Wolves 0 Liverpool 1 (Dec 4 2021)

[tlw content 17,102]

 

 

 

Report by

Dave Usher

 

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. He’s back. The superhero retired the cape for 18 months or so but he’s back on the job now. What a man. It’s crazy when you look at the decisive moments he’s been responsible for. 

 

There’s a huge differential between talent and impact in Divock’s case. How has a bit part player like him produced so many iconic moments? Probably only Alan Kennedy surpasses him in the 'talent / hero' lopsided balance. ‘Barney’ was a good left back but - European Cup winning goals apart - in a team full of stars he was probably the most low profile and easily replaced. Divock is way down the list of best players in the current squad but few can compare when it comes to key, decisive moments where we needed a hero and he stepped forward.

 

I’d be willing to bet this won’t be the last time this season he does something massive either. He’s just got that knack. It went missing for a while but you could see every time he has played this season that he had that spark back. Time will tell just how significant this contribution turns out to be, but if we win the league then we will all 100% look back on this as one of the key moments. Hopefully this game will be this season’s “Villa”. 

 

We all look back on that late win at Villa Park as one of, if not the most decisive moments of the title winning season. This wasn’t quite as dramatic as we were drawing rather than losing, and scored one late goal as opposed to two, but it still feels fucking massive.

 

We started the week four points behind Chelsea and one behind City. We’ve ended it still one behind City, but we made up five points on Chelsea in the space of three games. That feels pretty significant, especially as it looked like we were going to fail to take full advantage of their loss at West Ham. On that note, our defeat in that fixture doesn’t seem quite as bad now.

 

It looked like we were going to be left frustrated by Wolves but if we had dropped points I can honestly say I wouldn’t have been kicking off or complaining about the performance. Sure, I’d be going fucking mad about the sitters we missed, but performance wise I thought we did everything that could be reasonably expected. 

 

The lads dominated the game from start to finish, they completely restricted any threat Wolves may have had on the break and they created enough clear chances to win a couple of games, let alone one. You can’t legislate for some of the misses we had though. Usually they cost you. This time it didn’t because we’ve got Origi.

 

And Salah. For all the glory Div will rightly have bestowed on him, let’s not forget just how fucking sensational that bit of play from Mo was to create it for him. Virgil’s pass deserves a mention too, but that goal was all Salah really. Incredible skill. The first touch to knock the ball perfectly into the space. The little second touch to delay a split second until the gap was there to play the pass. And then the cutback to Divock. Three world class touches.

 

Divock still had work to do though, but finishing is what he does. It’s his thing, he’s fucking boss at it. And he’s also utterly nerveless, which helps. This is why he can produce goals in such big moments, because he’s so laid back and calm it’s just like finishing chances in a training session for him. His laid back attitude probably hurts him in some ways. He never seems like he’s bothered if he plays or not, but then that easy going nature helps him do what he does. 

 

 

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[alles ist gut 4,700]

Top, top “alternative-universe Moreno” analysis there, Dave.

[stringvest 14,159]

Nice.  I'd forgotten about that chance made by Divock where he lost his footing - if that had gone in, that would have been fantastic. 

[Tj hooker 2,629]

Great report Dave ,  get that statue built .

[dockers_strike 4,131]

Good report Dave. I thought we bossed the game and on another day, run out 4 or 5 goal winners. The weather must have affected a lot of our play because we seemed to be over hitting the ball. I also wonder if the players tried to subconsciously force the game more than usual because of chelsea's earlier loss?

 

Diogo will be kicking himself for that goalline miss. Regarding the goalline challenge and Mo's miss, it was just too much line that block by stones at city on the goalline. Mo's got to go in where it hurts there and make sure the ball's in the net. I mean the ball is hardly a metre from the line.

 

Loads of people would have bombed Div out of the club in the summer but the lad is the type of back up you have in a squad. He took a deft touch, spun and buried the ball in the net. And the funny thing is, if Wolves hadnt wasted so much time in that 2nd half, the time wouldnt have been added on.

[Anubis 21,576]

Top Coady analysis, but you need to get over Traore. He’s been equally shit wherever he’s played, including The Championship where he had loads of space. He’s a myth. 

[Barnesey 355]

I thought our crowd was somewhat subdued (up to the goal anyway). Probably down to the configuration - little depth across the length of the pitch doesn’t help songs catching on. 

[Shooter in the Motor 8,564]

 

[m0e 2,943]

Great report.

