Football Features

    “Mount terrorised Trent” – Player ratings from Anfield as Chelsea inflict Liverpool’s fifth straight home league defeat

    By Muhammad Butt

    Published: 22:33, 4 March 2021

    In a tense night of football, Chelsea comprehensively beat Liverpool 0-1 at Anfield to move into fourth.

    For the first time in their history, Liverpool have lost five consecutive home matches.

    Here’s how the players rated at Anfield:

    Liverpool

    Alisson – 5 – His indecision in goal nearly cost Liverpool but VAR and a precision offside saved him. Helpless on Mount’s finish but made some big saves and collections after.

    Trent Alexander-Arnold – 4 – Tried his hardest to impact the game in attack but couldn’t quite find his range and was sadly an open highway in defence as Chelsea repeatedly raided in behind him during their dominant first-half.

    Fabinho – 4 – Mostly alright on his return to the side but got absolutely rinsed by Mason Mount for the Chelsea goal.

    Ozan Kabak – 5 – Decent but failed to back Fabinho up on the Mount goal, standing still instead of closing his man.

    Andrew Robertson – 6 – A willing worker but no end product.

    Thiago – 4 – Once again lost in the shuffle as Liverpool refused to build through the middle so all his skill and ability to dominate a game is but dust in the wind. Why did Liverpool sign him if they weren’t going to build around him?

    Georginio Wijnaldum – 5 – Just kinda there.

    Curtis Jones – 5 – Failed to have any real impact on the game.

    Mohamed Salah – 4 – Shocking defensively as he repeatedly failed to help Alexander-Arnold out against wave after wave of Chelsea attack. Couldn’t justify that with any real offensive output either. Hooked early as Klopp opted to protect his flank, which seemed baffling as Liverpool have gone 10+ hours without an open play goal at home, but honestly Salah never looked like scoring himself anyway.

    Roberto Firmino – 6 – Grew into the game and played a couple of tasty passes. No more, though.

    Sadio Mané – 5 – Missed an incredible chance when played through. Did little after that.

    Substitutes:

    Diogo Jota (for Jones 62′) – 5 – Almost scored early on but couldn’t do too much.

    Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (for Salah 62′) – 5 – Did little.

    James Milner (for Thiago 80′) – 5 – Did less.

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    Chelsea

    Edouard Mendy – 7 – Had little to do in terms of saves but swept up behind his defence and made plenty of collections.

    Cesar Azpilicueta – 8 – A rock at the back. Made 7 clearances and always found a way to stop Liverpool’s forwards. A captain’s display.

    Andreas Christensen – 8 – Stepped into Thiago Silva’s shoes quite seamlessly tonight and was a brick wall that Liverpool could not break down. Made a game-high 9 clearances to get the ball out of harms way and calm the Chelsea nerves.

    Antonio Rudiger – 8 – Continued his resurrection under Thomas Tuchel. An impassable object who dominated the Liverpool attack, particularly in the late game when he repeatedly stifled the passing lanes Liverpool were trying to use to effect a comeback.

    Reece James – 6 – Some nice crosses but most of the action went down the other flank.

    Jorginho – 8 – An incredible defensive display as the Italian had a team-high 5 tackles and 3 interceptions. Really protected his defenders.

    N’Golo Kanté – 8 – Was absolutely everywhere. Won possession back a game-high 11 times and destroyed so many Liverpool attacks at the point of inception with his incredible pressing.

    Ben Chilwell – 7 – Dominated the left-flank, repeatedly exposing Liverpool’s weird defensive shape to create danger.

    Hakim Ziyech – 7 – Some superb passes but also some wayward ones too. Not really needed to carve Liverpool open but still managed it on a few occasions.

    Mason Mount – 8 – Dominated the Reds in the opening half along with Ben Chilwell. Was constantly exposing the spaces left by the Liverpool defence with his runs and passes. Liverpool couldn’t really live with the energy and intelligence he was bringing and the young man absolutely terrorised Trent Alexander-Arnold.

    Also: he scored the game-winning goal with a lovely bit of skill to leave Fabinho eating his dust and letting rip with a simply superb finish that left Alisson with no chance. Is unquestionably Chelsea’s brightest attacking talent and looks destined for great things.

    “Best player at Chelsea, and first name on the team-sheet,” said Ashley Cole of Mount. A huge statement which Jamie Redknapp added that he is the “ultimate modern day player,” with both men touting Mount for the captaincy. That’s a big shout, but he’s a big talent with a very big future ahead of him playing for Chelsea. Get that boy the no. 8 shirt!

    Timo Werner – 7 – Looked brighter than he has in months, making sharp raids into the space Liverpool were bizarrely leaving for him. Must be cursed as he scored a goal only for it to be ruled out for a precision offside.

    Substitutes:

    Christian Pulisic (for Ziyech 66′) – 5 – Came on but didn’t really do anything too notable.

    Mateo Kovacic (for Mount 81′) – 5 – Kicked a ball at Mané’s head when the Senegalese was on the ground.

    Kai Havertz (for Werner 90’+1) – n/a – Came on very late.

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