Pranav Shahaney

Tue 4 October 2022 21:53, UK Updated Tue 4 October 2022 22:10, UK

Rangers suffered their third defeat in this season’s Champions League which has all but sealed their exit as they lost 2-0 to Liverpool on Tuesday night.

Liverpool opened the scoring through Trent Alexander-Arnold in the first half and Mo Salah scored a penalty in the second half to seal the points.

Rangers played the entire game on the counter and rarely threatened the Reds goal.

Here are our player ratings from Anfield:

Allan McGregor – 8

The real reason the scoreline is respectable from a Rangers perspective is McGregor. The veteran goalkeeper rolled back the years as he made remarkable saves all through the game. He registered eight saves and it could have been four or five had he not been between the sticks.

James Tavernier – 3

Did his best while going forward but was not the most sound defensively and got exposed on a few occasions. His passing was also wayward at times and he’s certainly got to be disappointed with that effort.

Leon King – 2

Clearly, the decision to go with a back five and get King in was one that failed as he struggled to keep up with the constant movement of the Reds attackers. It’s a harsh but important lesson that he’ll have learnt today.

Connor Goldson – 6

Was arguably the best outfielder for Rangers and much like McGregor was the reason why Rangers conceded just two goals. He was comfortable carrying the ball out of defence and often played accurate long passes that led to counter attacks.

Ben Davies – 3

Not the happiest of returns for Davies to Anfield and he’ll certainly want to get this result out of his head as soon as possible. There were certain positives, especially in terms of his passing, but defensively he’s got plenty to improve.

Borna Barisic – 4

Started ahead of Ridvan Yilmaz as many expected and cannot really be blamed for most of what happened throughout the game. Rarely got a chance to venture forward and relatively did what was expected of him in defence.

Malik Tillman – 1

Having been brought back into the squad, many expected Tillman to get on the ball more and make things happen, but he did everything apart from that. In 66 minutes on the pitch, he completed just three passes and was absolutely horrific from kick-off. This may lead to him being dropped in the league games as well.

Steven Davis – 4

Put in a shift in midfield and was relatively reliable with his passing. Was caught out of position on a number of occasions and that’s not entirely his fault as Liverpool’s midfielders were too good on the night.

John Lundstram – 2

Was one of the worst players on the pitch as he did not enjoy a happy return to England. Lost half of his ground duels in midfield and made some needless challenges for which he deservedly got a yellow card. Clearly not what van Bronckhorst would’ve wanted from him.

Ryan Kent – 4

Looked threatening on occasion, but was bereft of any support going forward. The Gers side played far too deep and he could do little to spoil the party for his former side.

Alfredo Morelos – 1

There were plenty of eyebrows raised when the lineups were out as Morelos did little to suggest he deserves to start over Antonio Colak. Van Bronckhorst possibly thought that he would be physically imposing and make life difficult for Liverpool, but none of that happened. The Colombian lost all of his aerial duels and struggled to even get involved in the build-up.

Subs

Glen Kamara – 5

Ryan Jack – 4

Rabbi Matondo – 2

Fashion Sakala – 3

Antonio Colak – 4

In other Rangers news, the club now had a record-breaking striker on trial at Ibrox and he’s gone on to make headlines in the United Kingdom.