Player ratings: Liverpool v Crystal Palace – Aug 19 2017

Liverpool worked hard for a 1-0 victory at Anfield against Crystal Palace. Here are the Player Ratings for today’s Premier League game:

A great result for the Reds today as they battled to a 1-0 win against Crystal Palace in the Premier League. It was the first game at Anfield this season and was wonderful to be back in front of the Kop. Opening games of the season always have that hope and spark that anything could happen this season.

Late goals in the opening two games have taken the shine off the start of the year but the crowd were in a good mood ready to see the Reds with their own eyes for the first time this season.

There had been calls all week to reshape the defense around after some shocking individual performances. Manager Jurgen Klopp obliged and made a host of changes to freshen his squad. The Champions League reverse fixture is this week and he wanted to keep some players ready for the huge second leg.

There were many changes in defense with Joe Gomez, Ragnar Klavan and Andrew Robertson coming in for Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dejan Lovren and Alberto Moreno. The clean sheet and solid defensive performance will hopefully mean it will be a while before we see Lovren and Milner in the first team.

In midfield, James Milner came in, for the rested Emre Can, alongside Henderson and Wijnaldum. Daniel Sturridge returned from injury and was straight into the lineup. Mohamed Salah made way to the bench.

Here are our Player Ratings for Liverpool v Crystal Palace:

Simon Mignolet – 6

Had little to do but did it all well. There have been times where his concentration has lapsed in games where he has not been busy but that was not true today. Made his saves and helped command the area to contribute to a much better defensive display.