League Cup Round Three: Lincoln City 2 : 7 Liverpool – Player Ratings
An academy kid debut! More Minamino! The return of the power cube! A Jota sighting! The making of another Scouse legend. So much going on here…
RATINGS
Adrian – 7
Not much to do the first half. Everything to do, beginning of the second half. Looked sharp, had a couple of huge stops. Little that could be done on the goals conceded.
Neco – 5
Routinely beaten, down the right flank. Bright going forward per usual. Very much still a work in progress. Dispossessed and thoroughly beaten on Lincoln’s first.
Rhys Williams – 7
Looked pretty comfortable next to his big brother, Virg. Helluva switch over the top in the buildup to Jones’ first goal. Not a bad debut. Not at all.
Van Dijk – 7
He gets a “7” for being the tits. Klopp gets a “4” for starting him. Glad he came through healthy. My upper lip is still sweating.
Tsimikas – 6
Some lovely first half switches. Changes fields well but was unable to connect on any of the dangerous balls being pumped in throughout. Held up well, defensively.
Grujic – 7
His swan song perhaps? Who knows. Bit of a mixed bag. Happy for him to get on the scoresheet.
Curtis Jones – 8
The lad is ready. Absolutely filthy turn and bit of skill on his second goal. Sharp throughout.
Shaqiri – 8
Haven’t seen him in ages, and you forget how good he is. Wand of a left foot for the free-kick goal. Excellent vision and creativity going forward. Lively all game.
Harvey Elliott – 7
Did everything but score. Tricky on the ball. Cut a frustrated figure before coming off. You can see how bad he wants that first senior-level goal.
Origi – 6
Largely quiet throughout but then does what he does where he pops up and just bangs one home.
Minamino – 9 (MOTM)
Endless energy. Great skill and positional awareness on both his goals. Did loads of the Roberto stuff; pressing with good off the ball movement. Smart going forward. Looking the real deal.
SUBSTITUTES
Fabinho – 6 (‘45)
Came on at 5-0 and looked like he was on auto-pilot. Couple of uncharacteristically bad giveaways.
Jota – 6 (‘66)
Looked like a player trying to figure everything out. Which makes sense. Nearly notched his first goal though.
Keita – NA (‘74)
Thanks for coming.