Please leave ratings for all players who have played 20 mins or more.

Scoring is from 3 to 10 as follows:

10 - Out of this World
9 - Excellent
8 - Very Good
7 - Good
6 - Average
5 - Below Par
4 - Poor
3 - Abysmal

Men versus boys

Pope 6
Lowton 5
Pieters 4
Mee 3 - that is why he will never play for England
Tarkowski 6
Lennon 4
Cork 4
Westwood 5
McNeil 6
Wood 4
Barnes 4

Rodriguez 5

Pope 6 - 1st looked dody even after the deflection
Lowton 3 - ball ran out of play at least twice from poor control, was never really at it
Tarky 7 - good game, did his job well
Mee 4 - shocker for the 2nd, game over
Peiters 5 - did his best work after it was game over
Lennon 5 - did nowt of note
Cork - 5 doesnt offer much either way
Westwood 5 - as above today
McNeil 6 - tried to make things happen. Set plays were dire
Barnes 4 - one of his poorest games, choose the wrong option evertime I think
Wood 5 - no change from VVD , but the most annoying thing was we kept doing it

Our set plays were all driven or out swingers to the back stick looking for the 2nd header, sadly we never won the first.

Where the whipped in swingers.

Feel deflated tonight as we didnt even look to impose ourselves on them, we created little, set plays were poor.
I didnt see the game plan to be honest, we played straight into the liverpool CB hands.

Pope 6
Lowton 5
Pieters 4
Mee 5
Tarkowski 7*
Lennon 5
Cork 6
Westwood 5
McNeil 6
Wood 4
Barnes 5

Pope 7
Lowton 5
Tarkowski 9*
Mee 4
Pieters 4
Lennon 5
Cork 6
Westwood 5
McNeil 7
Barnes 6
Wood 3

From tv

Unfortunately we never really got going and made it far to easy for them.

Pope 7
Lowton 4
Pieters 6
Mee 5
Tarkowski 6
Lennon 6
Cork 5
Westwood 5
McNeil 7
Wood 6
Barnes 5

Pope 7
Lowton 4 awful on the ball truly awful
Pieters 5 defended well but his lack of support and composure on the ball was horrendous
Mee 5 horrendous mistake and wobbled for a while but tried to defend right
Tarks 7
McNeil 6 given zero support at all, tried to be positive
Westwood 6 busy, hard working
Cork 5 disappeared,shrugged off the ball, ponderous on and off the ball
Lennon 5 hard working, 1 good cross first half but not enough quality
Barnes 4 totally dominated today and no threat at all
Wood 5 offside a lot but at least he tried to run in behind as the long ball was completely negated by VVd and Matip

Hard to judge as they are in a different league but we were still quite poor in possession with just lumping it clear to anybody and poor passing

Pope 5 should still save that first one
Lawton 5
Pieters 5
Mee 5
Tarks 7
Mc Neil 7
Lennon 6
Cork 6
Westwood 5
Wood 4
Barnes 4

Jay 4

Pope 6
Lowton 4
Tarkowski 8
Mee 6
Pieters 6
Lennon 6
Westwood 6
Cork 7
McNeil 7
Barnes 5
Wood 6

Pope 5. Couple of decent saves. But definitely didn’t command his box that well.
Lowton 4. Absolutely dreadful.
Tarkowski 6. Played reasonably well. Especially before the goal.
Mee 5. Shocking lack of concentration for the second. As above. Why he never gets picked for England.
Pieters. See Tarks.
Lennon 6. Only player with pace. And at least tried to run at them.
Westwood 5 anonymous
Cork 5 anonymous
McNeil 6 decent first half and tested Alexander Arnold. Second half tired and did little.
Wood 5 anonymous
Barnes 5 didn’t have much chance to influence game.

Dyche 5. Subs baffling again.

