You may disagree, but it didn’t feel like Liverpool had a truly stand-out player in September. The Reds played five matches across three competitions, and each game had a different top man in The Tomkins Times’ post-match poll.

August’s player of the month Roberto Firmino got the nod against Newcastle, and deservedly so following his dazzling teeth substitute appearance. Fabinho was then TTT’s top performer versus Napoli, Joel Matip was cream of the crop at Stamford Bridge, Harvey Elliott impressed most against MK Dons in his debut, before Virgil van Dijk shepherded Liverpool’s back line to a surprisingly rare clean sheet against Sheffield United. Was any member of that quintet your player of the month?

Across the five matches, it was Fabinho who picked up the most votes in total. However, we’re not going to take an in-depth look at him, nor Joel Matip, the overall runner up. As his time in the first team now looks to be at an end, we’re going to take a closer look at September’s third best player (according to the polls): Adrián.

https://twitter.com/LFC_Vines/status/1161762890845753344

It seems safe to say the Spaniard has overachieved versus the expectations Kopites held when he was thrown in at the deep end in the opening league match of the season. But what exactly were the expectations? They weren’t overly positive, depending on who you asked.

Liverpool are literally an Alisson injury away from relegation. https://t.co/zuYaPbNIXc

— West Ham Central (@WestHam_Central) August 5, 2019

Liverpool are far, far from relegation; eight points clear at the top of the league, having conceded the fewest goals in the division. On that basis, Adrián must have done pretty well, no?

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