West Brom v Liverpool Player Ratings

Here we go again, to remind you, 1=awful, 10=out of this world, 6=about average.

Wasted chances. Does that sound familiar? Ben Foster was hardly asked to make a save. Once again, the finishing was just not there and you can't blame BR for that. These guys should know how to finish. They did nothing wrong on the opening goal. They headed the ball away, Johnson was closing him down and in his face. Gera's goal was just simply unstoppable.

I would be remiss if I didn't tough on Phil Dowd who was horribly inconsistent and his assistant was poor. Clearly he needs a refresher course because he didn't understand even means on-side. If those calls go the way they should have this game would have been put away early on. Just poor refereeing all around. Then, just to leave you with a reminder of how poor he was all game, he quite harshly called a foul on Carroll and carded him at the end of the game. How West Brom only got one yellow (and towards the end) from this entire game is laughable considering the cards Liverpool were given.

That said, Liverpool did it to themselves by not taking advantage of their opportunities and keeping it out of Phil Dowd's hands.

STARTERS:

Reina - 8 - Saved a penalty and made a couple really good stops after Liverpool were down to 10 men. Did all he could.

Johnson - 6 - Got forward well, but that sometimes left the defense exposed. Somewhat wasteful with some of his crosses near the end of the game, although he was asked to put them in with his less favored foot. Also didn't have his shooting boots on.

Agger - 5 - Very hard done by Gerrard's giveaway and a Skrtel slip. That was an extremely soft penalty and Long went over quite easily. However, he should know better than to make that contact. That said, imagine what the pundits would be saying if Suarez had gone over that easily.

Skrtel - 5 - Very harsh on the penalty, but then again he never should have been caught dwelling on the ball like that. Up until then, he was playing decently considering what a nuisance Long was all game.

Kelly - 6 - Did well enough. Got forward well and didn't get caught defensively. Can't really pin anything on him although he was also slightly sloppy in possession like everyone else.

Allen - 5 -Pretty much anonymous, although that might be more to do with the careless giveaways by the other players around him. Not the debut he was hoping for. There were a number of situations where I would have liked to see him get a bit more stuck in on the challenges.

Gerrard - 4 - Very, very sloppy in possession. Uncharacteristically conceded possession with a large number of sloppy passes. He gets a 4 because we know what he is actually capable of.

Lucas - 5 - Just looks a step slow right now. Probably needs a few more games.

Downing - 5 - Had some good runs early, but clearly isn't good with his right foot at crossing. Really struggled in the second and had to be subbed when Agger was sent off.

Borini - 4 - Very poor. He never was able to get himself into the game.

Suarez - 7 - Well, same story as last season; great movement and trickery, poor finishing. If you need any more proof that the world is against Suarez, watch the last two minutes of the half. He was very harshly booked and was horribly fouled, but no yellow was given. That said, he has to finish better. He worked his socks off, but again has nothing to show for it because he missed a couple sitters.

SUBS:

Carragher - 4 - As if you needed more proof that he was finished, look at what Lukaku did to him shortly after coming on the pitch. And now we'll get a lot of him due to Agger's suspension.

Cole - N/A - Just what we didn't need, another injury prone player.

Carroll - N/A - It was always going to be asking a lot of him to do anything. He was put on after the game was well out of hand.