Pope 6
Lowton 4
Pieters 5
Mee 5
Tarkowski 6
Lennon 4
Cork 6
Westwood 6
McNeil 6
Wood 4
Barnes 4

Rodriguez 4

Pope 7
Lowton 6
Pieters 6
Mee 6
Tarkowski 8
Lennon 7
Cork 6
Westwood 7
McNeil 7
Wood 7
Barnes 6

Pope 6
Lowton 4
Mee 5
Tarks 9
Pieters 6
Lennon 6
Cork 7
Westwood 6
McNeil 7
Barnes 6
Wood 5

Pope 5
Lowton 4
Pieters 5
Mee 4
Tarkowski 6
Lennon 6
Cork 5
Westwood 5
McNeil 5
Wood 4
Barnes 4

You can't give the ball over in transition on the half way line... Against good teams you get stung; we got stung

Pope: 4 at fault for two goals
Lowton: 5 really not good enough defensively and lightweight
Pieters: 7 did well in a leaky left hand side
Tarks: 7 did his job
Mee: 5 didn’t do his job
Westwood: 8 (MOM)
Cork: 4 lightweight, limited distribution, and needs to be replaced. His running stats must be keeping him in a shirt.
Lennon: 7 did well stopping a marauding full back
McNeil: 7 enjoyed watching him battle against England’s best right back. Still think he’s a CM
Wood: 4 if he doesn’t score he’s awful
Barnes: 6 battled well leading a line against two savvy CB’s

Sub:

JRod: 6 needs to sharpen up but looked okay

I love Dyche, I love his philosophies and his stewardship of our club, but I’m constantly frustrated by his unwillingness to make a chuffin SUB when half the team are blowing!!

Also: Walters can’t have been close to the group, no nicknames, no familiarity, very business like!!

I didn’t think we were as bad as most on here.
We had a few chances and a bit of bad luck against the European champions. Pope didn’t have a lot to do apart from pick the ball out of the net 3 times.

Sean gambled on playing a very high line. I might have worked on another day as it was amazingly congested.
Pope 6
Lowton 4 easily our worst player. Bards back for me.
Tarkowski 9
Mee 6 with a -1 for the 2nd goal
Pieters 7 not bad considering who he was up against
Lennon 7
Westwood 6
Cork 6
McNeil 6
Barnes 6
Wood 6

Both Wood and Barnes had chances...

Pope 6
Lowton 5
Mee 4
Tarkowski 7*
Pieters 6
Lennon 6
Cork 5
Westwood 6
McNeil 6
Wood 6
Barnes 6

Pope 6 No chance with first 2 goals. Great save from Salah pushing shot onto post. Could have done better with third
Lowton 5
Mee 4 Very poor today and obvious give away for second
Tarks 8 MOM again by a mile
Pieters 4 Works hard but error prone. Get Taylor back
Lennon 3 What is our record when he starts ?
Cork 7
Westwood 7 Both CM`s did well considering
McNeil 6 ok but no end product and wasteful long range efforts with players in better positions
Wood 4 Missed another great early chance that could have changed the game. Not at fault for og
Barnes 3 Not his day Sorry Ash
JRod 4 No idea what he brings to the squad

Thought we were pretty good up to the one in a million og then we got progressively worse

Pope 6
Lowton 5
Tarks 8
Mee 6
Pieters 6

Lennon 6
Westwood 6
Cork 7
McNeil 7

Barnes 5
Wood 5

Not really a match to remember fondly.

Only seen it once love but I think Tarks could of helped out Mee with the 2nd. He was following the ball rather than marking the other attacker.

Pope 7
Lowton 4
Pieters 6
Mee 5
Tarkowski 7 (MOM)
Lennon 6
Cork 6
Westwood 6
McNeil 7
Wood 5
Barnes 5

Jay Rod 5

We made the European Champions look good. They hardly broke into a sweat !

From TV
Playing one of the 2 best clubs in Europe
Thought we gave a good account of ourselves and but for the unfortunate first goal may have had a different end to game

Pope 6
Lowton 7
Pieters 7
Tarkowski 8
Mee 6

Lennon 6
Cork 6
Westwood 6
MacNeil 6

Wood 7
Barnes 6

Pope 6
Lowton 5
Tarks 7
Mee 5
Pieters 6
Lennon 7
Westwood 6
Cork 6
McNeil 7
Barnes 6
Wood 5

Rodriguez 5

Pope. 6. Should have saved the first one
Lowton 4. Really poor today
Tarkowski 8. Showed some real class
Mee 6. A terrible mistake, but a lot of good play
Pieters 5. Up against very good players but...
Lennon 5. His cameos in the league this year have been good, but disappointing today
Westwood 6. Did what he could
Cork 7. Thought he did well with the ball most of the time
McNeil 7. Our most potent threat
Barnes 5. Opponents too good for him today
Wood. 5. See Barnes

