A win is a win… but I’m not happy!

Disclaimer: If you’re looking for back slaps and high fives all round because we won, this article isn’t going to be for you.

Well what a horrible game that was!! As always, the three points is the most important thing but despite the win, I’m not at all happy with that display and just like in the Forest game we saw familiar issues raise their ugly head once more.

We started the game SO lackadaisically and for the life of me I can’t understand why. Nobody knows better than us how difficult it is to compete against City over the course of an entire league campaign. In the history of the English game, we’ve never seen the kind of standard needed to win the PL. The points tally’s set by both ourselves and City over the last 5 years have been off the charts, requiring near perfect seasons to be crowned champions.

To that end, in a week where City have been rocked by a season ending injury to arguably their most important player, they’ve also just dropped points in the day’s early kickoff, giving us the chance to move above them and go top of the league should we beat the league’s bottom side in the evening game. How could we not be laser focused, super motivated and itching to get out there and make a statement with a dominant win over Wolves?

We started the game like a preseason friendly, no urgency or intensity, our passing was horrible and for the second time this season, we had the look of a team that thought it just needed to turn up to win. That is an attitude Slot needs to get out of them and quick! I don’t think it’s a conscious thing but it’s easy for complacency and overconfidence to creep in to a team that’s consistently winning and in this league, you’ll be punished for that.

We’ve seen this too often though. Last season we had a real chance at the league up until around Christmas but in the second half of the season it seemed whenever City or Arsenal dropped points, we did as well and then we had that period where we couldn’t hit a barn door and our early season noise about trying to win the lot in Klopp’s final season, fizzled out with a whimper.

We need to be more ruthless and find a way to dispatch the lesser teams without making such hard work of it. That’s a tactical issue though and up to the manager to figure out. What’s not up to the manager though, is fire in the belly. You’d have thought in the circumstances I’ve laid out above, the lads would’ve been pumped going into this game and come flying out the traps but the limp-wristed start to the game we witnessed couldn’t have been further from that.

I mentioned in my last article that the lads can play without pressure this season because nobody is expecting them to win the title in Slot’s first season. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t still be the ambition until such time as it’s no longer realistic however. We didn’t come out today like a team that thinks it’s in a title race and has just been handed a big opportunity to gain an advantage over your biggest rival. We may not have expected to be in a title race this season but then not many will have expected the transition from Klopp to Slot to be quite as seamless as it has been. To that end, our ambitions and expectations should be fluid and open to change, depending on the circumstances. We’d all agree that top four in the new manager’s first season would be considered a success but with the start we’ve had, we should now be aiming higher.

Champions win games, even when not playing well. A saying that’s as true today as it ever was and so as per the title of the article, a win is a win and I’ll take it. My problem with today’s display was that it wasn’t that we just had one of those games where nothing comes off for you, it was that I felt that so many of our problems came from our attitude, certainly in the first 20 minutes. Lack of aggression and intensity that allowed Wolves to build a head of steam and grow in confidence, while we huffed and puffed but never got going. Even in possession our decision making and quality on the ball were both terrible, encapsulated by Konate’s lunacy that lead to their goal.

We weren’t great in attack either though, our forwards were struggling to impact the game and some of the passing was diabolical, with Salah probably the worst offender. That counter we had that he fluffed was such a good opportunity. I always prefer Salah to be the finisher of a counter attack, not the instigator and that’s why. His passing can be sublime at times but it’s erratic. I always had more faith in Bobby and Mane making the right decisions in the counter and then Mo finishing the chance, than I did when Salah needed to be involved in the earlier stages of the move and I feel the same now with Jota and Diaz.

The few positives from today’s game apart from the three points are that Alisson looked sharp on his return, Gravy was good again and I thought Robbo had a good game and was unlucky not to get an assist when he put it on a plate for Szoboszlai, who somehow managed to hit the keeper from about 3 yards out. Robbo and Diaz have developed a good understanding now though and our left side is starting to resemble the formidable prospect it was for our opponents when Mane was at his peak. Mane and Robbo both had that tireless relentlessness, aggression and tenacity that meant even if they weren’t playing well, you know you’re going to be in for a game against those two. Diaz has that same tenacity. He’s not the physical specimen that Mane was but his tenacity has different strengths, such as his incredibly quick feet that allow him to steal the ball from his opponent and immediately run away with it under complete control. He’s deceivingly strong for his slender frame as well, he rides a challenge well and isn’t as easy to knock off the ball as he looks like he’d be.

Ok, I must admit this has been a very critical article to write on the back of a win that’s taken us top of the table but I was so frustrated watching that today. We have such a good team and I think before the season started, we as fans actually underestimated (or maybe just didn’t realise) how good they actually are and I feel today that one of two psychological things happened with the team. They either haven’t fully recognised themselves how good they are, therefore not really considering themselves as title contenders, even with the good start. Alternatively, they DO realise how good they are and to that end, thought they just had to show up to win. If it’s the latter, they need to snap out of that. One of my favourites sporting sayings is…

“Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard…”

The team would’ve done well to remember that today. When you go away to teams like Wolves, you have to win the fight first. The first 20 minutes are going to be high paced and very physical and you need to battle through that, show you won’t be bullied and then when the game settles, the better team’s quality starts to shine through and they take control of the game. Hendo and Milner had their limitations as players but they were brilliant at that side of the game and while I always favoured Milner starting against teams like Wolves. Szoboszlai in particular needs to improve that side of his game and with his physical attributes, it shouldn’t be a problem. In fact it should already be part of his game.

Anyway that’s enough of me being a negative Norman. We did actually win the game and sit proudly at the top of the league. Slot’s excellent start to his Liverpool career continues and I suspect we’ve exceeded even the most optimistic of fan’s expectations so far this season. I just feel that with a few minor tweaks, this team could be the real deal this season and if we can just address the recurring issues that plagued us last season and have appeared again at times in this fledgling campaign, I’ll be genuinely starting to get excited at what might just be possible. Walk on!