Liverpool FC Player Ratings vs. Tottenham Hotspurs: Questions Follow Ugly Loss

Liverpool suffered its second defeat in a row and third straight to Tottenham Hotspurs as Kenny Dalglish saw his side thrashed 4-0 on Saturday at White Hart Lane.  It was Spurs’ biggest win over Liverpool in almost 50 years and fifth straight victory over the Reds at home.

Roughly 200 miles separate London from Liverpool, and from the opening whistle there were questions whether all of the visitors made the trip.  Whereas Liverpool failed to show up, Tottenham by contrast were fired up, boosted by a return to form by playmaker Luka Modrić and the debut of striker Emmanuel Adebayor.

The Croatian ace picked up a loose ball just outside the area and curled home a beauty from 25 yards, which left Pepe Reina with no chance as the ball rocketed into the upper left corner of the Liverpool goal.

If the execution of the goal was stunning, the outcome never seemed in doubt as Spurs always seemed the favorite to score first.  Gareth Bale in particular repeatedly terrorized the Liverpool right side. 

With both first-choice right back Glen Johnson and his replacement Martin Kelly out with injuries, Dalglish turned to Martin Skrtel to fill in and it was a nightmare day for the Slovakian.  Four times Bale got behind Skrtel, creating either scoring opportunities for teammates or drawing fouls on the Liverpool defense.

Luis Suárez thought he drew Liverpool level in the 19th minute when Andy Carroll slipped him a pass just inside the box, but the Uruguayan international was ruled offside.  Liverpool could take small comfort in the fact that Carroll, who got the start, paired up well with Suarez on the play.

Dalglish switched Jordan Henderson to the left and put Stewart Downing on the right in an effort to help keep Bale in check, but he might as well have been sticking his finger in the dyke.  Daniel Agger would be forced off with a rib injury in the 26th minute, forcing Sebastián Coates into his Liverpool debut.

One minute later, Charlie Adam, who earlier had been booked for a foul on Modrić, picked up his second yellow card for a nasty, if apparently inadvertent, foul on Scott Parker, making his debut for Tottenham. 

Adam’s dismissal was always coming.  He has been slow in possession and rash in his challenges all season, and today was no different.  Coming into this game, he was third among all Premier League players with 11 fouls whistled against him and one yellow card shown. Today’s tally was two fouls, two yellows and an early shower.

Forced to make a tactical change, Dalglish curiously opted to play Carroll wide to the left, ostensibly to take advantage of his height against Kyle Walker.  Walker, however, would prove too quick for Carroll to track whenever Tottenham were in possession, which was 65 percent of the time.

Walker proved a terror all day along the Liverpool left side, to add to the torment Bale inflicted along the right.  Not even the previously unflappable José Enrique could match him for pace.  The Spurs right back easily won the battle on the day.

If Dalglish thought the first half was bad, the second half would prove twice as disastrous, with Skrtel being issued his second booking in the 62nd minute for a silly tackle from behind on Bale. 

Two minutes later, Modrić found Jermaine Defoe isolated against Enrique near the top of the Liverpool box.  Defoe turned Enrique around before slotting a shot past Reina to make it 2-0 Spurs.  The game was essentially over at this point with Liverpool scrambling to cover with only nine players.

Adeybayor would later add a pair of goals to round out the scoring, sending Liverpool home to regroup and ponder the state of their would-be renaissance under Dalglish.

Liverpool fans should not be overly concerned...yet.  Bale was always favored in his matchup against Skrtel who was playing out of position and that one match up was the biggest problem on the day for Liverpool. 

Most worrisome was the lack of creativity in the Liverpool midfield.  Dalglish spent ₤43 million on a midfield overhaul and essentially got only Stewart Downing in return.  Jordan Henderson and Adam have been absolute wastes, save for one game against Bolton.  Adam added to his foul total, and now leads the league with four yellow cards.  Meanwhile, Henderson had yet another invisible performance.

The woeful play of the midfield aside, the fact is that Liverpool came in with a makeshift back line, lost Agger after 26 minutes, lost Adam to a red card a minute later...yet for the better part of 65 minutes managed to contain Spurs with everything including a bit bubble of gum and duct tape. Once Skrtel got sent off in the 63rd minute, the floodgates opened up. 

Steven Gerrard returns for Liverpool next week, but I doubt that will be enough to correct all that's wrong in the middle.  Dalglish may feel aggrieved that Liverpool were called for nine fouls, an astounding six of which resulted in yellow cards, but the Liverpool players and coaches need look no further than themselves for the cause of this loss.

