Liverpool Verdict

[SA Wolf]

Just watched extended highlights. Neto and Bellegarde looked great first half. Cunha showing that you don't get much for £44m these days!!
Second half all Liverpool and defensively, we were crap. Had to score a second when we were on top and proving yet again that we seem to be a one-half team. Decent first halves against Brighton and Palace and now Liverpool, followed by shocking second halves!! Is this fitness, tactics or mentality?

 

[astraltrader]

We played really well in the first half although we should have gone in at HT at least 2-0 up.
Sadly the second half was generally dreadful.
Why did GON bring on Silva rather than Sasa??
I was so happy at the interval but totally gutted at FT.

 

[Wolf316]

I think it was at the half…..I’ll check later.

edit……just checked.
Possession first half…Wolves 35 % and Liverpool 65%.
Not very impressive , imo.

I would honestly of expected those stats to be the other way round.

 

[Oldgoldilox]

Doherty was played as a winger, not a fullback?

Ok he puts a defender on to play on the wing when he's got forwards and wingers on the bench because he's not looking for extra defensive cover. Ffs.

 

[Ned]

Just watched extended highlights. Neto and Bellegarde looked great first half. Cunha showing that you don't get much for £44m these days!!
Second half all Liverpool and defensively, we were crap. Had to score a second when we were on top and proving yet again that we seem to be a one-half team. Decent first halves against Brighton and Palace and now Liverpool, followed by shocking second halves!! Is this fitness, tactics or mentality?

I’m convinced it’s not the fitness levels as such but we seem to start with a Bielsa-like tempo and obviously can’t keep it up. So I guess it is fitness for the tempo and effort the manager wants but I’d wager we are as fit as any other team in the league.

We just need to be cleverer with the pressing and pick and choose when to inject the tempo. At the moment we are going flat out and seeing how far we can go before we hit empty.

 

[Westbakejazz]

No, but I do believe that with all 4 of the points I mentioned we would have won. It’s not point 1 or 2 or 3 or 4, it’s 1 and 2 and 3 and 4

Wow just wow

 

[KBWWFC]

Ok he puts a defender on to play on the wing when he's got forwards and wingers on the bench because he's not looking for extra defensive cover. Ffs.

Doherty wasn't playing a defensive role though.
In reality he takes away our pace - and Hwang was really causing them trouble in the first half.

He doesn't react at all to what Klopp has done.

 

[Contrarian]

We had players that had been playing in S America, too.

Yes, but we didn't have the players anywhere near the quality of Liverpools bench to bring on when they ran out of gas. And were they playing at altitude? That was specifically mentioned for Macallister, not sure ours were in that match?

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

Another game where you could argue we did okay, if you want.

Yet, we conceded three.

We’re going down with Steve Davis II.

Fosun undoing all the good work they did. Back to where we started next season.

 

[Perton Wolf]

Another game where you could argue we did okay, if you want.

Yet, we conceded three.

We’re going down with Steve Davis II.

Fosun undoing all the good work they did. Back to where we started next season.

At least the season tickets will finally be reduced to something relatively affordable for the fine people of Wolverhampton.....£850 in some areas of the ground to watch us get spanked every week won't be fun this season.

 

[WeAreTheWolvesII]

At least the season tickets will finally be reduced to something relatively affordable for the fine people of Wolverhampton.....£850 in some areas of the ground to watch us get spanked every week won't be fun this season.

I doubt they will…

 

[molineux man]

Surely You don’t think whatever Gary said to them at half time made them useless in the second.

That performance is all on the players. Why they lost their pizazz I have no idea.

Why they ‘lost their pizazz’ is because they were absolutely knackered. The intensity they had in the first half is impossible to maintain for 90 minutes.

The fans will moan about the players ‘sitting back’ and GoN playing too defensively but there’s always a drop off after a high tempo start with any team.

 

[Rugrats]

Well it appears from GON’s comments Sa is finally on very thin ice!

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

Well it appears from GON’s comments Sa is finally on very thin ice!

What’s he said

 

[Oh When the Wolves]

Probably been done - but why isn’t the red stopping play for the head injury whilst they score their 3rd

 

[Rugrats]

What’s he said

Went into detail of the madness (my word) of the second goal, when only one player up the pitch etc

 

[Strats]

did anyone who was watching on tv notice Cunha having what looked like a rant at someone from his seat.

Yes, I noticed that too, lost his temper momentarily it seemed.

 

[Rugrats]

Yes, I noticed that too, lost his temper momentarily it seemed.

Probably arguing with his inner self, his valuation will start sinking if he doesn't start producing. All footballers live with that demon!

 

[Wolf316]

At least the season tickets will finally be reduced to something relatively affordable for the fine people of Wolverhampton.....£850 in some areas of the ground to watch us get spanked every week won't be fun this season.

