Match review: Wolves 0-1 Liverpool
Careful what you wish for 😉
A tough old game at Molineux yesterday then. Credit to Wolves, they’re a good team, who gave us a good game throughout. United and Everton could only have dreamed of being as competitive with us as Wolves were yesterday, as we found them tough to break down and they carried a threat on the counter throughout. Tip of the hat to Connor Coady as well, the lad’s a warrior and a leader, full of self sacrifice for the team.
Mixed display from our boys, I thought Matip was excellent (McMOTM), his dribbling defies physics at times and he’s so good technically that he allows us to overload the midfield as he pushes forward. I thought Thiago had another good game and Robbo’s good form continues.
In front of goal however, Jota didn’t have his best of games, that was an incredible tackle from Coady to deny Salah a tap in and the longer the game went on, it was starting to look like one of those days. Enter cult hero Divock Origi.
Origi has always been a polarising figure amongst the fan base. He’s come in for a lot of stick over the years, some of it justified, some of it way over the top. My own personal feelings on the player have always been this. Origi is a good player, he’s a handful for defenders and he knows where the goal is but he’s a CF all day long. I could never understand why Klopp used to play him off the LW more often than not. It’s hard for a player to get very few minutes and then hit the ground running when he does play, in a position he’s not particularly familiar with, or comfortable in.
This season however, he’s been played through the middle and the difference has been obvious. He’s looked much sharper, and his goal return speaks for itself in the few minutes he’s had. He’s given us many amazing moments Origi and make no mistake, with Chelsea dropping points yesterday, that goal was massive and may well be one we look back on as vitally important come the end of the season.
Credit to Klopp as well for switching to a 4-2-3-1 second half. Many of us have called for this switch in games where we’re struggling to break teams down, especially since we signed Thiago, as he and Fabinho are perfectly suited to playing the double pivot together.
Massive result then in the title race. It’s been incredibly frustrating up to now in as much as every time Chelsea have dropped points, we’ve failed to capitalise. I watched their game yesterday and much like Alisson did when we played West Ham recently, Mendy had a nightmare. Gave away a penalty and conceded a freak goal near the end, however such is the nature of this title race, when these games come along for our opponents, it’s imperative we capitalise and thanks to Divock yesterday, we now move a point above Chelsea into second, remaining a point behind City.
I don’t ever remember a title race like this, going into the festive period with two points separating 1st from 3rd in the league and three teams so strong that it really is impossible to predict who will finish where come the end of the season. A thought did occur to me however. If we were to win this particular title, against this calibre of opposition who’s spending has absolutely dwarfed our own, would it be the greatest achievement in the club’s history? Big call I know but you could make a case for it. Three teams on course to finish the season with 90 plus points is just unheard of.
Milan up next then in the final group game of the Champions league and while I do expect rotation, I also think Klopp will want that 100% record in the group now that we’ve come this far. Saying that I expect game time for Konate, Tsimikas, Origi and Minamino and hopefully we’ll see a half hour or so for Gomez and Keita. Until then, I’ll leave you to argue about where we’re going to place the Origi statue. Walk on!
Recent Comments