Wolves Fans' Verdict v Liverpool: Proud

Chris Hughes

What's your verdict on the match? Never enjoyed a defeat this much. If someone had told me back in August that our trip to Anfield would have absolutely nothing riding on it having already cemented seventh place in the league, I’d have told them to put the booze down and go to bed!

A great season ends with a defeat to “the best runners-up in Premier League history” in a game that will be remembered more for the absolute ****housing that our fans engaged in off the field than most of what happened on it. Mane’s opener came on the back of some poor positional awareness from us defensively to give him far too much space to score.

Other than that we gave as good as they did and a had a handful of decent chances to level things before, inevitably, they scored a second against the run of play that turned out to be offside. It would be interesting to see how many points Liverpool would have accumulated with VAR being used this season.

Highlights of the day were seeing a Liverpool fan wearing a Brighton shirt in the home end, Ryan Bennett cynically taking out Mane for a booking without his shirt coming untucked, and several of the away end chants. Particular favourites were “Have you ever seen a Scouser win the league?”, “10 points, and you f***** it up”, “You nearly won the league” & “Raheem Sterling, he’s top of the league”.

If there’s one thing we need to make sure this club doesn’t lose as our owners look to take us to levels we’ve never been at before, it’s the sense of humour and ability to rile opposition fans that our supporters hold.

Never change, Wolves fans. Never change.

Rob Cartwright

What's your verdict on the match? It has seemed a long time since we went to a game where the result didn’t really matter and you could just enjoy the football and banter. Oh it’s so easy to wind up the Liverpool fans...29 years of frustration for them has resulted in a rather strange take on reality.

1) Teams should just roll over and let them showcase their (undoubted) skills

2) Opposition fans should sit in awe of their players and keep quiet.

Sorry, but this just ain’t happening when Wolves come to town.

Liverpool are the best team I’ve seen at Molineux this season; in the league game. Yesterday, they were very fortunate to win.

A deflected cross into the feet of Mane created the first goal, on 17 minutes. The second was on 81 minutes and this one was offside - no doubt.

In between these, Wolves were on top, controlling the midfield, if not the possession.

We needed to be a little more adventurous, in the final third. We needed to get Jota and Jimenez on the ball more, though it was clear Liverpool had done their homework on us as Jota seemed to have three players around him every time he had the ball.

Our best effort was when Doherty hit the bar, following a good move between Johnny, a Jimenez dummy, Jota and Doherty.

In the second half, we took the game to Liverpool and started to create a number of chances. Jimenez and Jota both went close. I did feel we could give another 10 per cent in this game. We were on top for long periods without really going for it.

A few players looked jaded. No surprise with the smallest squad in the league and an unchanged team for the last four games.

Who played well – and who didn't impress? Conor Coady was awesome. He was well up for this game and can be sure he showed his former club what they have missed. He can hold his head high on that stage.

The whole defence did well, as they were wrong footed by the deflection for the first goal and kept a good line for the second which should have been flagged offside.

Doherty and Johnny were employed as full backs for the first 15 minutes, but changed to their more accustomed wing back roles for the rest of the game. Jonny in particular had success going forward.

Dendoncker didn’t impose himself as much as I’d have liked, meaning Jimenez and Jota had to come back looking for the ball. I feel more set pieces would have caused more danger. The ref wasn’t going to give us any free kicks and we didn’t earn enough corners to put real pressure on their defence.

Alexander-Arnold looked a really good player for Liverpool, as did Virgil Van Dijk.

So, another season is over. Wolves have exceeded most of our expectations. We’ve had a marvellous two years, since Nuno arrived. We are privileged to be able to watch this unfold.

I hope people have enjoyed reading my take on the games.

The Premier League season starts in 90 days. We may have a few extra games before that too. So, all eyes on the FA Cup final for a bitter-sweet symphony!

Natalie Wood

What's your verdict on the match? What a stadium to end an amazing season! It was so nice to go into this game with no worries or concerns just merely an opportunity to ruin Liverpool's day! For me Liverpool have been the best team we have played all season so it was always going to be a tough game but as we have proven all season we can more than compete with the big boys.