As always, player ratings are presented by position (back-to-front) below, along with voting for Liverpool’s Man of the Match.  In an effort to add some consistency to the ratings, I am introducing a rating scale against which the performances will be judged.  The general standards used are as follows:

10: Exceptional—superlative performances only.

9: Excellent—outstanding performance.

8: Impressive—very influential game.

7: Very good—eye-catching game.

6: Average—good game, but nothing overly impressive.

5: Below Average—decent performance, but with some faults.

4: Poor—many faults, performance stands out for all the wrong reasons.

Additionally, any performance which affects the outcome of the game will increase or decrease a player’s rating by half a point (.5)

Reina—has kept a clean sheet now in only one of the first five games, when once upon a time this was routine. Not that all of that is his fault, he did make five saves while letting in four goals vs. Spurs, but his gift to Adebayor is unacceptable on this level and from a player of his quality.  Grade: 5

Jamie Carragher—Had a relatively quiet game, but only because he was lost in the chaos that was otherwise taking place in the Liverpool defense.  It was disappointing to see him berating Enrique on the Dafoe goal, I don’t recall anyone berating him when he gifted goals to, first Bolton and then Stoke, with his poor defending.  Grade: 6

Skrtel—Started again at right back in place of the injured Martin Kelly and had possibly his worst day in a Liverpool shirt.  Was abused time after time by Gareth Bale and his second yellow card for fouling the Spurs winger was as naïve and silly as anything we have seen from a Liverpool player in quite some time.  With 10 men, Liverpool had a chance to keep the score respectable, and hopefully pull out a draw.  His one moment of stupidity erased any chance of that and resulted in his team being embarrassed by Spurs.  Grade: 3.5

Daniel Agger (Coates 26th minute)—Left the game with what appeared to be a rib injury, but was not much of a factor before then.  Grade: 5

José Enrique—Had his worst day in a Liverpool shirt as Spurs right back, Kyle Walker got in behind him time and time again, leading to early compromises to the Liverpool defense.  He did make amends of sorts on the offensive end by creating a couple chances, as per usual, but in the end not enough to balance the scales. Grade: 5

Adam—It is simply impossible to play any worse than Charlie Adam did today.  Kenny Dalglish invested a huge amount of faith in Adams, not just by bringing him in from Blackpool in the summer, but also by handing him a spot in the starting lineup.  To date, he has not proved to be up to the challenge.  Completed a woeful 54 percent of his passes today and with the departure of Raul Meireles to Chelsea and with Alberto Aquilani back in Italy, the Liverpool middle is suddenly thrust into question. Grade: 0

Lucas Leiva—Found himself constantly on the stretch today due to the constant pressure from Tottenham.  Not only did he struggle to maintain possession, but also constantly found himself chasing the ball after Spurs won possession themselves.  Grade: 5.5

Henderson (Bellamy 67th minute)—An invisible performance today by Henderson, but what else is new? He did his part following the switch to try and contain Bale, but had at best a cameo appearance on the field.  Grade: 5

Downing—Had a very difficult time getting started today and was never able to make his dazzling runs down the wing, or send teasing crosses into the box.  Failed to lend cover to Skrtel against Bale and otherwise failed to make an impact on either end of the pitch.  Grade: 5.5

Carroll—Was not much of a factor today, but did his best to try and keep the Spurs defense honest whenever he had an opportunity.  Unfortunately, with Liverpool enjoying only 35 percent possession, those opportunities were few and far between.  Deserves some credit for tracking back deep into his own half to help suppress the Tottenham attack.  Grade: 5

Suárez—Not even the irrepressible Uruguayan could breathe life into a dreadful Liverpool attack today.  With Liverpool getting nothing from the middle of the field, Suárez was forced to work even harder just to get a touch on the ball and inevitably this left him frustrated.  His frustrations boiled over in first half stoppage time when he failed to get a call against Benoit Assou-Ekotto on what he thought was a foul.  His sarcastic applauding of the assistant referee earned him a place in Mike Jones’ book, the second straight game in which he has been booked, both for dissent.  Grade: 6

Substitutes

Coates—Saw his first action of the season in replacement of Agger and promptly made his way into the disciplinary record.  Easily (and shockingly) outpaced by Adebayor, forcing the Uruguayan to bring him down.  Failed to make an impression otherwise.  Grade: 5.5

Craig Bellamy—Failed to make an impression in his 20 minutes on the field after replacing Suárez, not all of it his fault.  Grade: 6

Jay Spearing—Rumors are that Spearing made an appearance as a replacement Downing, but hard to confirm this from either the highlight reel or stats sheet.  Grade: 6

Unused: Alexander Doni, Maxi Rodriguez, Dirk Kuyt, Jack Robinson