Newcastle United 2 -0 Liverpool: Player Ratings

Liverpool

Simon Mignolet- 6

Mignolet had a few of his usual clumsy moments with the ball, but he could have done nothing about the goals. Nor did he handle it well when Liverpool’s defence was under pressure.

Nathaniel Clyne- 6

Clyne started off well and was solid throughout but got poor in the latter stages of the match. He was defensively strong and broke forward well to support counter attacks.

Martin Skrtel- 5

Initially seemed like one of the few ones with intent, but unfortunately, scored for the wrong team for Newcastle's opener. Not one of his best defensive performances as well.

Dejan Lovren- 7.5

Lovren did a pretty decent job. He was Liverpool’s best defender and was quick to decide when to move up to break attacks and was quite calm. His distribution wasn't great and he looked nervy at times, and overall didn’t have a great game but was the best among the defence.

Alberto Moreno- 5

Moreno has no real impact in the attacking third, which was a shame. He worsened things with poor defending leading up to Newcastle's second goal. However, he did score a good goal that was disallowed for offside- which was an awful call by the linesman.

Lucas- 5

Although he’s been superb all season, he had an awful performance this game. He looked short of energy throughout the match and was quite erroneous with possession. He also picked up a deserved booking for a foul on De Jong.

Joe Allen- 5

Allen played the link between the defence and attack once again but lacking the physicality of the suspended Emre Can, Allen ended up with quite a poor performance.

James Milner- 5

Another cagey performance as the Liverpool captain. He was sloppy on and off the ball and quite horrible at taking corners. However, with the introduction of Lallana and Sturridge and his change of position into centre-midfield, he improved slightly.

Roberto Firmino- 5

Firmino lacked intent throughout the match. He had some nice touches but they were not enough. He couldn’t support Benteke either. He was replaced by Daniel Sturridge after 60 minutes.

Jordon Ibe- 7

Ibe was Liverpool’s best starting player. He raced into the box on numerous occasions but to no avail. He seemed to be the only one switched on. He’s good at running at the defence but just needs to work on his final pass.

Christian Benteke- 5

Another striker lacking intent. He did not offer any kind of threat to Newcastle. He also had the best chance of scoring in the first half of the match which he missed. Typical Benteke – misses the easy chances and scores the worldies. This match showed how Firmino and Benteke don’t really work.

Substitutes:

Adam Lallana- 8.5

Lallana came on for Benteke in the 62nd minute. Although he just played the last 30 minutes of the match, he was Liverpool’s best player. He created a chance for Sturridge with a great pass which the latter missed and was the only player to threaten. He instantly made a difference; deserved to start.

Daniel Sturridge- 6

Sturridge came on for Firmino in the 62nd minute as part of a double substitution. He missed a good chance to equalise from a delightful pass from Lallana. Not great, but definitely more dangerous than Benteke.

Divock Origi- 6

Origi came on for Ibe in the 75th minute. There were expectations on him to perform post his hat-trick against Southampton and although he showed some nice touches and looked to equalise, he didn’t have enough time to get into the game.