Liverpool’s Champions League exit against Paris Saint-Germain has led to strong reactions, with Ryan Gravenberch among those singled out despite a mixed performance at Anfield.
The Dutch midfielder played the full 90 minutes as we were knocked out 4-0 on aggregate, but not everyone was impressed with what they saw.
Taking to X during the match, former Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant gave a brutally honest assessment of the No.38’s display.
He wrote: “Gravenberch has been awful, calling it as I see it. Do you see how Liverpool don’t get a second on the ball?
“That folks is called pressing and you don’t need to be a ballon d’Or winner to do that, that’s work on the training pitch and the easiest thing to do out of everything.”
It’s a strong criticism, particularly around the pressing side of the game, which was an issue for us in the first half as PSG dominated possession and tempo.
From our perspective, there’s no doubt the midfield struggled at times, especially before the break when we couldn’t get control of the ball or impose ourselves physically.
However, the full picture tells a slightly more balanced story when you look at Gravenberch’s overall contribution.
The Netherlands international registered a 6.7 Sofascore rating, completed 32 of 42 passes, and contributed defensively with three tackles and three interceptions, showing he was still involved even if the game passed him by in spells.
He also attempted four shots and recorded an expected goals figure of 0.12, which highlights that he was trying to make things happen going forward during our improved second-half spell.
That’s important context, because while pressing and intensity were issues, he was far from the only one struggling against a PSG side that has reached the semi-finals in five of the last seven seasons.
Gravenberch has already faced criticism at international level too, with Ronald Koeman previously calling out his defensive positioning, although players like Moises Caicedo have also praised his quality on the ball.
In truth, this felt more like a collective issue than an individual one.
If anything, the 23-year-old’s display summed up where we are right now, flashes of quality, moments of frustration, and a team still searching for consistency at the highest level.
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Mac Allister should not play again this season for Liverpool. How many more chances is he going to get? Too slow, not interested, get rid now. No wonder Jones is upset, and he’s only just better.
This LFC team is disjointed, many factors can come into this, but that is always the lot of the manager, it is up to the manager to get a rhythm from that which he has to work with, in this Slot has failed – there can be no denying this! There was no real pressing from LFC in the first match and there was also no real pressing from us in the first half of this match. For mine Frimpong is not up to the level required to play in this team – so should not have started…we should have started with Ngumoha, Robertson should have started instead of Kerkez, Salah shoud have started instead of Isak, Nyoni should have started instead of MacAllister who has been atrocious on and off the ball all season/fallen off a cliff. In short Slot stuffed up the starting line up…I really think he has been desperate for some time now with the results achieved and has been clutching at straws as to what to do – because he does not know. He should be sacked at the end of the season and Ariola should replace him. YNWA!
Don’t think kerkez did anything wrong ,my problem with the midfield is if he leaves out one of them it’s always Jones who comes in, and I think everyone knows now my opinion on him, not good enough never will be I’ve been banging the drum for young trey nyoni for a long time ,has everything pace can tackle see a pass defend all the things that Jones can’t do .time to give him a go
Yeah like pennants the great coach wasn’t even a very good player, certainly not in gravs class
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