Liverpool Player Ratings v. Chelsea

After Martin Skrtel scored into an empty net, the match was bossed by Chelsea, who pulled ahead before the first half was finished. There were enough almosts for Liverpool (a few penalty shouts and a header off the crossbar) to make the game a disappointment.

STARTING XI

Mignolet - 7 - The second goal was once again the one that raised questions for Mignolet, but the blame for that goal lies more on Sakho and Skrtel. Mignolet made a fantastic full stretch save on a long range drive from Frank Lampard, and later stood strong to deny Samuel Eto'o, who was wrongly deemed onside.

Johnson - 4 - This rating has been coming for awhile. I've tried to be kind to Glen, consistently giving him 6 ratings through his poor stretch, but today he was flat out awful. To be brutally honest, Johnson looked lazy in this match. I hate to say that because Johnson has given the club a lot over the last few years, and I'm sure that he does indeed care, but he was extremely careless with his passing and possession. That cannot continue.

Sakho - 5 - Sakho did not play very well defensively, with his primary error coming when he allowed Oscar to easily wriggle free and cross to Eto'o who slotted the ball into the net. He also let Torres waltz by him for an open shot in the box, although the Spaniard could not score. Sakho did hit the post with a header for what seems like like the tenth time this year.

Skrtel - 5 - He scored Liverpool's only goal, but was otherwise poor. Eto'o caught Skrtel flat footed with the game tied at 1-1, cutting across the big bald Slovak with ease to position himself for his goal. It's unclear why Kolo Toure didn't start.

Agger - 6 - Asked to play left back, Agger played as expected. At times he was caught out of position and he wasn't great going forward, but on the whole it was still an acceptable match for him.

Lucas - 5 - Lucas' performance was mediocre. As Adam pointed out at half time, the Brazilian provided little cover for the back line, however a lot of that was due to the inability of higher up players to retain possession. This left Lucas scrambling around for much of the match.

Allen - 5 - Allen was massively over matched by the Chelsea midfield and left no positive imprint on the game.

Henderson - 5 - Henderson did not play particularly well against Chelsea or City, which shows that while he has progressed immensely in his time at Anfield, he still has a ways to go.

Sterling - 7 - Sterling made some poor passes around the penalty area, but then again at least he was consistently getting into positive positions in the first place. There was one play where he found himself surrounded by about four Chelsea players only to burst past all of them and draw a foul.

Coutinho - 5 - Coutinho's vision appears to be as incisive as always, but his passing has continued to betray his bright ideas.

Suarez - 7 - Suarez needs to be a facilitator when teams double mark him around the goal. He played some quality balls to teammates, but also spent a good deal of time frustrated by how the Chelsea defense blanketed him.

SUBS

Smith - 4 - There's no way that a team contending for a Champions League spot should ever have Brad Smith come on at such a young age in such a big match. Rodgers should have gone to Luis Alberto, but it seems that the young playmaker is in Rodgers' dog house for an unknown reason.

Aspas - 3 - Do we have video evidence that he was ever on the pitch?

Toure - N/A - Not enough time to make an impact.