After a stunning 2-1 victory over Manchester United last time out, Huddersfield Town came into the game against Liverpool full of confidence.
David Wagner’s players grew steadily into the game, and after Jonas Lössl made a penalty save in the 42nd minute it was Huddersfield who were happier at the break.
Liverpool, however, came out flying in the second half and Daniel Sturridge quickly opened the scoring by capitalising on a misplaced pass from Town captain Tommy Smith. Roberto Firmino doubled the Reds’ lead only eight minutes later from a corner which should have been defender better by Huddersfield.
Georginio Wijnaldum added a third goal in the 75th minute to guarantee a win for Liverpool to take Klopp’s men up to sixth place. Pre-game, the visitors wouldn’t have been expected to take points away from Merseyside and finished Saturday afternoon in thirteenth place.
Here is how the visitors faired at Anfield.
Terrier’s defence came under immense pressure
Jonas Lössl - 7/10: The Danish keeper made a low diving save to his left to prevent Mohamed Salah scoring from the penalty spot late in the first half. He was left exposed for Sturridge’s goal and could also do nothing about the hosts' other two goals.
Tommy Smith – 5/10: It was a day to forget for the Huddersfield skipper as he first gave away the penalty, as the referee correctly judged him to have been holding Firmino’s shirt from a Liverpool set-piece. A poor header from Smith in the second half sent Sturridge racing through on Lossl’s goal gifting the English striker a chance he couldn’t miss.
Mathias Jørgensen – 7/10: The ever-confident ‘Zanka’ once again was a standout performer in the Terriers' backline. In a game where most of the play was in the defensive half it is no surprise Jørgensen made the most clearances. His highlight was a crucially important interception to deny Firmino a chance on goal in the first half, after Salah had made a darting run down the right-wing.
Christopher Schindler – 6/10: Much like his centre-back partner, Schindler found himself covering the mistakes of his teammates around him. The commanding German came unstuck in the second half by the quality of the Liverpool attackers.
Chris Löwe – 5/10: Matching up against Liverpool’s new no. 11 was never going to be an easy task. Löwe did well to keep the Egyptian winger quiet in the first 45 minutes, however, Salah’s quality was too much for the ever-present left-back in the second half.
Midfielders too often caught in possession
Jonathan Hogg – 7/10: Hogg deserves praise for making plenty of key tackles to prevent Liverpool from scoring even more. The industrious midfielder read the game well and broke up waves of Liverpool attacks.
Danny Williams – 5/10: It was a poor game from the American midfielder, in which he made only four successful passes and just one tackle. Williams may have been overawed by the occasion though, after he spoke in the week about playing at Anfield being his “childhood dream”.
Aaron Mooy 6/10: The Australian took all the plaudits last weekend in his fine display against Manchester United, but by contrast this week he was at fault for the second Liverpool goal. Mooy lost Firmino from the corner and the Brazilian attacker managed to get in front to tap home from close range.
Town’s attackers received little service
Rajiv van La Parra – 6/10: The winger worked hard off the ball in the first half to help ensure the team didn’t concede in the opening stages of the game. However, after replacing the injured Kachunga against United, he was the one who had to be substituted with a problem in the 34th minute.
Tom Ince 6/10: Ince struggled to get into the game against his former club as Liverpool’s continuous attack’s pinned back the winger, preventing him from creating anything further up the pitch.
Laurent Depoitre 6/10: The striker was left isolated at the head of Huddersfield’s attack. Despite this, the Belgian continue to press the Liverpool defence and won almost all of his aerial duels.
Substitutes
Elias Kachunga 6/10: Replaced van La Parra in the first half. Like all of the attackers who started the game, Kachunga found it hard to impose himself.
Florent Hadergjonaj replaced Smith, who had made numerous errors in the game. Steve Mounié also joined the game at the same time, a welcomed return for Wagner after his record-signing had been sidelined for the past month with an injury. Neither were on for long enough to be rated.