Pope 6
Lowton 4
Mee 6
Tarkowski 8
Pieters 6
Lennon 6
Cork 5
Westwood 6
McNeil 7
Barnes 4
Wood 4

Pope - 7

Pieters - 5
Mee - 5
Tarkowski - 8
Lowton - 5

McNeil - 7
Westwood - 5
Cork - 5
Lennon - 7

Barnes - 6
Wood - 5

Taylor has to get back in that team.

Pope 6 - couldn’t tell from my seat about the 1st
Lowton 4 - didn’t seem to do anything right
Tarkowski 8 - composed and classy
Mee 6 - lost the game by trying to play it out instead of copying Dick Van Dyke and whacking it clear
Pieters 6 - some good interceptions
Lennon 6 - good trickery and much needed pace
Westwood 6 - not his best but up against some beasts today
Cork 7 - had a couple of good moments
McNeil 7 - did well against the defensively suspect Arnold
Barnes 6 - battled well against probably the world’s best defender
Wood 6 - ditto

One of those games where a I couldn’t work out if we were poor or they were excellent. Probably a bit of both.

The first goal was crucial and it seemed a freak. Pope shapes to come and collect so he is always on his toes, I suspect he couldn’t change and backtrack enough to catch it, rather than him deliberately leaving it, hard for me to tell, but cruel luck again in this fixture. The second though was beyond poor, so frustrating for Mee to be 99% solid but then hand them a goal by overplaying.

All in all though, they didn’t outplay us, they overpowered us. A rarity, both against us and in a top side, and is probably why this is the best first XI n the world - even including international sides. City have the best squad (slightly better than Barca), Liverpool the best side.

I think I’ll just sigh, crack a beer open, and move on to our next game.

I've never done ratings, as I prefer to sit and enjoy the game rather than keep notes on every players contribution, but Mcneil cost us the game with a stupid back heal leading to the second goal, yet he's getting high marks, Mee is getting pelters, but if Mcneil hadn't lost the ball in the first place Mee wouldn't have been involved in that passage of play.

Pope 5
Lowton 4
Mee 4
Tarkowski 7
Pieters 7
Lennon 5
Cork 5
Westwood 5
McNeil 5
Barnes 4
Wood 4

Pope 6. Strange goal was ok apart from that.
Lowton 3 woeful
Mee 3 tangled up with team mates and they assist for the 2nd.
Tarkowski 7* Out only defender to turn up today
Pieters 4 got torn to shreds today
Lennon 5 innefective
Cork 7 done well defensively but no options from front line.
Westwood 7 see cork
McNeil 7 tried to make things happen, our best forward player
Wood 4 if it wasn’t for the offsides wouldn’t have noticed him playing
Barnes 5 no service but never done much either

Rodriguez 6 done ok should be starting instead of Wood for me.

Dyche 4 set up the team as always, never deviated from the plan which wasn’t working.

Pope 7
Lowton 5
Tarkowski 8
Mee 6
Pieters 5
Lennon 6
Westwood 6
Cork 7
McNeil 6
Barnes 5
Wood 6

Pope 7 - hadn’t see the deflection so he gets two extra points as he played well other than the freak goal, which turns out he was not really to blame for.
Lowton 6
Pieters 5
Tarkowski 7
Mee 5
Lennon 6
Cork 8*. Thought he was comfortably our best player
Westwood 6
McNeil 7
Barnes 7
Wood 7
—
Rodriguez 7
—
Competed really well until the goal but the sloppiness of our passing, especially in the second half, was very frustrating. A very good Liverpool side didn’t have to break sweat. Van dijk imperious, Fabinho and Firmino the picks. Park it and move on. Looking forward to some kinder fixtures after the internationals. First four games 7 out of 10.

Pope 7
Lowton 4
Tarks 8
Mee 7 only made one mistake, but what a biggy
Pieters 7
Lennon 6
Westwood 6
Cork 6
McNeil 7
Barnes 6
Wood 5

Jay 5

The first 2 goals changed the game, even if the result would have been the same anyway. A fluke and a gift.
Liverpool haven't won 13 in a row, or become European Champions for nothing, they dont need luck like that.

