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Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 Liverpool 2 (Dec 21 2018)

     

     
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    Report by
    Dave Usher

There are a number of reasons why we have rarely been able to mount a serious challenge for the title since we last won it. The biggest one has been inability to win the games we’re supposed to win.

 

Go back and look at results over the last 28 years and every season is littered with inexplicable losses and draws to sides that were either relegated or just about avoided it. You can’t win titles like that.

 

So far this year has been different. We've faced everybody except Newcastle, and we’ve won every game we’re 'supposed' to win while avoiding defeat in the most dangerous fixtures against our rivals. Plus we won at Spurs, which puts us ahead of the curve.

 

It sounds simple, but it’s a fact that if you beat everybody outside of the top six then providing you don't massively shit the bed against the other top sides, you’ll almost certainly win the title.

 

18 games in and we’ve done exactly that, which explains why we’re four points clear. City drew with Wolves and were beaten by Palace, whereas we beat both of them. That’s the main reason they’re trailing us, although we also sneaked a draw at Chelsea which helps. 

 

When City were flying they couldn’t shake us off. They’ve since hit a dodgy spell and because we’d stuck with them we were then able to take advantage of it by continuing to churn out wins. This was a huge result because City will have been thinking there was a chance we'd drop points. We didn't, and we all saw how City responded to it a day later. 

 

City are the playground bully, pushing people around without any resistance and ruling through fear, but as soon as someone stands up to them you see they’re not as tough as everyone thought they were.

 

Look, they’re a great side and I’m not dismissing them. I still feel like they should be favourites to win the thing, I’m just saying that they look much better as ‘front runners’ than they do when they are faced with some adversity. We need to keep turning the screw on them and see if they crack. Maybe it will bring out the best in them, but maybe they'll crack?

 

Winning at places like Wolves is vital to that. This is the kind of fixture where you always think a top side might come unstuck. Leicester away and Palace away would be others (or Palace at home in City's case!). Bournemouth too. Tricky looking games that have the potential to go wrong.

 

So far we’ve avoided any slip ups in these type of games. It hasn’t always been as convincing as Bournemouth two weeks ago, but we’ve won and that’s all that matters. Another clean sheet too, I think we're on course to concede 14 or 15 this season. I can't see us keeping this pace up, but imagine we did!

 

I thought this was a brilliant performance all things considered. Wolves are a good side who are particularly well suited to playing against superior opposition. It was Friday night, it had been pissing down all day and the conditions were awful. Yet the lads just went out there and took care of business.

 

We rode our luck a couple of times and Wolves missed two or three good chances, but I don’t care how good you are, you’re rarely going to prevent teams from having any chances at all. Wolves have dangerous players and they're excellent on the counter attack.

 

For the most part we controlled the game and did exactly what we were supposed to do. And with Salah and Van Dijk in this kind of form we’re going to be tough for anyone to play against at both ends of the pitch.

 

Mo was just causing havoc all night. His skill and running in behind had Wolves stretched all night. He’s now well and truly in last season’s form again. He’s smiling too, which makes worrying old ‘Nervous Nerys’ types like me happy. The sand he had in his vagina at Bournemouth seems to have cleared now and he looks like he’s enjoying himself again.

 

I keep reading that “he won’t score 44 again, but that’s ok as he doesn't need to”. Why can’t he though? All it takes is a couple of hat-tricks against some bum teams and he’d be back on course to do it again. I’m not saying he will, or that we even need him to (we don't), I just think the possibility is being too easily dismissed.

 

As well as we’ve done so far, I fully expect this team to really hit its stride from around February onwards. If I’m right, then look out. We're already on pace for the best season we've ever had, so if performances get even better then the sky is the limit.

 

Salah started through the middle again, although it’s difficult to label what systems we are playing with of late. It wasn’t the usual 4-3-3 because we had no-one on the left and we had two holding midfielders.

 

It wasn’t exactly 4-2-3-1 either because… well we had no-one on the left. Naby was the closest thing we had to a left sided attacker but he was tucked in to allow Robbo to bomb into the space.

 

Bobby wasn’t playing as a traditional number ten either. He was just everywhere. Some of his footwork in tight situations was brilliant, but he also gave the ball away loads. The conditions didn’t help with that though as so many passes seemed to be under-hit due to how slow the pitch was.

 

My heart was in my mouth a few times as we played low cross field passes that were almost intercepted. The pitch had nothing to do with the horrible ball Fabinho played straight to a Wolves player early doors though. For a second it looked like we were in big trouble, but as soon as Traore’s touch took him wide he was never scoring from there. 

