Liverpool August squad rankings: Sturridge falls, Mane rises

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 14: Sadio Mane of Liverpool and team mates celebrate his goal with Jurgen Klopp, Manager of Liverpool during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Liverpool at Emirates Stadium on August 14, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

After four competitive matches for Liverpool in 2016/17, what does the squad’s hierarchy look like? Who’s been best?

August has been a very, well, Liverpool month.

They had a few preseason matches left and on back to back days before the season. They beat Barcelona 4-0 then lost to Mainz to the same scoreline. What could be more Liverpool than that?

Their form continued to vacillate once real games begun as well. Because of course it did.

The competitive matches kicked off with a high of beating Arsenal 4-3 at The Emirates directly followed with a painful 2-0 loss to Burnley a week later. It reverted to the average of just kind of disappointed with a 1-1 draw against Tottenham when Liverpool really deserved three points but their inability to put Spurs away cost them. Sandwiched in there was a 5-0 bullying of Burton in the 2nd round of the League Cup with a very strong XI.

Some players like Loris Karius and Emre Can figured to be involved in all of these games, but injuries cost them that. Daniel Sturridge figured to be involved in all of these games, and it wasn’t even an injury for him (finally), it was just Jurgen Klopp preferring Robrto Firmino through the center.

This month has seen Klopp persist with the notion that James Milner can play fullback as well as the sore sight of Simon Mignolet remaining in goal.

Liverpool’s nine goals in all competitions this month has been divvied up egalitarian with only two players having multiple goals. No one player has scored in separate matches, either. Philippe Coutinho and Sturridge lead the team with a pair of goals each.

Last month’s preseason rankings can be found here and this is what they looked like:

13: Danny Ings, 12: Jordan Henderson, 11. Loris Karius, 10. Nathaniel Clyne, 9. Dejan Lovren, 8. Joel Matip, 7. Divock Origi, 6. Adam Lallana, 5. Sadio Mane, 4. Emre Can, 3. Daniel Sturridge, 2. Roberto Firmino, 1. Philippe Coutinho.

Going to be a bit different this go ’round.

13. Gini Wijnaldum (no ranking last month)

If someone had told me after three Premier League matches that Wijnaldum would have started all of them, I’d have incredulously dismissed whoever that someone was. Even armed with the knowledge that Klopp is a big fan of Wijnaldum, I just didn’t think his role would be that large.

Of course, that’s what would go on to happen irrespective of my surprise.

The attacking midfielder has largely been asked to play more of a box-to-box style and hasn’t particularly put his stamp on any of the matches he’s played in, but certainly hasn’t been the worst player in the team. The word ‘anonymous’ comes to mind when thinking about his exploits thus far for his new club.

Wijnaldum’s Liverpool career has been fine, decent enough. When not judged on the Sadio-Mane-Scale, it’s really not all that bad. But of the new boys, he’s only outpacing Marko Grujic and Alex Manninger as Ragnar Klavan and Joel Matip have landed well.

When Can recovers from injuries, Wijnaldum may be the first name dropped.

LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 17: Divock Origi of Liverpool during the Barclays Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool at White Hart Lane on October 17, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)

12. Divock Origi (down five places)

In three Premier League games, Liverpool started just one game with one recognized striker. Their one loss. That striker was Sturridge. In the other two, it was just Firmino up top, an attacking midfielder.

Origi hasn’t yet been the beneficiary of Sturridge’s misfortunes this season as the Belgian has usually been next to Sturridge on the bench. But he’s usually beat him off it, though, like against Tottenham. Though Origi didn’t have a chance to really get into the game, it was telling to see him join the action ahead of Sturridge.

Throughout the preseason, Origi flashed the same form he had left off on last season with Liverpool when he did usurp Sturridge in the lineup.

With regular playing time the goals will come but regular playing time may be tough to come by with all the options in attack combined with the lack of European football.

BURTON UPON TRENT, ENGLAND – AUGUST 23: Daniel Sturridge of Liverpool shoots at goal during the EFL Cup second round match between Burton Albion and Liverpool at Pirelli Stadium on August 23, 2016 in Burton upon Trent, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

11. Daniel Sturridge (down eight places)

August hasn’t been too kind to Sturridge, maybe his birthday month of September will be a bit more charitable. #SeptembersVeryOwn

Sturridge would’ve figured to, well, figure more for Klopp’s Liverpool. He made just one start in those four games and it came in the one loss to Burnley.

