8 Apr 2016

'Exceptional': Man Utd flop insists £10m star was Liverpool's 'best player' vs. Dortmund.

Who was Liverpool's man-of-the-match against Dortmund? The official LFC website named Mamadou Sakho as MoTM (based on a fan poll), but according to ex-Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves, a different LFC player deserved the award.

Analysing Liverpool's draw with Dortmund last night for BT Sport^, Hargreaves raved:

"I thought he [Origi] was exceptional. It was the perfect centre-forward job. Keeping the ball; bringing other players in the game. He was Liverpool’s best player on the day".

Origi put in an impressive performance, but like so many of Liverpool's attacking players, the Belgian is far too inconsistent in front of goal.

One game does not define a player, and prior to last night's draw with Dortmund, Origi had scored just one goal in nine hours of football (and one goal in 10 Europa League games this season), so forgive me if I'm not jumping on the 'Origi is better than Sturridge!' bandwagon.

Prior to the game, I questioned Origi's inclusion at the expense of Sturridge, and I stand by that view. Origi's goal doesn't change the fact that Sturridge is the infinitely superior player (in terms of prolificity), and if he'd been playing, it's possible that Liverpool might've won the game.

It's the principle that matters: Klopp selected a player with one goal in almost 9 hours of football over an established, prolific striker with 3 goals/assists in his last 4 games. Why? To prioritise running/pressing over creativity and guile. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't, and on this occasion, Klopp got lucky.

If Sturridge isn't contributing, then by all means, drop him, but prior to Dortmund, Sturridge weighed in with 3 goals/assists in 4 games, which is a good return given his long absence through injury.

As for Origi being 'Liverpool's best player' against Dortmund: Sakho and Lovren probably shade it, but irrespective of the merits of his inclusion, Origi did his job, so good for him. Hopefully, he'll be able to build on it.

Author: Jaimie K


0 Comments:

Post a Comment