Seeing Klopp giving it the first pumps in front of the Kop is surely the best moment of the season so far? Ok, there was only a couple of thousand fans there but it was still great wasn’t it? The performance was too. Hell of a day for us and everyone will have an extra spring in their step today.
Much like Leicester a couple of weeks ago, I really thought this was going to be a hard game for us. Wolves has always been a tough nut for us to crack and that’s even when we’ve been at full strength. Now we were facing them without Alisson and Van Dijk, and Trent was only fit enough for the bench. Yet we smashed them anyway.
We dominated and the second half in particular was great. We had two teenagers in the side as well as a young keeper making his league debut but you’d never have known because it just looked like Liverpool didn’t it? It doesn’t seem to matter who is called upon to fill in, we still always look like Liverpool. Certainly at Anfield anyway.
Even without some of our key players this team is just rolling on and wiping the floor with good teams. The record since losing Virgil is fantastc all things considered. Mind you, we may have lost the best centre back in the league, but we had the second best one coming in to replace him. Yeah that’s right, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Joel Matip is better than any other centre back in this league not named Van Dijk.
He’s fucking brilliant but because he’s so low profile it has largely gone under the radar. Pundits will talk about how he’s a good player, but they almost sound surprised when they say it, like it’s something they’re just discovering and that they’re revealing something the viewers don’t know. A lot of them probably don’t know.
It’s partly because he misses so many games through injury, partly because Van Dijk gets most of the plaudits, and partly because he has zero interest in promoting himself. But Matip is so under-rated half the pundits don’t even know his name and call him “Matic”. Name me a better centre back in this league right now? You can’t, because there isn’t one.
With him fit and available we’ll still miss Van Dijk, but nowhere near as much. Especially with Fabinho doing such an admirable job back there too. Those two were the platform that this performance was built on. Don’t get me wrong, everyone was superb too, but when you have a solid base like that (I’m including Kelleher in that as well) it helps everyone else.
They probably won’t get the recognition they deserve but they won’t care either. They just do their jobs and let others get the glory. And there is plenty of glory to go around with this team. One week it’ll be Salah, the next Mané. Then Jota or Jones. Soon it’s going to be Bobby again, I can feel it in my water. He’s coming back to form.
Wolves will be disappointed with how they played but Nuno got it wrong with his formation. They’ve given us all we can handle by playing 3-5-2 and counter attacking on us, but for whatever reason he switched to a back four and as soon as I saw that I was confident we’d win easily.
In fact, I even posted in the group chat just before kick off that “if they play a back four we’ll twat them as Coady will get exposed”. I didn’t say that just because I don’t like him, I said it because it’s a fact.
I’m glad he fucked up for the opener and I’m glad he got caught diving just because it vindicates what I’ve been saying about him. I’ve been telling you all for ages how much I don’t like Coady. It feels like it’s just me and my mum though because seemingly everyone else loves him. Maybe not after this carry on though. There’s plenty of room on the bus for you all though, so hop on board.
He just rubs me up the wrong way because he’s just so fucking full of himself. Every time I hear him talk I have to switch the telly off, especially as it feels like I’m the only one who sees it. Why does everyone think he’s such a great lad? He’s not, he’s a smug, cocky bastard.
I was in the post office the other day and the woman behind the counter is a red and always talks footy with me. She was referencing the injuries at the back and said “I want us to sign Conor Coady in January”. I just bit my tongue and said “no he’s not for me, I think he’d get exposed in our system” when really I wanted to yell “Fuck that, I’d rather cut off my own cock and set fire to it”.
I’ve said for a while that he only looks good for Wolves because he’s in a back three and that in a four he’d be shite. Well guess what, Wolves played him in a four in this game, they got battered and Coady got exposed. He even fucked up for the first goal by inexplicably trying to chest a ball down instead of heading it clear. Too cocky, you see.
The finish from Mo was boss though. Nothing fancy about it but it was ruthlessly executed. The speed of thought to anticipate the mistake, the touch to take it out of his stride and then the finish across the keeper. Assassin like.
At that point most Kopites were probably joking about “Look at Conor, good Red him yano lol”. I bet they weren’t laughing when he dived to win a penalty at the Kop end though. The reactions of some of our lads spoke volumes. Fabinho was just laughing at him, while Hendo and Robbo were disgusted and let him know. Welcome aboard the “Fuck Conor Coady bus, lads”.
He did what most other players would do in that situation. To his credit is I think he did actually look pretty sheepish about. He thought he was getting kicked and he went down in anticipation of it. Only problem was Sadio pulled out at the last second and made him look foolish. I do think he looked embarrassed though so I’ll give him that at least.
The issue I have with him doing what he did is that you know he’d be the first one in line to complain about forwards pulling that kind of shit. Good old fashioned honest pro Conor, a proper defender, a throwback. Turns out he’s not who you thought he was, eh?
After everything I’ve said about VAR since it’s inception, and especially recently, it’s only fair to point out that this is the kind of situation when it is actually useful. At full speed it will have looked to some people like a penalty. I didn’t feel like it was but not because I didn’t think Sadio caught him (I assumed he had), I just didn’t think it looked like a foul.
