Liverpool Player Ratings vs. Villarreal: Reds Recover From Disastrous Start

Liverpool overcame a wretched start to Tuesday’s Champions League encounter with Villarreal and claimed a 4–3 victory over the Yellow Submarine on Matchday 3 of the league phase.

The very worst of Andoni Iraola’s Reds manifested in the opening 35 minutes, as a Villarreal side familiar with Iraola’s ideals took full advantage of a team struggling to perform as instructed.

A Virgil van Dijk mistake was seized upon superbly by Georges Mikautadze after four minutes, and Iñigo Pérez’s visitors ventured toward dreamland on Merseyside when unlikely goalscorer Sergi Cardona doubled their advantage just before the half-hour mark.

Liverpool’s resurgence was crucially ignited before things worsened, and Alexis Mac Allister’s leap from Kostas Tsimikas immediately brought them back into the game. Cardona then cancelled out his strike at the other end by allowing Ronald Araújo to equalize at the back post, meaning the hosts boasted all the momentum entering the second half.

And Iraola’s side suddenly performed with newfound control with the contest level. Their assurance evolved into a final-third spurt, as Mac Allister scored his second and Florian Wirtz opened the floodgates. It seemed like a procession, but Tani Oluwaseyi’s late strike set up a nervy conclusion from nowhere.

No equalizer arrived, though.

One Thing We Can’t Ignore

Iraola was up against a very familiar face in Iñigo Pérez, who was his assistant at Rayo Vallecano and was set to join him at Bournemouth, only to be denied a work permit.

The Liverpool manager said Pérez “knows everything” about him, and it certainly looked as if the apprentice had all the answers to the test at Anfield.

Iraola is defined by his work out of possession, and his Liverpool team is a work in progress. It was evident before Brentford went down to 10 at the weekend, and even more distinct during the opening 35 minutes on Tuesday evening. Pérez’s Villarreal rotated freely in a bid to disorient Liverpool’s man-to-man pressure, and the technical level of the visitors meant they seized upon the Reds’ confusion without the ball.

Villarreal’s second goal typified just how poor Liverpool were to begin this match, with a litany of players late to assignments as the Yellow Submarine went from back to front. Left back Sergi Cardona burst in behind to finish past Alisson.

At that moment, the Anfield faithful feared the worst. Fortunately, Iraola’s facilitation of chaos helped them back into the contest, and the control they asserted after the restart, with the match suddenly all square, showcased their volatility. We saw two completely different Liverpool teams on Tuesday.

Liverpool Player Ratings vs. Villarreal (4-2-3-1)

*Ratings provided by FotMob*

GK: Alisson—5.7: Won’t be happy, given the three concessions. Issues laid ahead of him.

RB: Ronald Araújo—7.4: The Uruguayan scored in successive Champions League games, creeping in at the back post to head home from Rio’s teasing delivery left by goalscorer Cardona. Withdrawn at halftime.

CB: Jérémy Jacquet—6.5: An imperfect showing from the gifted Frenchman. Jacquet was unnerved by Villarreal’s directness early on.

CB: Virgil van Dijk—5.5: No one was more relieved by Liverpool’s fightback than their captain, whose error directly led to Villarreal’s opening goal. There was much to dislike about the Reds’ display in the opening 35 minutes, and Van Dijk typified their shoddiness.

LB: Kostas Tsimikas—8.4: Few would argue that the Greek international boasts the requisite quality. Still, his set-piece delivery helped Liverpool back into the game.

CM: Trey Nyoni—7.9: There’s plenty for Nyoni to improve without the ball, but he’s ever so easy on the eye in possession. Performs like a mini-Gravenberch, given his ability to resist and roll past pressure.

CM: Alexis Mac Allister—9.3: The Argentine’s best work so far this term has arrived in this competition. Mac Allister’s header inspired his team, and he crashed the box brilliantly to hand Liverpool the advantage after the hour mark.

RW: Rio Ngumoha—8.9: This was a definitive showing from the teenager, who’s had a relatively slow start to the season. Rio is blessed with the skill set of a seasoned winger, and that came to the fore majestically on a sodden Anfield field. Villarreal couldn’t cope with the youngster’s ebullience.

AM: Ryan Gravenberch—7.0: Had his thunder stolen by Nyoni. Gravenberch looks uncomfortable ahead of the ball, and he was caught out at the back post late when he moved to right back.

LW: Cody Gakpo—8.5: Gakpo’s early-season conviction remains intact despite his injury. There was no goal for the Dutchman here, yet he looked sharp throughout.

ST: Lewis Koumas—6.4: Koumas was lost amid Liverpool’s early mess, struggling to combine with Gakpo. He produced a couple of clever flicks, but not much else.

SUB: Florian Wirtz (46’ for Araújo)—8.6: A good time to enter the fray, and Wirtz scored his first goal for the club since April.

SUB: Alexander Isak (67’ for Koumas)—6.1: A quiet cameo for the Swede.

SUB: Bradley Barcola (74’ for Ngumoha)—6.4: Didn’t see much of Barcola either.

SUB: Joe Gomez (74’ for Jacquet)—6.7: Made a couple of interventions in his box.

SUB: James McConnell (81’ for Nyoni)—N/A

Subs not used: Giorgi Mamardashvili (GK), Freddie Woodman (GK), Joe Gomez, Wellity Lucky, Milos Kerkez, Jayden Danns, Luke Chambers, Michael Laffey.

What the Ratings Tell Us

• Plenty have projected the imminent demise of Virgil van Dijk over the years, only to be proven wrong by the Dutchman. Van Dijk has so far defied Father Time, but his previous two outings have revealed a defender who’s no longer recognizable from his apex.
• It wasn’t exclusively positive for Liverpool’s kids, with striker Lewis Koumas struggling to offer much more than energy as the leader of the hosts’ attack. However, Rio Ngumoha and Trey Nyoni were notable bright spots. Both are blessed with the requisite talent to not only star for the Reds in the future, but contribute heavily in the present. This was Rio’s most explosive outing of the season, and we’re going to have to get used to Anfield bellowing out his name in fervent unison.
• Alexis Mac Allister may well earn himself a new Liverpool contract based on his Champions League performances alone.

The Numbers That Explain Liverpool’s Fightback

• At 18 years, 52 days old, Rio Ngumoha became the third-youngest player to provide multiple assists in a Champions League game behind Warren Zaïre-Emery (17 years, 231 days) and Theo Walcott (17 years, 250 days).
• Liverpool restored parity before the halftime interval, but they still surrendered more xG (1.12) than they created (0.83). The tide turned in the second half, with the Reds winning the xG battle 1.54 to 0.45.
• After winning just 52% of ground duels in the first half, Liverpool won 71% after the restart, helping them establish control.