Liam berry looks at what we learned from wolves v liverpool
Wolves cashed in their fifth Premier League win of the season thanks to a dominant performance against Liverpool.
Coming off the back of a 3-0 loss to champions Manchester City in their previous fixture 13 days earlier, Wolves bounced back with three goals of their own, courtesy of a Joel Matip own goal, debut strike for Craig Dawson and a sucker-punch from Ruben Neves.
Let’s take a look at what we learned from this match.
1. Ballon D'Awson
In his first appearance for Wolves, Dawson hit the ground running with a stellar performance at the back.
Coming in for Nathan Collins, Dawson seemed to fit into the team right away, helping Wolves to a clean sheet whilst also smashing one home to make the score 2-0. Dawson was close to signing in the summer, until the move fell through at the last minute, and you wonder what might have been if he had been here since the start of the campaign. An incredible first performance from the Englishman.
2. Wall < Lemina
On his first start in a Wolves shirt at Molineux, another making a big impression was Mario Lemina. He was outstanding.
Sitting in front of the back line, he took a lot of pressure off the four-man defence, constantly stepping in with blocks and tackles to break up play and then recycle possession to the rest of the midfield.
He was a real engine in the midfield, and a style of player Wolves have been crying out for over the last few years. Great signs from the new boys all round!
3. HE THINKS THEREFORE HE PLAYS
To have been able to watch this man, week in week out for six seasons has been the utmost pleasure. Ruben Neves has given his all to this club, and his passion was shown after he scored the third goal to completely flatten Liverpool’s hopes of a comeback.
Undoubtably one of the best players to put on the gold and black! He may not have been the first to produce that customary celebration, but he was keen to remind everyone he’s been doing it for a long time, and far longer than others!
4. SUPER LOPETEGUI
What a job this man has done.
The club has seemed to have completely transformed over the past couple of months. The players seem fitter, the standards have shown to have risen, and there’s a real tempo how Wolves have been playing. Starting games with the sort of pace and intensity we saw on Saturday makes such a massive difference. It puts the opposition on the back foot, and leads to the sort of mistakes we saw Liverpool make for the first two goals.
Alongside all of this, the recruitment has been phenomenal. Joao Gomes was introduced to the crowd before the game on Saturday and will add even more strength and competition to the midfield.
How lucky are we to have this man! And his chinos.
5. 10 IN 18
Since the restart, Wolves have totalled ten points out of a possible 18. This is equalling the total point from the first 15 games of the season.
And the three goals scored on Saturday work out as 20 per cent of our total league goals for the season so far, a total of 15.
All the signs look good, but I’m sure nobody will be getting too carried away just yet.
Let’s hope this form can keep going into the final parts of the season. If so, you would have to think we would be in a comfortable position for staying up.
ARTICLE BY LIAM BERRY
I am a life long Wolves fan that is passionate for the club. I am a sixth form student who loves writing about things I love!