Poor Sturridge didn’t have much of a chance that day.

After they gifted Burnley a lead within two minutes, it was always going to be difficult for a striker to play alone against two banks of four backed down to their box. They only times he really had a chance to even touch the ball, let alone have a little bit of space is when he’d drop closer to the midfield stripe to remind the commentators that he was actually playing and not off injured elsewhere.

The striker did score two goals in one start and a couple of substitute appearances: a double against Burton off the bench in the 5-0 thrashing of the Championship side.

With Klopp fancying a 4-3-3 rather than a 4-2-3-1 to begin the season, Sturridge faces a tough outlook on preferred playing time. Klopp continues to toss Roberto Firmino at center forward and pushes Sturridge wide, if in the team at all. With Can’s return to the lineup, maybe Liverpool can revert to the successful 4-2-3-1 and drop Firmino into the no. 10 and allow Sturridge– a borderline world class center forward– to play center forward.

BURNLEY, ENGLAND – AUGUST 20: Andre Gray of Burnley takes on Dejan Lovren and Ragnar Klavan of Liverpool during the Premier League match between Burnley FC and Liverpool FC at Turf Moor on August 20, 2016 in Burnley, England. (Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)

10. Ragnar Klavan (no ranking last month)

Klavan is not Kolo Toure 2.0, that’s for sure. Nor is he the defensive reincarnation of The Rickie Lambert Experience of 2014/15. He’s not here necessarily to just make up the numbers, he proved he can play a little, too.

With Matip unavailable in the first two matches of the season, Klopp confidently turned to Klavan. He’s done so well that Klopp is confident treating Mamadou Sakho as if he’s a disgruntled youth teamer asking for too much, saying he should leave on loan to play. There have been rumors that’ve gone as far as to say that Klopp told Sakho he wouldn’t play a game this season if he stayed. Without Klavan, that reported threat isn’t possible.

The Estonian wasn’t unveiled in the same light as Matip and he’s still not someone who’ll expect to be ever-present in the Premier League season, but he’ll be more than Toure. He’s not only going to play in crisis and he won’t just be happy that he’s here, like Lambert admitted he was.

The no nonsense defender fared better at Arsenal than he did against Burnley, though, as he had a hand in the first goal. He did Nathaniel Clyne no favors with the initial ball into him though it was Clyne’s mistake that directly led to the goal.

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 27: James Milner of Liverpool celebrates scoring his sides first goal during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool at White Hart Lane on August 27, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

9. James Milner (no ranking last month)

My favorite thing about James Milner is that he’s Liverpool’s penalty taker. It breaks stereotypes as he’s surrounded by flair Brazilians, deadly finishers and better tacticians but the Englishman nicknamed Boring James Milner is the man handed the penalty duties.

Milner is a fantastic penalty taker, of course, but non-Liverpool fans would have to take a lot of guesses to figure Milner as the taker.

General football fans might assume Philippe Coutinho. If not, maybe Roberto Firmino. Sturridge if he’s on the pitch, possibly Origi if he’s around. Not any of them? Well, okay, Germans are good at pens, right? So Emre Can? No? Sadio Mane? Adam Lallana is good with his feet? No? Wijnaldum is a good finisher? What– Milner? No way.

I love that.

The poor guy, though, has been shackled to left back simply because he’s professional enough to have the ability to be adequate despite playing winger his whole career as well as central midfield, a position he was promised to play when signing for Liverpool. That would have been a deal breaker, nonetheless. To play Devil’s Advocate here, I wonder if he’d prefer left back or left bench?

At any rate, long live Jimmy Milner, the consummate professional.

BURTON UPON TRENT, ENGLAND – AUGUST 23: Nathaniel Clyne of Liverpool during the EFL Cup match between Burton Albion and Liverpool at Pirelli Stadium on August 23, 2016 in Burton upon Trent, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

8. Nathaniel Clyne (up two places)

As previously alluded to, Clyne had a foreign feeling two minutes into the match against Burnley: he was at fault for a goal.

The safe defender went off-brand to attempt a risky pass through the center to help jumpstart a Liverpool attack, instead he injected steroids into a frail Burnley side and gave them the strength to hold off Liverpool with that lead they so craved.