They’ll use the more games so better value line the robbing *******s.

 

[rubyloo]

Finding it hard to process yesterdays game. First half was an absolute pleasure to watch. Neto had his spark back and Semedo was unrecognisable. Some of the one touch interplay down the right was fantastic - we've had about 3 years of checking back rather than driving on so it was great to see.

I'm not a tactical expert so i don't know exactly what happened second half but it was like we were a different team - totally dominated and unable to get out of our own half.

Unfathomable decision to bring Silva on - sorry, he adds nothing in my opinion (and frankly never has)

As for Jose Sa - just when it looked like we might have been able to hang on for an unlikely point and should have been welcoming any opportunity to waste a few seconds and have a breather, he makes a shockingly bad decision - did anybody notice his pathetic waved apology afterwards? - yes mate, you've just let your teammates down very badly. Sorry ain't good enough. (Yes, I know Cunha missed a sitter but the Sa thing really got to me for some reason)

If GON cannot find a way to engineer a win at Luton with this squad, i think what little good will he has will have gone completely.

And by the way, Liverpool fans - the dictionary definition of sing when you're winning.

 

[MasWolf]

That's funny...lop got stuffed 6 0 and 5 0 ..there was no game management

Contrast that with how many games we ended up winning because of the changes he made.

 

[Poztin]

One thing we need to sort out are our throw ins. Semedo on more than one occasion yesterday was left with zero options due to complete lack of movement, and had to resort to just launching it with the ref breathing down his neck.

Eventually he picked up a needless booking, putting him at risk for the rest of the game.

I’m in favour of refs clamping down on time wasting, but they have to apply some common sense when they can see the thrower is looking to play the ball. Even so his teammates got him that needless booking.

 

[old wittonian]

Why they ‘lost their pizazz’ is because they were absolutely knackered. The intensity they had in the first half is impossible to maintain for 90 minutes.

The fans will moan about the players ‘sitting back’ and GoN playing too defensively but there’s always a drop off after a high tempo start with any team.

I think many people realised a drop off in pace was inevitable after the start we made. I don't know how you manage that.

 

[Bawtry Wolf]

I think many people realised a drop off in pace was inevitable after the start we made. I don't know how you manage that.

It’s about knowing when to press and when to sit in a bit. We did it in the first half. We actually sat for quite a few periods and then won the ball and broke quickly and effectively. 2nd half we just sat passively.

 

[Minimalist]

Cunha should have scored.
Sa shouldn’t have gifted them a goal.
2-2 would have been a good result, and the least we deserved.

 

[Ditton Wolf]

He constantly chased things down. We barely got the ball out.

People see what they want to see.

Agree was at the game.... don't think he broke a sweat.. compare him to Cunhas work effort Night and Day....

 

[OLDGOLD]

I think many people realised a drop off in pace was inevitable after the start we made. I don't know how you manage that.

You manage it by a change in tactics and or personnel.
At half time Gary surely realises that Klopp will be astute enough to make changes in either or both, so should look to do similar. Without knowing the whole story of course, I would have changed one of Lemmy or Gomes as they had worked so hard, and I would have put Sasa on for Cunha and go 2 up top with him and Hwang and play Neto and Bellegarde wide. That still leaves plenty of subs free and plenty of chances for tweaking formation

 

[MickHolmesFanClub]

Yesterday was not a million miles different to last season's game. The main differences were, firstly, that we managed to go 2-0 up when in the ascendancy in February whereas yesterday we missed a couple of chances to double the lead.
Secondly, they came on strong 2nd half, as they did in February, but we did not have the likes of Moutinho coming on as sub to bring some control back to the midfield. We played the last 20 minutes yesterday with an extremely inexperienced midfield.

GON clearly wants to play with a greater intensity than JLo had us playing and, without a pre-season geared around that, our players are obviously not physically conditioned yet to play that way for a prolonged period. Yesterday was not the first time we have seen Lemina start to wilt after an hour and players like Hwang and Bellegarde are also not yet up to Premier League speed in terms of maintaining a high energy performance. Cunha had a long trip back from South America and RAN also picked up an injury.
No fault of those brought on to replace these players but they were largely a bunch of young, inexperienced players whereas the Liverpool subs probably cost in excess of £170m between them and were, largely, International players.

 

[Coshamwolves]

If only they could play for 90 minutes ..something seriously wrong with this team

 

[Rugrats]

One thing we need to sort out are our throw ins. Semedo on more than one occasion yesterday was left with zero options due to complete lack of movement, and had to resort to just launching it with the ref breathing down his neck.

Eventually he picked up a needless booking, putting him at risk for the rest of the game.

I’m in favour of refs clamping down on time wasting, but they have to apply some common sense when they can see the thrower is looking to play the ball. Even so his teammates got him that needless booking.

