WOLVES FANS SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS FOLLOWING ANOTHER WOLVES DEFEAT THIS TIME TO LIVERPOOL
GEORGE LAKIN
Struggled to see any pattern to our build up play in the second half. How are we looking to formulate attacks? It looked like most of the time we just hoped individuals could make something happen from direct running alone.
A moment on 85 mins when we’re 2-1 down, Andre receives the ball from defender, stands on ball in middle of park 2/3/4 times looking for a forward pass.. nothing on. Puts his arms out in exasperation. Turns around and plays it back to defence. Ends up back with Johnstone. Knocked around our defence again for another minute. Just dire. There’s no transition in our play at times, no progression, and that’s down to coaching. The ball’s just not making its way up the field anywhere near consistently enough, we’ve no identity or reliable pattern of play that allows this to happen effectively.
Hwang touched the ball once in 21 mins after coming on. This tells you everything you need to know- and while he gets a lot of criticism, what’s he supposed to do if we’ve no way of even getting the rest of the team anywhere near him?
This coupled with no clean sheet in 18 is a recipe for disaster really. Dull and dour sides are effective as they keep it tight at the back by sacrificing their attacking threat. They know they need only nick one goal from a set-piece to take something from a game. But from what we’ve seen I think the most worrying thing is that we are neither gritty enough to grind out results and keep things tight, nor do we have enough flair to throw caution to the wind and out score opposition.
We seem to have played a million different ways this season so far for me. But we’ve mastered none. Identity and style of play are totally absent.
Things are looking precarious and a delicate balance needs to be found. It takes a good coach who understands every nuance of the game to do that. Whether or not that’s Gary O’Neil remains to be seen. But it’s a question that does require serious consideration for me, because apathy won over anger tonight.
While that might’ve been because the performance and result weren’t ‘that bad’. Liverpool weren’t ‘that good’. They’ve somewhat coasted to victory, never getting out of second gear. No side should becoming to Molineux and walking away with anything unless they’ve been made to work damn hard for it.
Feel a bit soft touch. Liverpool players laughing and joking with each other in immediate post match interview, ‘bantering’ with Gary Neville speaks volumes. They haven’t just stepped off the battlefield; they’ve gone through the motions with their pals and taken 3 points while they’re at it. There was a time when no-one came here and did that. Is this how we see ourselves now? I know I don’t, nor most fans, but what about the club itself? The board? The management? The players?
Slot literally came out after the game and said it’s not always about tactics it’s about aggression. And I have to say something resonates. I think we’ve lacked real aggression for a while now- this for me stems from the manager.
If you are not feared in a game that is essentially a proxy for war, then what are you? The answer is nothing.
PAM WELLS
For the first twenty minutes of the game, I thought we played really well. The defence wasn’t troubled, and we made some good attacking runs. We didn’t really have any clear goal-scoring chances. There were lovely crosses in, and it just felt like a matter of time before our chance would come. Liverpool gradually got stronger and came into the game, but we still defended very well, with Johnstone making a brilliant save. I think Andre was very unlucky to get booked for what looked like a great tackle. Then the inevitable goal for them came in extra time of the half. Looking at how we played against a top team in that first half, you would never think we were bottom of the league.
I am glad to say the same Wolves came out for the second half. We continued where we left off, defending and attacking well. From some good work by Larsen, Ait Nouri got us a well-deserved equaliser. Molineux was buzzing, but almost straight away, Semedo gave away one of his really clumsy penalties, which Salah converted. Just after that, Bueno was surprisingly substituted, which I didn’t expect as he had played well, unless he was tiring from the virus. I think we lost a bit after that when Lemina went into central defence, but we kept going and trying. I don’t think Hwang offered anything when he came on, but Forbs showed a few good signs.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the equaliser we deserved, but over a full 90 minutes, I think that was our best performance of the season. There were a few good performances; Gomes and Toti played well, but I am going to give my man of the match to Andre.
Performance rating: 7.5
ANDREW BENNETT
Another defeat. We are sitting rock bottom of the Premier League after six games. This is very disappointing. Wolves could have claimed some points from this game and might have even done so last year against a Liverpool team that didn’t have to get out of third gear. They dominated without really creating much.
So many questions arise from this game. Yes, it’s Liverpool, but this is the Premier League, and when in a rut, you need to find a way to win. Why do we keep passing around the back when it doesn’t work multiple times in both halves? This puts pressure on our defence, and in one case, it should have ended with Salah finding the net. Continuing to try the same thing and expecting different results makes no sense.
The substitutions were very strange. Some players on the bench must be wondering what they need to do to earn a chance in an underperforming side. In the first half, we had our moments but couldn’t find the final ball. In the second half, the lack of creativity is worrying, especially as the players look exhausted again after 65 minutes.
We go again, but something needs to change to grind out some points and regain our confidence.
FINLEY SMITH
Another match, another loss.