Clyne will be fine though. He’s always fine. He hasn’t quite gotten to the regular 7-out-of-10 performances we’re so accustomed to watching him do without any fuss, furor or flair but he’s going to be okay.

Once the defense is sorted to what it was schemed to be behind closed doors with Klopp and his staff, it has the chance to be at least reputable. Clyne, Matip, Lovren and either Moreno or Milner in front of Loris Karius is a fantastic proposition for a team that was used to seeing Mignolet, Skrtel, Glen Johnson and Toure frequent those slots in years past.

WIGAN, ENGLAND – JULY 17: Joel Matip of Liverpool during a pre-season friendly between Wigan Athletic and Liverpool at JJB Stadium on July 17, 2016 in Wigan, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

7. Joel Matip (up one place)

Fans had to wait two matches, which in today’s ADD-centric culture is a bit of a problem, but Matip showed what we’d all been waiting for: a strong presence in defense, a real spine to the team. With Dean Lovren, Liverpool might actually finally have a reputable central defense pairing for the first time in what feels like my entire life.

Who was the last pair that incited this much excitement? Jamie Carragher-Sami Hyypia? Martin Skrtel-Danny Agger?

Matip helped keep a clean sheet against Burton (huge accomplishment, I know) then had a huge hand in suppressing Harry Kane when Liverpool drew with Tottenham.

The Cameroonian’s defending was sleek, he was deceptively well at keeping possession and transitioning the ball from defense to the midfield. He added a presence ahead of Simon Mignolet that almost made me accepting of the fact that Simon Mignolet was in goal. Almost.

On attacking set pieces Matip will be an absolutely menace to the opposition. When have Liverpool had a dead ball target like this? It never seemed like Andy Carroll nor Christian Benteke thrived on set pieces but Skrtel was adept in the air. Is it him, is Skrtel the last real threat Liverpool had?

If that’s the case, Matip is even better. Maybe this is nothing we’ve seen in the past few years. The defender was regularly on the scoresheet for Schalke and is expected to be for Liverpool as well. He nearly won a penalty against Tottenham from a corner and knocked a header off the crossbar. I’m so ready for this.

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 06: Jordan Henderson of Liverpool applauds after the International Champions Cup 2016 match between Liverpool and Barcelona at Wembley Stadium on August 6, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)

6. Jordan Henderson (up six places)

If you’re selling your Henderson stock, I’ll buy it. All of it. I may as well be in the passenger seat of the Jordan Henderson bandwagon. It’s nice, there’s an abundance of hair products on board.

Even though he’s playing deeper that what’s natural or best suited for him, Henderson has played in the deep no. 6 role. He doesn’t have much of a chance to burst forward and press and get high and shout “F–K OFF” at the linesman and clap to Sturridge when he misses a chance and everything else that he loves to do, but he has done fine deeper. Against Tottenham, one may be inclined to say that he ran the game for large portions of the game.

When Can returns, a line that’s been written far too much at this point, Henderson will get to play box to box more. Even if Klopp returns to the 4-2-3-1, but if he stays 4-3-3, imagine the pressing game with Henderson next to Lallana with the security anchor of Can behind them? Madness.

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 06: Dejan Lovren of Liverpool during the International Champions Cup 2016 match between Liverpool and Barcelona at Wembley Stadium on August 6, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)

5. Dejan Lovren (up four places)

Think back just one season ago: who could’ve foreseen Lovren anchoring the defense? Who could’ve foreseen him growing closer and closer to being an integral member of the squad?

This is why players shouldn’t be written off so easily. Opinions are cemented much too soon these days and there are too many quick fire reactions. Everyone has bad days, and Lovren had a ton of them, but he persevered and now look at him.

Matip and Lovren are in the nascent stages of a fantastic partnership, the framework is there and evident for all to see. The spine with those two and Karius is something Liverpool fans couldn’t have dreamed of last year.

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 27: Adam Lallana of Liverpool in action during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool at White Hart Lane on August 27, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

4. Adam Lallana (up two places)

A box-to-box midfield role for Lallana is absolutely brilliant, especially in this Liverpool team that situates themselves so high up the field. It gives him the familiar confides of where he’d be located at attacking midfield for Southampton.

In a slightly deeper position, Lallana isn’t crucially relied upon for goals or assists. That was the biggest knock on him since joining from the south coast club: his end product for Liverpool.