I've always thought throw ins should be scrapped - they benefit no-one. Throw it to a teammate and its panic stations to bring it under control or just get robbed of it. I think it should be a free KICK from the sidelines

 

[Rugrats]

I think many people realised a drop off in pace was inevitable after the start we made. I don't know how you manage that.

I'm not sure how others haven't read it but the excerpts I read from GON this morning quoted him as saying effectively at half time, we are going to get battered now and have to hang on. He then went on to say when the Liverpool subs came on he knew we were ****ed basically!

 

[Minimalist]

Here’s a thought for you…..
Even though most people don’t rate Cunha as a number 9…… do we actually seem to play better as a team when he does?
A lot of our better performances since he arrived have been with him playing that role.
Just a shame he can’t seem to be a goal scorer!

 

[Fifty Niner]

Finding it hard to process yesterdays game. First half was an absolute pleasure to watch. Neto had his spark back and Semedo was unrecognisable. Some of the one touch interplay down the right was fantastic - we've had about 3 years of checking back rather than driving on so it was great to see.

I'm not a tactical expert so i don't know exactly what happened second half but it was like we were a different team - totally dominated and unable to get out of our own half.

Unfathomable decision to bring Silva on - sorry, he adds nothing in my opinion (and frankly never has)

As for Jose Sa - just when it looked like we might have been able to hang on for an unlikely point and should have been welcoming any opportunity to waste a few seconds and have a breather, he makes a shockingly bad decision - did anybody notice his pathetic waved apology afterwards? - yes mate, you've just let your teammates down very badly. Sorry ain't good enough. (Yes, I know Cunha missed a sitter but the Sa thing really got to me for some reason)

If GON cannot find a way to engineer a win at Luton with this squad, i think what little good will he has will have gone completely.

And by the way, Liverpool fans - the dictionary definition of sing when you're winning.

What shockingly bad decision did he make?

 

[Vtrpres]

Well it appears from GON’s comments Sa is finally on very thin ice!

Sa’s brain fart gave then their second goal. Big boot up the field none of our players in their half. Came straight back at us and scored.
Every prem manager knows we only have one goal a game in us at prem level.

 

[old wittonian]

Sa’s brain fart gave then their second goal. Big boot up the field none of our players in their half. Came straight back at us and scored.
Every prem manager knows we only have one goal a game in us at prem level.

That's only from Sa.

 

[Coshamwolves]

Sa’s brain fart gave then their second goal. Big boot up the field none of our players in their half. Came straight back at us and scored.
Every prem manager knows we only have one goal a game in us at prem level.

Would`ve been a big boot upfield if he was`nt impeded, hence it landing with the opposition well before the halfway line

 

[Contrarian]

Sa’s brain fart gave then their second goal. Big boot up the field none of our players in their half. Came straight back at us and scored.
Every prem manager knows we only have one goal a game in us at prem level.

It "led" to their second goal. It didn't "give" it to them. Unless you let the rest of our team off the hook for standing there like traffic cones while Liverpool ran rings round them. Liverpool won the ball only just inside our half, there was still a lot to do and still opportunities to prevent the goal.

I think when we had that more solid midfield of Neves/Moutinho even Dendonker, one of them would have got in an opponents face and broken it up. We are missing that, midfield started well but due to tiredness (and in my arguable opinion, neither Doyle nor Traore being as good as their hype), and was being bypassed easily anyway. The irony being that in the bad old days, when we'd have been hanging on grimly at 1-1, some fans would be moaning at the keeper for *not* doing the quick throw out to try and win the match!

 

[Sussex Wolf]

Would`ve been a big boot upfield if he was`nt impeded, hence it landing with the opposition well before the halfway line

I think he simply hurried too much IMO. It’s good that he looks for the quick opportunities to launch a counter, but his kick was too weak, and I think that’s down to him hurrying more than anything. Others are right, there was plenty for Liverpool to do on winning it back, but they simply reacted more quickly than us in transition, and we were slow to respond to their quick counter. Through much of that second half I was calling for our team just to get their foot on the ball, keep possession and get back into shape, but for much of it, we ran around like headless chickens.

 

[rubyloo]

What shockingly bad decision did he make?

Releasing the ball early to Neto instead of holding it when we were under huge pressure ( the fact that he made a mess of it bothers me less than the actual decision itself)

 

[whitnash wolf ex.dewsbury]

I think he simply hurried too much IMO. It’s good that he looks for the quick opportunities to launch a counter, but his kick was too weak, and I think that’s down to him hurrying more than anything. Others are right, there was plenty for Liverpool to do on winning it back, but they simply reacted more quickly than us in transition, and we were slow to respond to their quick counter. Through much of that second half I was calling for our team just to get their foot on the ball, keep possession and get back into shape, but for much of it, we ran around like headless chickens.

think Sa was still saying sorry when they scored!