Wolves started the first half strong, I thought, fairly dominating. It was a decent first half but they lacked going forward. Just before half-time, Liverpool showed Wolves how to attack and score. Liverpool went into half-time 1-0 up, and to be honest, Wolves didn’t deserve to be losing at this point.
In the second half, it was very frustrating for Wolves. They had their good spells and their bad spells. Wolves managed to equalise at 1-1, but a few minutes later, Liverpool were awarded a penalty after Semedo fouled former Wolves player Diego Jota. Salah scored to make it 2-1 for Liverpool.
In the last ten minutes, Wolves were very slow. I can’t understand why, with ten minutes to go, we are so slow. It was so poor.
But overall, it was a much better performance. A win must be coming soon.
MOTM: Mario Lemina.
Performance Rating: 6.5.
Onto the next.
KARL WHITEHOUSE
The first 15 minutes of the game went without any pressure on our goal, but a mistake after that when playing from the back led to Johnstone making an error and conceding a corner that could have resulted in a goal. We have to be careful of the pressure Liverpool can put us under, as we seem to be playing the ball from the back too much without their forward three applying pressure.
We are playing better, getting into them with moments of good possession and control. Keep it up, lads; we need it.
Bueno and Toti are playing well. They must be aware of Liverpool’s attacks, and they are handling most of them but must be careful of any lapse in concentration that could lead to a goal.
The crowd has to play its part in this game. They have been quiet and need to support the team to stay motivated. We are still in this game, and Johnstone made a fantastic save to stop an almost certain goal for Liverpool. That will give him confidence for the rest of the match, but we need to remain focused. We can cause them problems on counter-attacks and with our movements.
Just before half-time, we conceded a goal from a set piece where Johnstone should have done better to keep it out. We must get back into this game, as we performed well in the first half but need to be more clinical in front of goal.
We have an issue on the left-hand side, and teams we face are exposing this problem. It cannot be solved overnight, but it needs to be addressed or controlled.
We must start the second half the same way as the first. We have to press Liverpool and exploit their left-hand side with counter-attacks.
Playing from the back is becoming a problem; we nearly conceded another goal. This needs addressing and sorting out, as it’s unsettling to see at the start of the second half.
Gary brought on Forbs in the second half, who can hopefully make runs at the Liverpool defence and create some width.
Bad defending from Liverpool brings us back into the game, with Forbs making a difference and Ait Nouri capitalising on mistakes in the Liverpool defence. Keep it up, lads.
But after that, we concede a penalty, and Liverpool score. I can’t believe our luck in these games; it just shows how cruel football can be.
We are still in the game; we need to create chances if we are going to earn any points, as Liverpool look frustrated at the back.
Liverpool continued to apply pressure late on towards the Wolves goal, with few moments of us getting into their half since we scored. Is this an issue with the style we are playing, with no clear plan in place?
We also have a problem where our team plays six passes at the back when we are behind in the game with no pressure, and the Wolves fans are unhappy with this style of play.
Injury time comes, and we still haven’t created much since our goal. This has not been an outstanding game for either side, and we’ve shown too much respect to the opposition. This side needs to change their approach and break out of this poor run we are in. When will a win come? We don’t know.
Overall, Gary now has a big problem on his hands. What can he do to get this side to win a match? Is it a management issue or a player issue? I would say it is a management problem, but don’t take my word for it. We hope it can be sorted out quickly because the word we dread to say will come soon if we don’t resolve this. The system we are playing is the only one we can use right now as we don’t have the numbers available, but we know it is a solution we can look at if it can be improved
BLACKPOOL WOLF
Another match, another defeat with more defensive errors and frustration. I thought we started well and for the first 25 minutes we looked good. After that, however, I never felt like we dominated any other phase of the game, probably due to the level of our opponents, even though Liverpool were not at their best. For the first goal, I think Johnstone has to do better; he flapped at the ball rather than trying to get a firm hand behind it. It’s disappointing because moments earlier he made a world-class save from point-blank range. Credit for Wolves’ equaliser goes to Strand Larson, who never gave up on the ball and managed to nick it off Konate. The penalty was silly; someone as experienced as Semedo shouldn’t have his arms around Jota. That was a schoolboy error.
I dislike calling out players, but the two who consistently draw my criticism are Bellegarde and Hwang. Once again, GON picked Bellegarde from the start, and he just didn’t get into the game. When he did have the ball, all he wanted to do was pass backwards. Hwang Hee-Chan… I really don’t know what more I can say about him. He had 25 minutes to make an impact and failed again. His pressing is poor, often dropping too early and allowing the opposition extra space. He seems to be the last one active when pressing as a unit, and when he came on, we couldn’t hold the ball up top and had no direct option through the middle.
I think Toti had a better game compared to his previous performances. For me, there wasn’t a standout player. Lemina was probably doing the best until he nearly gifted Liverpool a goal, and later in the game, I think he passed too much to Johnstone. So my man of the match would probably go to Gomes. Without doing anything special, he put in a solid effort once again.