Playing deeper, he gets to do Lallana things like mercilessly hunt the ball out of possessions and complete all the Cruyff turns his heart desires when on the ball. It’s a perfect situation for all.

That’s why the chief argument for sticking with the 4-3-3 even after Can returns, it seems to get the best out of the midfield. Of course, the 4-2-3-1 does the best job for the strikers so it’s an interesting debate to have.

While it may have taken a little while, Lallana has absolutely proved his worth at Liverpool, validating the fee needed to pluck him from Southampton.

SANTA CLARA, CA – JULY 30: Roberto Firmino of Liverpool FC celebrates a goal during the International Champions Cup match against AC Milan at Levi’s Stadium on July 30, 2016 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)

3. Roberto Fimino (down one place)

This is an early leader for favorite individual picture of the year. Lot of football left to play, though.

Firmino is the king of appearing to do nothing while doing everything. The only thing you may remember about his match against Tottenham was that he was clumsily taken down by Erik Lamela for a penalty. That’s nice, but it seemed more of a mistake by Lamela than positive from Firmino.

The 10 seconds prior to Firmino’s heel being clicked by the winger was too easily forgotten. He did well to win a throw in, then keep possession before expertly getting to the endline past Lamela then put himself in front of the winger looking to rectify a mistake. Fantastic.

Earlier than that, thanks to Coutinho scuffing a chance, you’re forgiven if you’ve forgotten that he rolled the ball on a platter for his compatriot to score.

Firmino marauds the pitch at a pace somewhere between a jog and a sprint seemingly at all times. He’s liable to be anywhere past the midfield stripe– left, right, center, deep, shallow. He’s everywhere. His only problem is that he’s not all so great at playing wide which helps cause the Sturridge conundrum.

Other than that, he’s class. Any analyst who tells you different, or that he’s inconsistent, doesn’t watch Liverpool games, they just breeze over match highlights.

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 06: Sadio Mane of Liverpool during the International Champions Cup 2016 match between Liverpool and Barcelona at Wembley Stadium on August 6, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)

2. Sadio Mane (up three places)

There’s been a ton of content fawning over how fantastic the Senegalese attacker has been literally since the day he arrived at Liverpool, straight down to his introductory interview and unveiling pictures.

But there’s never enough Mane.

When Liverpool splurged north of £30million for the former Southampton man, there were nervous whispers “well that might have been a little too much…” going about the room. But after four competitive matches, there’s more of a (half?) joking regular-talking-voice of confident “what a bargain!” going about the room.

Mane missed one match and there’s no coincidence that it was his new club’s most anemic, toothless attacking display of the (young) season. One would imagine that the training collusion that caused the shoulder injury that Mane was nursing during the 2-0 loss at Burnley would’ve been more exciting than anything to happen for the Reds in that match.

It’s Gucci Mane.

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 14: Philippe Coutinho of Liverpool celebrates scoring his free kick during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Liverpool at Emirates Stadium on August 14, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

1. Philippe Coutinho (no change)

The preseason number one has retained his place atop Liverpool’s power rankings. He showed the world his match winning capabilities when he helped dismantle Arsenal with two goals en route to a four spot being hung on Arsene Wenger’s side.

Liverpool may not have had a chance to be in that game if not for Coutinho’s excellence. As over simplified as it may be, goals change games. Arsenal were ahead on the stroke of halftime. Liverpool had their moments, but it wasn’t reflected in the scoreline.

An innocuous foul was given for Klopp’s men about 30 yards away from goal, and Coutinho smashed it home. He gave his side the momentum going into halftime and they absolutely steamrolled Arsenal the opening 15 minutes of the second half, when Coutinho grabbed his second of the day.

If not for the free kick, the Reds may not have had the opportunity to pick up all three points on the day. Games turn on moments, and Coutinho’s best moment is just as good as any player in the world.

Why he’s not in the conversation for one of the top few players in the Premier League, though, is his consistency. He’s still working at it. He, like everyone else wearing the Liverbird on their chest, had an off day against Burnley. It was rife with wayward attempts from 25 yards.

Against Tottenham he played well, though missed an opportunity to score after four minutes. A finish he probably finishes in training nine times out of ten. He’s working at it, but he’s got the potential to jump to bona fide world class status this season.