After three consecutive wins, Liverpool’s honeymoon period under Arne Slot ended with a surprise 1-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest.
Seven of the Reds’ starting XI played 180 minutes for their countries over the last two weeks and couldn’t carry their form back into club football.
For the most part, Liverpool lacked ideas against Forest and when the players’ brains did click into gear, their feet didn’t.
Several players underperformed in the fourth Premier League match of the season, with Mo Salah taking the brunt of the frustration.
Here we compare our player ratings with those of the Liverpool Echo, GOAL, FotMob and This Is Anfield’s readers.
Of late, Liverpool’s Egyptian has reminded the world just how good he can still be at the age of 32.
However, when he underperforms he is criticised harshly due to his usual brilliant best. Against Nottingham Forest, he received the lowest average rating of any Liverpool starter (4.5).
Like Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai was given a 4 by This Is Anfield but managed to avoid being substituted by Slot
The Hungarian was poor in his decision-making as he ran at the Forest defence and was missing the composure he had shown in the early weeks of the season.
Ian Doyle of the Liverpool Echo rated Szoboszlai as a 5 and said he was “another who struggled to find his rhythm and made too many wrong decisions.”
Despite losing the game and looking blunt in attack, Liverpool actually limited Forest to just one big chance, according to FotMob, hence Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate statistically each being rated at 7 on the app.
Overall, Ryan Gravenberch was deemed Liverpool’s best performer (6.5) and did himself no harm on an individual level. However, having played all six games this season for club and country, he may have to drop out against AC Milan.
It was an off-day for several Reds on Saturday and perhaps some rotation of the side on Tuesday will provide some fresh impetus for the Champions League League match at San Siro.
