Liverpool vs Stoke City Player ratings
Finally, a much coveted win for the Reds. After a series of disappointing games in the Premier League Brendon Rodgers and his men finally register a convincing victory against Stoke City. Rodgers’ men had not seen any luck on the field lately. With uninterrupted losses in four consecutive games and a 2-2 tie in their last face off against Ludogorets Razgrad, the team seemed horribly out of touch and was desperately looking for a break through. Finally they do it against the Potters at Anfield. Despite a stupendous counter attack from the Potters, Glen Johnson’s goal gave Liverpool the last moment dramatic lead over Stoke. With the game finishing off on 1-0, Rodgers, now has a reason to be happy at the teamwork of his men, as the team finally finds back some much wanted form. We present you the ratings of the Reds in their victory against the Potters.
Raheem Sterling
- Simon Mignolet (7.5/ 10): Despite some costly errors in previous matches, Rodgers gave the young Belgian another opportunity to stand in goal for Liverpool in this game. Mignolet surely did not disappoint this time around. He made a brilliant save of Charlie Adam’s shot in the second half. His effort to save Diouf’s strike was equally commendable.
- Glen Johnson (7/10): The Reds won the first victory of this season, courtesy the English right back. He scored the impressive header at the last moment sealing the game in favour of his team. Apart from that his performance in the field was nothing very spectacular.
- Kolo Touré (7/10): The Ivorian center back put up a very impressive show as he not only countered the Stoke attack with precision, but also provided adequate back up to Skrtel.
- Martin Skrtel (6/10): The experienced Slovak had a rather unexceptional day at the field as he failed to make good of the opportunity to score a header provided by Sterling, at the end of the first half.
- José Enrique (8/10): Brendon Rodgers chose the Spanish over Moreno and interestingly the latter did not let the Boss down. He gave an exceedingly well performance at the left hand side.
- Joe Allen (6/10): The Welsh midfielder displayed a decent performance in the field. However, he could have given a lead to the Reds with the close range shot in the second half.
- Philippe Coutinho (5.5/10): Coutinho is possibly the one player in the team whose performance was below par. Although the young Brazilian midefielder had challenges during his possessions, however most of his passes failed to make way to his team mates.
- Lucas Leiva (7/10): The Brazilian midfielder was great on the night. He gave adequate back up to the team. However, his chance to strike a goal for the Reds was clearly countered by Begovic. On the whole Leiva put a very impressive show.
- Raheem Sterling (9/10): The young Jamaican was perhaps the best player for the Reds. Sterling was very instrumental in at the midfield. He was full of agility, innovation and artfulness. His swift maneuvers was simply a treat to watch.
- Jordan Henderson (5/10): The English midfielder was seen struggling at times. Apart from some good passes and a notable effort in the second half, Henderson had a difficult time in influencing the game from the wide right.
- Rickie Lambert (5/10): With Mario Ballotelli out with a groin injury, the responsibility went on the English striker Lambert to lead the strike. In addition to missing out a goal, the young man’s pursuit and touch was not up to the mark.
Substitutes:
- Dejan Lovren (6/10): The Croatian was brought in the 88th minute to punch up the defence. Although, he did not have much to do at the fag end of the game, however, he did make a noteworthy presence.
- Steven Gerrard (6/10): It was 16th anniversary of Gerrard’s first Liverpool game. The experienced midfielder was introduced in the 75th minute to celebrate his anniversary in the Red jersey and shore up the midfield.