Liverpool 4-2 Everton first half player watch: How did Origi, Shaqiri and Lallana do?

Liverpool threw a selection curveball and picked Divock Origi, Xherdan Shaqiri and Adam Lallana to start against Everton. How did they do in the first half?

Jurgen Klopp wanted to keep his powder dry for the Bournemouth game on Saturday and as a result decided to rest Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Jordan Henderson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Reds Twitter was surprised at this decision, but it instantly yielded results as Liverpool took a rapid 2-0 lead.

They restored the two goal head following Michael Keane‘s scrappy goal 15 minutes before half time as the Reds regained control of a game that was quickly heating up. But how did the trio do? Scroll down as we take you through their first half performances.

Divock Origi

Divock Origi had the perfect reintroduction to the Liverpool side as he scored his fourth goal against Everton after just six minutes.

Sadio Mane hit the perfect pass to release Origi one-on-one with Jordan Pickford and it took the Belgian one touch to go around the England international and a second to hit the back of the net and begin raucous celebrations.

He added a second, and gave Dejan Lovren an outrageous assist, when Origi collected a quarterback style pass from Lovren, brought it down with one feather-like touch and finished with a gorgeous side-foot lob finish.

With not a lot else to do, Origi can be proud of his contribution.

Adam Lallana

We all thought that Adam Lallana would be in the side to cover the Fabinho role, but the former Southampton man often appeared in advanced areas but struggled to make an impact. One nice turn was ruined by a handball, another saw him get mobbed by two Everton players and lose the ball in a dangerous area.

Lallana didn’t see a lot of the ball but he closed people down fantastically and ran himself into the ground, exactly what you want to see from the player who Klopp trusts so much to do the hard yards.

Xherdan Shaqiri

Xherdan Shaqiri didn’t contribute very much and when he did the Swiss international did it at once as Shaqiri burst from right to left, picked up a delicate Mane reverse pass and slotted it past Pickford.

Trent Alexander-Arnold started it all by pinging a raking cross-field ball to Mane, who darted into the box, drew his man and then put Shaqiri through on goal. We all know that the Swiss international can hit the back of the net and this was a perfect reminder that he can play the inside forward role.

Shaqiri also displayed some fine fast feet as well as rapid acceleration as he raided down the right-hand side.

The forwards briefly struggled to see the ball as Everton grew into the second half, aided by the confidence boost gained by Michael Keane’s goal, but that didn’t last long as Liverpool regained their ascendancy and Mane added one more before the break.