 

Big Virg did well to force him away from goal, but Traore still should have done better. It's difficult though. The main problem he’s got is that he’s shit. He’s quicker than a hiccup and occasionally his ability matches his speed, but most of the time he looks like a sprinter rather than a footballer. Like Usain Bolt in those charity matches.

 

Id have been more concerned if they'd started that Helder Costa lad who ran riot against us in the FA Cup a couple of years ago.

 

Wolves had a couple of other chances and were quite lively. They’re a good side though. Had Mourinho stayed at United I’d have made Wolves favourites to finish sixth. Now seventh is probably the best they can hope for.

 

I don’t wish them well because that of that Jorge Mendes leech, but I like their manager and I like the way they play. The fans are knobs though. Feed the scousers? Really? Kinell.

 

The booing of Keita was ridiculous too. What was he guilty of? Being elbowed on the hip and almost having his foot taken off. It was a tough game for Naby. He never really got going but I think this is going to be the case when he’s playing on the left. It didn’t help that he kept getting hurt either. 

 

It’s strange how quickly things change in football. The widely held view was that Naby would have no problems adapting to the Premier League and Klopp’s system, but it would take much longer for Fabinho to get up to speed. Keita started the season in the team and Fabinho couldn’t even get on the bench. Look at them now though?

 

Fabinho is out there ruling like a fucking boss, and Naby is having a hard time making any real impact. I’m not worried about him at all though; it will come right for him of that I’m sure.

 

It is disappointing that he’s yet to hit his stride though as he seemed to be a perfect fit for this midfield. Imagine how good we’ll be if he hits form in the second half of the season.

 

As for Fabinho, he had a few errant passes in this game but overall he looked the business again. I said last week that there’s more to his game than I thought there would be. I expected him to be one of those destroyer types, who dominates the middle of the park and keeps it fairly simple. 

 

He’s not though, he’s got a great range of passing and he’s mobile too. He's more Patrick Vieira than Didi Hamann. Look at what he did for the opening goal. Terrific run in behind and then had the awareness to pick out Mo’s run. Gorgeous finish from Salah though. Pure class. 

 

We don’t score enough goals like that. Those byline cut backs are responsible for around 80% of Man City’s goals (and 100% of Raheem Sterling’s). It’s the best way of breaking down well drilled, packed defences. Shaq’s first goal last week came from something similar, as Mané got to the line and drilled a ball across. More of that please, Reds.

 

Having gone in front we seemed to relax a bit and Wolves began getting some joy. Klopp was going mad on the touchline and said afterwards that we stopped playing football. Wolves love those big crossfield changes of play, and Coady was spraying the ball from side to side nicely. Good to see him doing well for himself.

 

Klopp’s explanation afterwards was really informative I thought. I love when he talks tactics, although he’s usually so hyper and talking so fast after games it’s hard to understand what he’s getting at. The gist of it was that he wanted to stop Wolves doing those quick changes of play because it’s tiring for the players to constantly have to shuffle across to hep their full backs. We restricted it by keeping possession, but when we stopped keeping the ball that allowed Wolves to do their thing and he didn’t like it.

 

The second half was better and we generally controlled things very well. There’s always a chance we could concede one though so the second goal is always crucial. For me it was always the third goal that was the signal to relax, but this team is so good at the back now you can usually feel safe once they get a second.

 

It’s been a long time coming but it was only a matter of time before Van Dijk got one. Watch the floodgates open for him now. He gets chances in every game and only a combination of bad luck and bad finishing has kept him at bay until now. He’ll get at least five more between now and May. 

 

Great finish it was too. Cool as you like, side foot, into the corner. Perfectly weighted ball from Mo as well. Those two were just phenomenal all night though. Salah ran them ragged and every Wolves attack just crashed on the rock that is Big Virgil. He’s incredible. I don’t even know what to say about him anymore.

 

Best defender in the world? That’s a given now, surely? I don’t even think that conversation does him justice anymore. My cousin Tom has been saying for months that not only is he the best defender in the world, he’s actually the best player. This week Chris Sutton also chimed in on that.

 

It’s a difficult one to judge because it’s so subjective and depends entirely on what you’re looking for in a ‘best player’. Messi might be the greatest player of all time so how is Van Dijk better than him? As I say, it depends on what you’re looking for. I’m not going to say Van Dijk is better than Messi because it’s an apples to oranges comparison.

 

What I would say is that Virgil can do absolutely everything and is the complete master of his trade. He's great on the ball and passes better than most midfielders. He’ll go up against a physical striker and he’ll knock him around. He’ll go up against a tall striker and win every header. Put him against a skilful forward and he’ll win his tackles. And then we saw in this game that he’s also unfairly quick. 

