Liverpool Player Ratings v Swansea

You just had a feeling it was coming. Not to be a downer, but it is still troubling that Liverpool were only able to muster five goals on 35 shots, two of which were penalties. A friend of mine pointed out that he felt as if Liverpool take too many shots when they get the ball wide and no one is in the box. Basically, for example, that when Downing gets the ball wide, he is forced to cut due to lack of bodies in the box in and then takes a more speculative shot from outside the box rather than maintaining possession and trying to rework a better angle. This was interesting to me and it the stats do show that 46% of Liverpool's shots were taken from outside the box. Just some food for thought. On to the ratings:

STARTERS:

Reina - 7 - Very little to do all game long. However, he was very alert at the end of the game to preserve the shutout, making a fine full stretch save on De Guzman.

Johnson - 7 - He bombed forward all game long and really had to play very little defense. Very unlucky not to have notched at least one goal, but was a constant threat keeping Swansea pinned deep.

Carragher - 7 - Very little to do, but kept the defense organized allowing Johnson and Enrique to spend most of the match in the Swansea half.

Agger - 7 - Not a whole lot for him to do either. Got forward a couple of times to help aid in the attack.

Enrique - 9 - He was superb going forward all game long. He was at the heart of the wonderfully worked third goal, both starting it and finishing it. In addition, he played some beautiful long passes all game long and did well defensively to sniff out one of the rare Swansea forays into the Liverpool box after Carragher was beaten late in the game.

Lucas - 7 - A good performance sniffing out anything even remotely resembling a Swansea counter. He left Liverpool's defense largely bored back there.

Gerrard - 8 - He was all over the place, pulling the strings as usual. Scored a penalty as well.

Downing - 8 - Very effective down the wing, he threaded the needle to release Suarez for the 4th goal. Had a number of decent crosses and provided much of Liverpool's much needed width.

Coutinho - 8 - Well that is one way to start your career at Anfield. Somewhat subdued in the first half, he exploded out of the gates in the second notching his first goal 16 seconds after the break. When he recieved the ball back, he still had a lot to do and did quite well to open up just enough space to make the shot. He did miss a sitter in the first half though that should have at least been on target after Sturridge was tripped in the box.

Suarez -10 - He was at the heart of everything Liverpool did well today. Won a penalty, scored a goal and got an assist. Also played a fantastic ball through to Sturridge in the first half which looked like it also might have been a penalty. I cannot think of a thing he did wrong.

Sturridge - 9 - Unlucky not to have scored five, he put himself in some fantastic positions. He sure looked to be taken down in the box early in the first after some great movement and link up with Suarez. Was involved in the thrid goal with the pass to Enrique and might have even earned a another penalty in the second half. Fully deserved his goal as Vorm seemed to have his number all game from open play.

SUBS:

Henderson - 7 - Decent cameo, he slotted right in continuing to pile on the pressure. Played a great through ball to Sturridge which was fought off by Vorm.

Allen - 7 - Didn't miss a beat, maybe should have been on earlier in an attempt to recover his form.

Borini - N/A - His poor run of luck continues. Looks like he is out for the season with his shoulder.