Agree with all that. He was ****ing celebrating though after he did it. Have to say though, had VVD done that to Ronaldo I don't think their whole game plan would collapse like ours did. If Ramos is having a snide grin it's probably because he knows we don't have a plan B.
Anyway, only got up an hour ago, as I have been on nights (not last night) and caught up with some sleep before I commented, so here's my adjusted ratings:
Karius: 2. Did pull off a superb save to stop a patently offside Ronaldo header, but you should expect that as standard from a keeper at this level. The second Bale goal though was like something you see in in women's football and laugh. Didn't deserve not one Liverpool player, including the captain, not consoling him on the final whistle though.
TAA: 6 Took care of CR7 in the early stages, and got forward well in the first half hour. Gave the ball away far too much in the second half.
Robbo: 7.5 Proved he belongs at this level.
Lovren: 7.5 His best performance in a red shirt? I was astonished.
#
VVD: 7 We knew he'd be solid.
Hendo: 6 Gulf in quality between him and the likes of Kroos and Modric.
Milner: 5.5 Fine effort from the old warhorse, but he was shot two-thirds of the way through the game.
Windy: 6 Showed some surprisingly nice touches in that first hour, but became more and more anonymous as RM started taking control of the midfield.
Salah: 7 Had them petrified and was causing gaps on their left flank as they took two men to try and mark him. Who knows what might have been.
Bobby; 6.5 Another who had a fine half hour, then seem to visibly shrink when Salah went off.
Mane: 8 As Bobby shrunk, Mane grew. Really seemed to take it on his shoulders to try and fill the gap of Salah's loss. I've bneen on his back all season as a one-season-wonder: he stepped up to the plate imo last night.
Subs:
Lala; 5 Well, he's been out most of the season and it shows. Almost the moment he came on he had a great chance to set Mane free - and fluffed it. Touch all over the place. Wouldn't be surprised if next season is his last.
Klopp: 5.5 Couldn't help what happened to Salah, and Lala was the logical replacement. A weak bench really hampered his hand though - Real had bale waiting to come on at a critical time, we had.... nothing.
Team: 6.5 We were really needed to play at our best and hope they weren't, but above all have an even break of luck to win this - at least two parts of that equation were missing last night. We now need a CB (but not, perhaps, as critically as we did, seeing Lovren last night), a RB as TAA migrates towards midfield, a midfielder as well as Keita, and a decent striker to rotate with the other three. I can't help but think what we could have done with Ford last night: big mistake to let him go, whatever the tantrums, in January, unless we really did need the cash for VVD. Oh, and just pay that money for Allison - if VVD has taught us anything it is that sometimes when you are desperate for quality you just have to pay up.
Still been a far better season than I had feared though. Onwards and upwards.
