Andy Naylor and Brian Owen rate the Albion players in the 1-0 defeat by Livepool.

DAVID BUTTON 7: Can say he has not conceded in open play against the two Merseyside clubs. Dealt well with crosses and did what little was asked of him in terms of shot-stopping. Kicking could have been more accurate.

MARTIN MONTOYA 7: Spaniard handled Mane well. It wasn't easy down the right, with the adventurous Robertson as well. Likes to get forward, which occasionally left Albion vulnerable.

SHANE DUFFY 7: Showed his defensive strengths, particularly in the air, with a determined display. Shame there were not more set pieces to be a threat at the other end.

LEWIS DUNK 8: The captain continued his consistently good form. Defensively strong and composed in tight areas with the ball at his feet around his own penalty area.

GAETAN BONG 7: Sound return to the starting line-up in place of the injured Bernardo. If it had been him one-on-one, not Gross, Salah may not have fashioned the crucial penalty.

PASCAL GROSS 6: Delivered a couple of decent curling crosses and had a shot blocked at 0-1. But his day will be recalled for the penalty – just when he appeared to have done a good job holding up Salah.

DALE STEPHENS 6: A central part of a very disciplined performance. Sometimes needed to shift the ball more quickly – not easy when passing lanes are blocked.

The Argus: DAVY PROPPER 7: Probably not enough seen of his quality on the ball (above). One exception was when he moved play from left to right during one of Albion’s better first-half moves.

SOLLY MARCH 6: Not a lot of change out of Andy Robertson, who he also let escape outside him in the first half. Replaced by Anthony Knockaert for the final push.

GLENN MURRAY 6: A lot of chasing but hard to recall him causing any real problems for Virgil van Dijk. Or Fabinho, or Allison. Which in itself underlines the odds against which he was battling.

JURGEN LOCADIA 7: Albion’s best outlet wide on the left and occasionally venturing into the middle. Had a bit of devil about him and saw his shot, possibly going wide, tipped away by Alisson.

Subs

ANTHONY KNOCKAERT: Quite lively on the right in the quest for parity.

FLORIN ANDONE: Nothing really fell for him.

BERAM KAYAL: Sent on late.