On a positive if we are going to have luck against us, I'd rather it was against Liverpool than a Norwich or a Villa.

Finally games against Liverpool arent going to define our season.

Pope 7
Pieters 7
Lowton 5
Tarky 8
Mee 6
Cork 8*
Westwood 7
McNeil 6
Lennon 6
Barnes 6
Wood 6

Rodriguez 6

Pope 5 (-1)
Lowton 6
Tarkowski 9
Mee 6 (-1)
Pieters 8
Lennon 6
Westwood 8
Cork 6
McNeil 7
Barnes 5
Wood 6

Pope - 6 - Good save from Salah. Not so sure about the first goal. Doesn't seem to control his box as well as Heaton did/does.

Pieters - 6 - Considering he was up against Salah, he did okay. Isn't dynamic going forward but the cross for Barnes' goal against Southampton shows he does offer something up there.
Mee - 5 - A bit naff. Felt bad for him.
Tarkowski - 8* - Totally bonkers how he isn't in the England squad. Has everything.
Lowton - 4 - Worst I've seen him play. Looked rattled from early.

McNeil - 6 - Good tussle with Alexander-Arnold. Obviously a good player with massive potential but I'm not so sure we should be relying on him to start matches to the extent we are.That's two ninety minutes in a week and it showed, especially defensively. The first goal, as flukey as it was, involved Wood tracking back out of position to double up with Pieters, covering for McNeil. He looked knackered after about twenty-five minutes. Set pieces were dire, and have been for a while but that's a whole team thing rather than just McNeil.
Cork - 5 - I don't agree with all the negativity around him although his weaknesses were highlighted in the extreme today against much bigger, faster players.
Westwood - 5 - Pretty much the same as Cork. Neither of them are of Fabinho and Henderson's standard, hence they're at Burnley. Central midfield, you notice the difference more.
Lennon - 5 - It's probably a tactical thing, and he isn't as quick as he was, but he rarely takes the ball past a player. Although granted he was against either Robertson or Alexander-Arnold today so that's a difficult thing to do. Wasn't able to get his foot on the ball at all really and we missed some opportunities to release him early.

Barnes - 5 - Poor today. Wasn't helped by our insistence to play long balls straight to Van Dijk's fod but he didn't make the most of the scraps he had. Chose the wrong pass pretty much every time, should've done better with his shot first half and didn't seem to have that niggly pest persona today. But he was playing against the best centre half in the world so...
Wood - 5 - Similar to Barnes. He's a big lad but next to Matip and Van Dijk he looks like the lady who did/does the Golden Gamble tickets near the CFS.
Rodriguez - 5 - Seems a bit too inbetweeny. Great play for his chance but should've scored.

PhiladelphiaChris wrote:Pope 7
Lowton 6
Pieters 6
Mee 6
Tarkowski 8
Lennon 7
Cork 6
Westwood 7
McNeil 7
Wood 7
Barnes 6

Wood 7 you are having a laugh he was poor again yet stopped on for 90 mins and never yet again looked like scoring

Pope 5
Lowton 5
Tarkowski 9
Mee 5
Pieters 7
Lennon 6
Westwood 7
Cork 8
McNeil 8
Barnes 7
Wood 6

Pope - 7 the first is a fluke and he's little chance with the other two. Handled well otherwise and made a couple of good stops.

Lowton - 5 ok defensively but a bit short on the ball

Tarkowski - 9 seems odd giving a defender 9 after a 3 nil defeat but he didn't put a foot wrong and considering who he was facing, looking so composed and confident was some feat.

Mee - 7 obviously his error is the key moment in the game but aside from that he was decent

Pieters - 6 difficult day for him

Cork - 7 did really well today, although crowded out a few times

Westwood - 5 hasn't really carried his form through from last season, has he. Expecting Drinkwater to replace him after the break.

Lennon - 6 very good first half, put in a peach of a cross that TAA did well to defend under the bar

McNeil - 6 gave TAA a torrid time first half but faded after half time

Wood - 6 no real power on his shot early on but the way he took it down and turned inside was good. Shame that was about the last we really saw of him.

