Again, another poor Liverpool performance and another difficult decision picking a suitable man of the match for a Liverpool loss.
After the very, very dismal performance in Wales against Swansea on Monday night. You’d have thought Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool would want to bounce back and breeze through to the 5th round of the FA Cup for the first time in 3 years.
This looked like it might have happened after the classy Bobby Firmino chipped a wayward Ben Foster and the ball nestled into the back of the net. However, before the replays even finished showing the Brazilians goal, Jay Rodriguez levelled for West Brom.
The rest of the game was crazy. VAR was used at least 3 times, Firmino missed a penalty and West Brom ended the game with only nine fit players.
The games man of the match was Jay Rodriguez who bagged twice. The former Southampton man continued his fine form, now bagging 5 in 6 games.
Firmino could have also had a brace if he didn’t strike his penalty against the bar. Although the miss was costly, I cannot see another Liverpool player to pick for man of the match.
Nowhere near his silky, stylish best Bobby worked as he always does but he and the rest of the team struggled to break down a resilient West Brom side.
He had the most positive influence on the game from a Liverpool perspective. Apart from the missed penalty, he was at the heart of what Liverpool did do well.
Scoring a beautiful goal after Salah struck his effort straight at Ben Foster. He also had another chance which Mane set up for him, but the effort was well blocked. His touch set up Salah for the final goal of the game, claiming an assist on a poor night for all in red.
Ings may have been in with a shout after a hopeful energetic cameo. But the Englishman lacks that composure and creativeness in front of goal he had before his injury problems.
Firmino was far from his brilliant best, but I believe there was nobody else worthy.