Liverpool made it through to the Carabao Cup fourth round with victory over Brighton.
The Reds have not had the best record at the Amex of late and at times made difficult work of it on Wednesday evening. But having eventually seen off the Seagulls 3-2, here’s how we rated the players.
Defence
Vitezslav Jaros: 9 (Man of the Match) – Showed great composure with his feet early doors before making an excellent save one-on-one with Tariq Lamptey in the first-half. Jaros then made a ‘brilliant’ fingertip save second-half to deny Simon Adingra. Nothing he could do about either goal.
Conor Bradley: 5 – A surprise to see him in the starting line-up following injury and doesn’t quite look the same player this season. Looked slightly sluggish in defence, losing Adingra who almost headed home.
Jarell Quansah: 4 – Did well enough in the first-half but absolutely gifted Brighton a way back into the game with 10 minutes left with an undercooked pass that went straight to Evan Ferguson. Summed up his night after deflecting Brighton’s second past Jaros. Unlucky, but he’ll know this was not good enough.
Joe Gomez: 6 – A little wayward with one or two Virgil van Dijk-esque switches of play, but was otherwise decent enough.
Andy Robertson: 6 – It hasn’t been a good couple of weeks for Robertson and that continued with another slightly below par display. Just looks half a yard slower although did force Jason Steele into a smart save at his near post and made a crucial intervention at the back post after Adingra’s ball across.
Midfield
Wataru Endo: 4 – Unfortunately Endo displayed why Arne Slot has not trusted him up to this point. Too slow to move the ball forward and got caught out in possession more than once. Taken off just after the hour after a struggle of a display.
Tyler Morton: 6 – Didn’t look out of place against Premier League opposition, pinging the ball around tidily. Outperformed Endo and should perhaps now move ahead of the Japanese in the pecking order although was subbed off just after the hour.
READ MORE: Cody Gakpo names the hardest player to come up against in training at Liverpool
Attack
Luis Diaz: 7 – Was willing as ever especially defensively, but could not find much joy going forward. Should perhaps have done better with a headed chance on the rebound from a Dominik Szoboszlai shot. Kept going and made up for it with a crucial third goal, beating Steele with a precise finish.
Dominik Szoboszlai: 4 – Rotated with Curtis Jones in a false nine role and showed some decent touches. Should have done better when slipped in by Robertson first half and can have no excuse after missing a one-on-one on the counter in the second-half.
Curtis Jones: 6 – Like Szoboszlai, Jones rotated between false nine and number 10 at the Amex and was a little more effective than the Hungarian. Faded as the game went on, though before dropping deeper.
Cody Gakpo: 8 – A funny game for Gakpo who was frustrating for much of the first-half but came up with two stunning finishes to give the initiative to Liverpool. The first was special, cutting in from the left and blasting home, before a drilled effort made it two. Loves this competition but does still need to work on his end product, as the sloppy chip to Szoboszlai during the earlier three-on-one showed.
Substitutes
Trey Nyoni: 7 – Nyoni was introduced just after the hour mark for and showed why Liverpool coaches have been so impressed by him. Looked completely at home and had the confidence to try an ambitious effort from outside the box.
Alexis Mac Allister: 6 – Came on and kept the game ticking over against his old team.
Darwin Nunez: 5 – Couldn’t really get involved although did make a nuisance of himself in the lead up to the crucial third goal.
Mohamed Salah: 6 – Gave Liverpool a semblance more control after the Brighton goal, doing well to get the ball into the box in the build up to Diaz’s strike.
Ibrahima Konate: N/A – Came on to shore things up in injury time following Quansah’s disastrous showing. Picked up a booking.
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