Mohammed Salah – 122
🥉 Steven Gerrard – 121 pic.twitter.com/upZzJOd3TB— TheKop.com (@TheKop_com) October 29, 2022
Darwin Nunez: 6/10
The summer signing, the player to watch in our preview, worked hard on and off the ball. He had a great opportunity to put Liverpool in the lead in the first half, but he missed his chance. Nunez nearly scored a late screamer from the long range. Overall, it was a mediocre performance from him.
SUBSTITUTES
Curtis Jones: 4/10
The young midfielder was brought on to add some creativity and attacking edge in the final, but he failed to contribute.
James Milner: 3/10
The experienced midfielder came on to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold as the right-back and barely had any impact on the game. Milner was poor for Summerville’s late winner.
Jordan Henderson: 6/10
Henderson was slightly better than Fabinho after replacing the Brazilian, but nothing of note.
