'Bottled' is reserved for capitulation, for me, and more for older players who have no excuse. You may be right that he did bottle it, but I struggle to apply that to young players who are experiencing things for the first time.
I'm not disagreeing about his use of the ball - said the same thing myself - and I doubt this thread is made if he had made assists or scored, but for a free man, with so much onus on him to be the creative catalyst, he fell well short of what was needed and expected, and that's the biggest issue here, not his defending.
It was clear and obvious that he was instructed and expected to stay high and tackle back as and when needed, with Konate shuffled over and essentially expected to handle Vinicius - far more than Trent, at least - so the defending issue is rather moot.
There's a rush to put the player down as a counterbalance to the hype and perhaps the ego he's developing, and like you say, he may well have swallowed some of it himself, but he is instrumental and a really useful component when used correctly, but, I feel that his flank is going to be targeted a whole lot more from now on and it will usher in a number of new factors for he and Klopp to contend with - the awe and aura for what he has been doing is going to be tested more than ever next season, I think.