The first replay I saw changed my mind though. It looked like a foul from that angle so the referee has done nothing wrong there. He can only give what he sees and it looked like a pen from where he was so he’s right to give it.
So without VAR, Coady would have cheated his way to a penalty and possibly an equaliser for his side (I say possibly, as would anyone have been shocked if ‘Kweev’ had saved it?).
It’s only when they showed the replay from the other angle you could see Sadio had somehow managed to pull back his foot and didn’t actually make any contact. I saw that and still worried that the ref might not back down, but fair play to Pawson, he realised he was wrong and overturned the decision.
Why the fuck did he not book Coady for a dive though? That isn’t optional. It’s a compulsory decision, surely? He has to yellow card him there. He couldn’t wait to et the card out in the second minute when Neco had a little pull on Neto’s shirt. That was really harsh, especially so early in the game.
When that happened it had “hauled off at half time again” written all over it, especially with Trent back on the bench. Klopp didn’t do that though and it was a smart move. Neco was outstanding and didn’t let the booking bother him, so leaving him out there was a good show of a faith for a kid who has had a great bounce back week.
I did think Nuno missed a trick by not switching Traore to the left more or less as soon as Neco was booked. That’s what I’d have done as it was a no brainer. He eventually did it at the start of the second half, but I don’t remember Neco having any problem dealing with him before he made way for Trent.
Maybe he left Adama on the right in the hope he would keep Robbo occupied? If that was his thinking it didn’t work. Robbo ran them ragged and I can only think of one occasion when Traore was able to get away. Robbo went to close the ball down and didn’t get there, which allowed them to release Traore into the space.
Fabinho dived in, to either win the ball or take down the man, I don’t think he was too bothered which, but Adama was too quick and skipped away. He fizzed a great ball across the box but Neto couldn’t get there.
When you watch it again, Williams’ positioning is great and there was no way Neto could have beaten him to that ball. Just something I felt was worth mentioning.
Wolves without Jiminez look a completely different side, which is understandable as he’s a massive part of what they do and for me is one of the best centre forwards in the league. I’m a big fan of his, I enjoy watching him play. Hopefully he makes a full recovery.
They definitely have to play a different way without him though. Podence is class, Traore can be unplayable and Neto is a tidy little player too (even if he is a diving little prick). But they have no penalty box threat anymore and although they managed to get some good crosses in against us, with no Jiminez attacking them we dealt with them easily.
They had a few moments here and there but by and large we were comfortable enough. Podence had their best effort with a clever chip that looked to be heading for the top corner before Kelleher scampered back and tipped it away. That was a really good save that and there are a lot of keepers in the league who wouldn’t have made that. Great footwork. It gets better every time you watch it.
They had another chance in the second half when the ball reached Coady on the back stick. He controlled but just as he was about to shoot it was taken off his toe by Fabinho. I thought Coady was offside anyway, but the flag didn’t go up so it would have gone to VAR, which is a lottery as we know.
We scored almost immediately after that. Lovely counter attack it was. Hendo released Gini and it was three against two with him, Mo and Sadio. Mo’s run wide spread the defenders but I didn’t think Sadio did much to help really. He kind of just got in the way but Gini decided to shoot and curled it around the defender into the top corner.
Sensational finish from a player who if he wasn’t sacrificing himself for the greater good week in week out would be scoring 15 goals a season easily. He did it in a relegated Newcastle side and he scores for fun when he’s with Holland. For us that’s not what is needed from him so he does the grunt work and allows others to shine.
I fucking love Gini Wijnaldum and in years to come he’ll probably be viewed like a Ronnie Whelan or someone of that ilk. Great player, a huge part of why we’re successful but massively under-rated because others get all the attention.
The contract impasse has been confusing as no-one seems to know exactly what the issue is. Does he just fancy a change of scenery or is it about the club not giving him what he wants? We found out in his post match interview.
He wouldn’t talk about it but eventually said “you need to ask the club about it” which tells us that it’s purely about the terms of the deal and it’s not a case of Gini wanting to move on. If he wanted to move on he wouldn’t be putting the focus on the club.
So, to me this is simple. Just fucking give him what he wants. He’s been underpaid for his prime years so if we overpay him a bit when he’s on the way down (and by that I mean when he’s 33/34 as he’s got a few more years left at the level he is now) then so be it. We’re still well up on that deal over the course of his time here.
It’s pissing me off to be honest. He should be rewarded because he’s been a fucking phenomenal player and person since he’s been here. He leads by example, he’s a consummate pro who puts the needs of the team over himself, he delivers in the big games and…. I can’t stress this one enough…. he’s hardly missed a game in five fucking years.
As much as I love Hendo and Fabinho, I can’t say that about them. Even Milner has missed more games than Gini and he’s seen as being something on an iron man. I’d say there’s a very good chance Gini’s wages are considerably less than what Ox and Naby are getting, so yeah, fucking pay the man because all things considered, no-one has ever deserved a rise more than Gini Wijnaldum. Get it done.
