Leicester City vs Liverpool Player Ratings

Woody – Well that was a pretty fun watch.  Wow.  Also it was 63 degrees on Boxing Day in Chicago.  Crazy.

Jason – Amazing weather in Chicago coupled with an amazing performance from our Reds. Some of the best we’ve seen under Klopp and we’ve seen a fair amount of good stuff.

Alisson – 8

W – 8 – Alert to the danger when Gomez was in a foot race with Vardy.  Cleared it even though it turned out Joe won that race.  Not much to do outside of that.

J – 8 – Was not even sure if he was on the pitch as therfe was not much for him to do. World class hair.

Trent – 9  Co Man of the Match

W – 9 – Watching him get to load up a rare open play inswinger with four Reds in the box was amusing.  Everyone in the KP had to know he’d drop it right onto someone’s head for a goal.  2nd assist was even better.  Goal was brilliant.  Teammates were obviously thrilled.

J – 9 – Hard to argue with Woody here. TAA was wonderful. His goal was awesome. His celebration Milner-esque

Gomez – 8

W – 8 – People have been all over him for shaky performances at right back.  In fairness to Stephanie those have been kinda sketchy.  But he is a good CB.  And with much more speed than Lovren or Matip pairing Joe with VVD has the most upside.  They’re all great.  Not long ago we  were watching guys get Skrtel’d.  Now we have three great centre backs… and one colossus.

J – 8 – JoGo was great. Matched Vardy step for step on one run. Its nice to have quality depth at CB and we wish Joel and Degsey quick recoveries.

VVD – 9

W – 9 – Silent night, holy night, all is calm, thanks to van Dijk.  This game has clearly gotten too easy for Virgil, who has taken to playing it mostly with the outside of his right boot.  At one point he moved that boot about 6 inches and cleared the ball from the top of the box to midfield.  That was some Bruce Lee stuff.  Be like water?  No, be like Virgil.

J – 9 – He’s really good at his job. Really really good.

Robbo – 8.5

W – 8 – Excellent throughout, but especially in the first half when the game was close.  Cleaned up some danger, put in good balls.  IRN BRU?  Well if Milner can run on Ribena there had to be a Robbo fuel.

J – 9 – Thought he was really, really good especially in the first half. Both offensively and defensively sound. Must buy some IRN BRU to see if its just Scottish Sunkist.

Gini – 8

W – 8 – I’m dreaming of a Wijnaldum, just like the ones I used to know.  Where Anfield glistens, and Messi listens, as Gini heads it into goal.  Gets the ball back.  Doesn’t give it away.  Passes to a teammate.  Repeat.

J – 8- a silent assassin in many ways.

Henderson – 8.25

W – 8 – Picked up a knock, but hopefully not a bad one.  Regular readers will know he’s not the first guy on my team sheet, but he and Gini are great to put out there with Keita.  Two mids always focused on positioning and one allowed to free lance a bit with the forwards.

J – 8.5 – Hendo has really been a steady performer since Fab went out. Doing what Klopp asks of him. Runs and runs. Center Back of the Future.

Keita – 8

W – 8 – The cattle are lowing, the Naby awakes.  Lowing?  Whatever.  Naby is awesome.  We liked when he dribbled through 3 fouls from 2 guys and then they just hacked him down.  Nobody likes to get embarrassed.  Just ask Sadio.

J – 8 – saw someone on Twitter refer to him as Feliz Naby Lad. I enjoyed that. Really a nice addition to the armament for our midfield while Ox and Fab recover.

Mane – 8

W – 8 – The save was great but maybe should have scored.  Also had a chance in the first minutes.  But he put in a shift and made hard, intelligent runs as always.  The feed for Trent’s goal with both guys running full speed was sublime.

J – 8 – Missed some chances that he normally would bury. These things happen even to the great Sadio Mane. He’s human.

Salah – 8 

W – 8 – Should have scored at least one and probably more, but even when he misses a couple he runs so much and draws so much attention it helps everyone.  He’ll get one Sunday.

J – 8 – Like Mane also missed a few that are normally goals.

Firmino – 9 Co Man of the Match

W – 9 – Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the pitch is so delightful, we might as well score some goals, Firmino Firmino Firmino.  Mo is the nicest guy in football.  Sadio is the coolest guy in football.  But the funnest guy in football?  That’s Roberto Firmino.  Our number 9.

J – 9 – Our #9 rates a 9. He was really fun to watch.

Subs

Milner

Comes on and scores. Immediately because that’s what he does.

Origi

We were sure he’d score. I am sure he was sure he’d score. Saving it for Sunday

Lallana

Fa La La La La,  La Lallana.

Massive one Sunday. Aren’t they all?