 

One of the things I remembered about Van Dijk from his Southampton days was that in a game at St Mary’s he outran Sadio twice. That stuck with me, because not many defenders can do that. Sadio is quick but Adama Traore is a level beyond that. He’s Olympic sprinter quick. 

 

He had one opportunity to run Virgil. He had him right where he wanted, on the half way line, by the touchline, with loads of grass to run into. He knocked it round the corner into the space and against any other defender he was gone. Virgil matched him stride for stride and then just shrugged him off the ball like he was a little kid. Incredible.

 

Klopp said recently if he’d had to pay double it would have been worth it. It’s not even an exaggeration. He’s been here 12 months and look at the impact he’s had. It’s unbelievable. I’ve said it before, but he’s like LeBron James. You look at him and he’s just bigger and stronger and faster and better than everyone else out there.

 

Every club in the world would want him now and most of them wanted him when he was leaving Southampton. Yet he chose us. Or specifically, he chose Klopp. It really is remarkable when you think about it. We’d achieved nothing at that point and he had his pick of clubs.

 

He came here and within months was playing in a Champions League Final and now he’s top of the league. Clearly he’s as clever as he is talented, because how many of us mere mortals saw this coming?

 

We could have scored more but we could have conceded too. Given the choice, I’d have taken the clean sheet over more goals, because this defensive record is something to behold now. The goal difference between us and City is coming down now too. I’d written that off completely not so long ago but we might actually claw that back and if we can then it’s like an extra point, so it might be crucial, not least in the psychological impact it might have on City.

 

We’ve got two home games now while they face two potentially tricky away fixtures before we meet them at the Etihad. We should beat Newcastle but I have a feeling that Arsenal might give us a real game. The Gunners under Emery remind me of us before we got Virgil. Very dangerous but also vulnerable. I’m more worried about facing them at Anfield than going to play away at City. I think we’ll beat City, so the big thing for us is to take six points from the next two games.

 

Whatever happens, we’re top at Christmas and if we continue to take care of business like this we’ll be top at New Year too. Just keep on rolling, Redmen, and let’s see if City can stick with us the way we clung onto them.

 

Star man is Van Dijk, but then you knew that anyway. Also thought Hendo had a good game and the partnership with Fabinho could be useful, especially away from home as it gives us a really solid base from which to play. We’ll probably see it at the Etihad in a couple of weeks, with Gini or Milner alongside them. 

 

The fixtures aren’t too congested so while we’ll surely see some rotation, it’s not going to be eight or nine changes a game and Klopp should be able to manage the situation. It might be worth starting Shaqiri, and possibly even Sturridge against Newcastle, just to give Bobby and either Sadio or Mo a little break, and maybe Robbo could do with a breather too with the two huge games coming up.

 

Under normal circumstances I’d expect us to batter Newcastle but given the games we’ve got coming up, any win will do. Play shit and win 1-0, I don't care. Just keep churning them out lads, and let’s see if City can handle it.

 

 

Team: Alisson; Milner, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson; Mané (Clyne), Firmino (Wijnaldum), Keita (Lallana); Salah:


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I remember that game when VVD outpaced Sadio as well. Thought he was an annoyingly good cunt who was impossible to beat. He looked good at every aspect of defending. Boy, was I right about that (not the cunt-part, mind). He's by far the best defender in the world. 

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25 minutes ago, moof said:

If Virgil keeps this form up or (if such a thing is even possible) keeps improving then he’ll be a shoe-in for the balloon d’or

What? Everton's POTY Award?

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Excellent report Dave. Can’t agree more on VVD - saw that Babb said on LFC TV that it’s only a matter of time before the Spanish leaches come in for him. On this occasion I don’t think we have to worry, I think he’s here for the duration...

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Just now, Marcas said:

Excellent report Dave. Can’t agree more on VVD - saw that Babb said on LFC TV that it’s only a matter of time before the Spanish leaches come in for him. On this occasion I don’t think we have to worry, I think he’s here for the duration...

They can’t afford him 

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Really loved that Fabinho assist. The easy thing to do would be to ease the ball into the mixer which gives the forward time to react to whatever comes his way but the same applies to the defenders as well. Instead he hammers it in and trusts the forward to be more quick-witted than any of the defenders which, as they say in Liverpool, is right. Great stuff all round.

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I reckon there’s a bit more to it than trust. It’ll be something they’ve worked on. I reckon we’ll see some more goals like that over the next few weeks. 

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