 

Jota actually nudged the defender into the keeper, Suarez style, for his big chance.

 

I think he saw the headlines, and changed his mind in the last second.

 

As bad a miss as I can remember since Rocket Ronnie at Villa Park.

 

Hopefully he gets it out of his system and smashes the winner on Saturday.

[dave u 7,769]

32 minutes ago, Anubis said:

Top Coady analysis, but you need to get over Traore. He’s been equally shit wherever he’s played, including The Championship where he had loads of space. He’s a myth. 

 

Never!

[Captain Turdseye 15,012]

I had a thought that bringing Origi on and having four forwards on was a bit of a ploy by Klopp, because they changed their system to counter it and we immediately reverted back to 4-3-3. 

[Morning Glory 69]

Great report. Totally on board with the Coady comments. Will never forget or forgive him making us attack the Kop first half for the title decider in May 19. Prick. And someone needs to educate the people of Wolverhampton about their poverty levels before they sing “sign-on” to us. Thick pricks.

[suzy 3,357]

I love that your Mum hates Cody so much!

[DalyanPete 1,242]

so anything that keeps his spirits up 

When you have the motivational skills of Jurgen it must be easy. If I was big Div I'd be cracking one off listening to the boss talk about me.

He could lift the seven dwarfs.

[Judge 230]

Div is a legend and I think Klopp underrates him massively. He is our best finisher and should be playing a lot more. I think he have looked sharp and made better decisions on the pitch in his latest appearances.

 

I think you are way too kind with Jota. The guy is seriously going to give me a heart attack. That miss...It was so bad that I struggle to describe it. Worst miss by a Liverpool player since that enormous miss from the same guy against Palace in september. Yes he score te occasional and random screamer, but don`t you dare compare him to Fowler again.

[dave u 7,769]

Yeah I jinxed Jota.

[Supremolad 344]

Great article. Laughed my head off at the little devil whispering to Jota to twat it at Coady.

 

Not too sure moving to a bigger team and being coached by Klopp would suddenly make Traore a whole lot better. Liverpool went looking to sign a forward from Wolves, and ended up taking Jota for 40m instead of Traore. Simply shows that Klopp didnt fancy working with him. His limitations even now as a 26 year old forward are too glaring to ignore. Jota played in the same team and had greater output than Traore could ever dream of.

[dave u 7,769]

Traore wasn't for sale and his market value was touted at £70m. Even if Klopp did want him it wasn't an option. 

 

It might be now, with a plummeting value and expiring contract.

[aws 8,073]

A right side attack of Trent, Traore and Mo would attract so many defenders that Sadio would be top scorer. 

[Reckoner 2,220]

I’m not sure we completely restricted any Wolves threat on the break, personally. It might be different if I watch it back and so I’m not such a panicking screaming quim but we seemed to struggle at times.

[m0e 2,943]

1 hour ago, Reckoner said:

I’m not sure we completely restricted any Wolves threat on the break, personally. It might be different if I watch it back and so I’m not such a panicking screaming quim but we seemed to struggle at times.

Alisson had literally fuck all to do second half, and in the first, that one cross along the ground that he handled well.

[dave u 7,769]

1 hour ago, Reckoner said:

I’m not sure we completely restricted any Wolves threat on the break, personally. It might be different if I watch it back and so I’m not such a panicking screaming quim but we seemed to struggle at times.

 

There was a period midway through the 2nd half where it started to get open and they had chances to break. But every time they did we just fouled Traore and stopped it at source. They never got near our goal at all, other than when they were offside.

[Arnaud 955]

47 minutes ago, dave u said:

 

There was a period midway through the 2nd half where it started to get open and they had chances to break. But every time they did we just fouled Traore and stopped it at source. They never got near our goal at all, other than when they were offside.

That was right after Hendo was subbed, 10 patchy minutes, but then we settled down and put them under too much pressure.

[aws 8,073]

I think they had three shots and the only one on target was offside. 

[Reckoner 2,220]

2 hours ago, dave u said:

 

There was a period midway through the 2nd half where it started to get open and they had chances to break. But every time they did we just fouled Traore and stopped it at source. They never got near our goal at all, other than when they were offside.

Yeah fair point. I haven’t seen us foul anybody quite so cynically before so I found that unsettling at the time. I don’t like it but I’m glad we did it too, (everyone else does.) We definitely deserved the win though.