Anyway, 2-0 up and I felt that the game was done. It never looked like one of those games where we might get pegged back, although you can never be totally sure as one goal can change everything of course.
We were playing so well though that I could only see more goals for us. We got two more. One for Big Bird who attacked an absolutely gorgeous Salah delivery and headed in at the Kop end. He loved that, going mad in front of the fans. Love me some Joel Matip, there should be a camera on him at all times as you never know what mad face he’s going to pull or what odd gesture he’ll make. What a guy.
The fourth was an own goal following a typically lethal delivery from Trent, who had been given a run out to replace Neco midway through the second half. He looked good considering the lay off he’s had.
We could have scored more but the scoreline was about right I’d say. Some of our football was glorious. One move in particular stands out for me. Salah floated a great ball to Robbo and he fooled everyone by cushioning it back perfectly for Mané, but he shot disappointingly wide. The disguise on the pass by Robbo though was class.
Wolves had a little spell late on when it felt like that might grab a consolation goal but Kelleher made another good save and Fabinho produced some top drawer defending to keep them at bay.
All in all just a really enjoyable day. Big win, big performance and a big pick me up having fans back inside Anfield. Everyone was smiling afterwards and Klopp was the happiest he’s been in weeks. He’s been a right grumpy bastard lately, understandably so, but it was great seeing him on a high again, fist pumping the Kop and beaming from ear to ear in his post match interviews.
I would have loved to have been there but I’m not resentful or envious about not being eligible for a ticket. If I lived two minutes up the road I’d have been in the ballot but it is what it is and I’m honestly happy enough to wait until we can all get back in.
I’m just buzzing for everyone who got to go as they were representing the rest of us and they did it brilliantly. It did not sound like there were only two thousand fans in there did it? It was fucking loud.
It made me think, imagine how fucking noisy it’s going to be the first game when we’re all back in there. It’s going to be like a European night every weekend. Hopefully that first game back is before the end of this season and if it is they should defo follow Shankly’s lead and have a couple of injured players (Virg and Gomez?) walk around with the Premier League title before the game.
Imagine that! Fucking hell I’ve got goosebumps now just writing it.
So we’re once again joint top and widely regarded as still being the team to beat despite the problems we’ve had. Rightly so, in my mind we’re four points clear as VAR is the only reason Spurs are level with us and other sides are within touching distance. We’ve been shafted twice and that’s kept things tight at the top. Maybe that’s the plan?
I’m not one for conspiracy theories but honestly, that game at Goodison is really fucking hard to explain. It’s also galling to think about that pen at Brighton when we’ve seen at least three incidents since that were similar but went unpunished.
But anyway, not wanting to go down that road again, especially when we’re doing so well. Beating Leicester and Wolves in the manner we just have is not to be sniffed at. These are tough opponents and we’ve made it look easy.
We were brilliant all over the park against Wolves so picking a star man was really difficult. Sadio didn’t score but some of things he did were incredible, such as controlling the ball from the most difficult of angles with a marker draped all over him. He’s amazing at times.
Mo was a threat all night too and I thought Bobby was very good in an understated way. He didn’t do much that was especially eye catching (although there was one brilliant volleyed pass to Sadio) but he was just generally bust and tidy in his link up play and looks much sharper now.
Gini was brilliant. Curtis was ace again, particularly as he seemed to be injured really early on and was holding his side for most of the first half. He played through it and was very influential again.
His performances are just so mature now and he’s in this side on merit. Put it this way, if Ox and Naby were available right now, would you drop Curtis to accommodate either of them? I wouldn’t even drop him for Milner. Thiago is a different matter but I’m not 100% sure that him signing for us wasn’t just a dream.
I mentioned both centre backs at the start, while Kelleher deserves every bit of praise he’s been getting and then some. Being a top keeper isn’t about making loads of saves. For years I thought it was but Alisson showed us it isn’t. You want your keeper to be assured, to not fuck up, to inspire confidence and to be there when needed to make the save. This week Kelleher has played twice and he’s ticked all of those boxes both times.
I was made up with Neco’s performance too and it looks like he’s over that wobble now. He wasn’t even fazed when they put Traore on his wing. It’s fucking boss that we can just plug lads from the u23s into the best side in the world and they hold their own.
Star man was either Robbo or Hendo though. Both were fucking sensational but I’ll just about go with the skipper. He’s so fucking good these days. With him on the pitch I almost feel like we can’t lose. His influence on how we play is massive but even just his own individual performances ooze quality.
Everyone can out their feet up in midweek now but I’m looking forward to seeing whoever gets an opportunity in midweek. Bench players and kids I’m hoping for. I don’t want any first teamer involved, and that includes Curtis and Neco. Don’t risk anyone we might need. I know Trent is back, but calf injuries can often flare up again so Neco needs to be ready.
Cain and Clarkson will probably feature, hopefully Stewart as well because he’s been tearing it up in the 18s this year. It’s nice to be able to not worry about what happens in that game and have everyone rest up for Fulham next weekend.
Team: Kelleher; Williams (Alexander-Arnold), Matip, Fabinho, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Henderson (Keita), Jones; Salah, Firmino (Jota), Mané:
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