Young Boys v Liverpool Player Ratings

Well that was quite the roller coaster ride now wasn't it? It was great to see them all get a run out and play well together. Amazingly, they actually all seemed to click and understand the Brendan Rodgers system fairly well. It seems to bode well for the idea that the Europa League campaign can be a way to get the young talent coming up some really good experience.

The one really bad thing to take away from this game is that Liverpool's defense was again quite leaky. Sure, it was Carragher back there and Jones is also to blame, but it is quite worrisome. At least this Liverpool side could put shots on target though.

On to the ratings:

Jones - 5 - I'm putting goal number 2 and 3 on him. He is aggressive, which is good, but he is overly aggressive. He had no business coming for the ball on goal two. It was being sheparded under control by two Liverpool players and he would have been better served to stay in his net to be available for the back pass. Goal three also was his over-aggressiveness (which I remember from one game last year where he came all the way to the 18 to claim a ball). Enrique was doing a decent job of running the guy down. With the angle that he was taking, he really needed to just let play continue that way and make the guy beat him from a tighter angle.

Enrique - 5 - I'll put goal 2 at 20% his fault. I was a poor clearance, but everything was made more difficult by Jones' coming out. He still isn't quite back to the form we saw at the beginning of last year. He did try to get involved in the attack with limited success though.

Carragher - 5 - Like to live dangerously, or should I say, has to live dangerously since his best days are long behind him. However, I can't really fault him for any of the goals, but he was definitely the weak link in the back.

Coates - 7 - Did he score or didn't he? Either way, I loathed every time he touched the ball since the American commentators on Fox Soccer kept calling him "Coats". It was driving me crazy. He did well to put that header back across goal. Only huge mistake was his bad stab for the ball when YB were on the break. The attacker easily rounded him. He seems to do this a bit much for my liking.

Wisdom - 8 - He was an absolute beast on hims side of the field. He shut it down pretty much and scored a very nice goal. What more could you ask for from a young kid?

Downing - 6 - I don't know if this is a fair grade. He does get the assist for goal 1 and he did put in a number of decent crosses where Liverpool again failed to have anyone in the box. My heart says 7, but my head has talked me out of it.

Henderson- 6 - He was really lost for most of the game. However, his assist to Shelvey was some very calm intelligent football. It was good to see, but he needs to build on it.

Sahin - 6 - Did well overall, but still has loads of room for improvement. He wasn't really involved in too many attacks. He needed to get forward a bit more for me.

Suso - 7 - A tricky little player isn't he? Obviously he is still raw and young. Definitely needs to pick his head up from time to time. That said, he had a decent game giving the Young Boy's defense a lot to handle.

Assaidi - 6 - Not terrible and had a few terrific moves to get into space and play some passes. He also needed to pick his head up a few times to pick out the good pass rather than shoot from distance or run into nothing.

Pacheco - 5 - Struggled to get into the game. He was decent enough when he had the ball, but that was definitely not often enough. Perhaps it is a bit harsh to put it all on him, but it is what it is.

SUBS:

Sterling - 6 - Came on for a late cameo and did what he does best, drive at people.

Borini - 7 - I'll call it the Borini effect, but his tireless efforts appeared infectious. The whole team changed when he came on the pitch. He might have even scored, who knows, but his movement was fantastic.

Shelvey - 8 - Well until the first goal he was incredibly frustrating. After that though, he was a little bald engine in midfield. Can't argue with two goals from the bench.