Barnes - 4 owned by van dijk

Rodriguez - 6 better than I expected he'd be

I'll take a 3-0 defeat to the full-strength European champions as the reality was this was a pretty even game up until the Chris Wood's arse got involved. They're a class side but we defended really well, created a few things and generally looked worthy of a draw. Mee's rick put paid to that and it was practically a stroll for Liverpool 2nd half.

Pope 7
Lowton 5
Pieters 7
Mee 7
Tarkowski 8
Lennon 7
Cork 7
Westwood 6
McNeil 8
Wood 5
Barnes 7

JAyRod 7

Pope 7
Lowton 4
Pieters 7
Mee 6
Tarkowski 8
Lennon 6
Cork 6
Westwood 7
McNeil 7
Wood 6
Barnes 6

JRod 6

Right_winger wrote: Pieters 4 got torn to shreds today
.

Really?
Ask Mo Salah how he played.
Pieters struggled at times but there aren't many games when someone contains Salah to the extent he did.
True he eventually got an assist, but it was an accidental one as Firminio took the ball off him.
Overall considering the quality of the opposition, Salah in particular occupying that flank, I thought he had a pretty solid game.

Pope 6
Lowton 4
Tarkowski 7
Mee 5
Pieters 6
Lennon 6
Westwood 6
Cork 6
McNeil 6
Barnes 5
Wood 6
Another game that went beyond us after a bright 30 minutes. A fluke and a horrendous mistake certainly didn’t help

Pope 6
Pieters 6
Mee. 5
Tarks 8*
Lowton 5
McNeill 7
Cork 6
Westwood 6
Lennon 7
Barnes 5
Wood 5

Jayrod 5

Pope 7
Lowton 4
Pieters 4
Mee 5
Tarkowski 8*
Lennon 5
Cork 6
Westwood 6
McNeil 7
Wood 5
Barnes 5

Rodriguez 5

Pope 6-Thought he looked one of our more assured performers
Lowton 4-Problem position last season, still a problem position IMO given the system we play
Tarkowski 8*-The only one of our players that looked totally comfortable against the opposition.
Mee 6-Switched off and it proved costly
Pieters 7-Thought he had a half decent game. Salah didn't get too much from him.
Lennon 5-Plenty of energy but no end product. Another who gave the ball away too easily
Westwood 6-Ok in parts
Cork 7-Our 2nd best player, he's started the season very well.
McNeil 5-Started the game brightly and gave the lad who scored the fluke a few problems but he faded badly thereafter.
Barnes 4-Surprised he wasn't hooked earlier. In VVD'd back pocket.
Wood 4-Very frustrating and that's when he's onside.

JayRod 7-He should have been introduced earlier. In fact he should have started. The one player in the final third who looked like he could unlock the back door.

Barring the first 30 minutes a very poor performance. Certainly our worst against Liverpool under SD. They won at a canter without having to break sweat.

Pieters plays well largely containing Mo Salah and yet Charlie is the answer when he gets the run around by Sunderland reserves...

Incredible scores of 3 and 4 for Pieters today. Looks like we’ll be getting calls to change the full backs every week.....

Pope 7
Lowton 4
Tarks 7
Mee 5
Pieters 5
Cork 4 (exposed as being too slow against average opposition, so nowhere near against this class)
Westwood 5
McNeil 6
Lennon 3 (had to check the team sheet to see he was actually on!)
Barnes 6
Wood 4

Jay Rod 6 (At least gave them a few iffy moments at the back)

We played reasonably well, if not particularly threateningly or passionately, until they scored what looked like a fluky first followed by a gift of a second. After that we became increasingly useless and if we'd played another 30 minutes my scores would have been down to minus ratings for most players. There was a time when we used to really get fired up for these sort of games and really go at them, even if eventually their class told in the end, but increasingly we just seem to be exposed as cannon fodder for the better teams and it's almost (well tbh it WAS) embarrassing. A sad, whimper of a performance.

This board is getting beyond a joke now. the low marks and comments are ridiculous. we were playing the European champions for gods sake. do you not get that.

I'm stunned by some marks higher than 4 for Wood, apart from the chance he had I thought he was shocking, lightweight,slow, always on his heels, looks bored half the time and constantly offside.