The first half was pretty much all Liverpool. The first few minutes we sat extremely deep and I began to worry we were going to get completely pinned back, we defended well but it was inevitable Liverpool would score.

I’ll be honest I wasn’t too disappointed when Liverpool took the lead, the title race was obviously the big story of the day and Liverpool taking the lead made it all that bit more interesting.

When news that Brighton had scored filtered into the ground, the crowd reacted like Liverpool had scored the winner in the 96th minute to win the league…it was bizarre. Even better was when news filtered through that City had equalised (and better still when they took the lead). Wolves fans of course gladly took the role of wind -up merchants and celebrated just as wildly. You could feel the atmosphere in Anfield drop completely and on the field we took the chance to get a bit more control.

Jota really started to come into his own and began to dance around the Liverpool defence. The chance of the match fell to wolves just before half time, with Jonny taking the ball down the wing before some lovely play from Jota and Jimenez got the ball to Doherty whose attempt rattled the bar…so unlucky!

In the first half we probably showed Liverpool a bit too much respect and allowed them to control the game for a lot of the half. The second half however was different. Straight from the start we were a different team, our confidence had grown massively and you really felt like there was a result there for the taking.

Doherty and Dendoncker were both superb in the second half, they were involved in creating most of our chances. The key chance of the half for me was made from a fantastic pass from Doherty which found Jota. He found himself one-on-one but couldn’t find the net.

It was all Wolves with opportunity after opportunity, it really felt like we were going to score at any moment so it was even more gut-wrenching when Liverpool went against the run of play to cement their victory.

The final whistle was a strange moment, no cheers from the Liverpool fans just almost a moment of quiet before they erupted into songs and a wall of noise, Wolves fans on the other hand were applauding the boys for one last time at the end of another great performance.

Who played well – and who didn't impress? It was a fantastic team display, we started slightly slower but really grew into the game and by the end we were by far the better team.

We didn’t really have a a weak link in our team and man of the match could go to so many. I have never been a big fan of Patricio, mainly due to his poor kicking but I have to say his kicking against Liverpool was excellent and he seemed a lot more comfortable which led to a fewer panicky moments when the ball was passed back.

The stand-out player for me though was Matt Doherty. He caused chaos for Liverpool all second half and created most of our chances - one of his best performances of the season for me.

I also thought WIlly Boly was brilliant - an absolute brick wall! I also just want to mention our captain, Conor Coady. He is so consistent so another good performance by him was no surprise but I think the stat that he has played even minute in every competition this season needs noting, the passion and consistently is really something special, we are lucky to have him leading our pack.

Coming away from Anfield there was a tinge of disappointment, we really deserved something from the game but we put in an excellent display and you could sense the pride in the away end - what an incredible season!

Clive Smith

What's your verdict on the match? Nothing like a meaningless game to end the season. Quite an event to be part of. We expected to be on the back foot in the opening minutes and we were. Protecting our box is one of our strengths and we were doing OK in the opening minutes.

We were then breached however when a cross from our left was put into our net clinically. If we can make that sort of finishing also one of our strengths then we can advance as a team even further.

The goal maybe settled the home side down but our reaction was good. We saw more of the ball and started to use it better. The Jota, Otto combination provided forward momentum although getting attempts on goal was proving difficult. Our best move was on the stroke of half time when a lovely piece of football ended with Doherty shooting onto the bar.

After the break we even looked the better team for long periods. Around the box though we could only create half chances. Passes were over hit, or under hit or we wanted to take an extra touch. Jota and Jimenez might well have done better with attempts before a chance in our box was in the back of our net in a flash.

On another day perhaps....but we were second best in this game where it mattered the most, even if 2-0 felt a little harsh.

What a season though - to be competitive throughout the whole campaign, bringing more wins than defeats - something to be proud of. Take a bow everyone.

Who played well – and who didn't impress? Patricio did well, no chance with either goal

Otto was excellent going forward, it is surprising he has not scored more goals over the season. He was caught out for pace a couple of times defensively, but then who hasn't been against this opposition.

Doherty struggled to retain possession in the opening part of the game but frequently became an excellent attacking force from then on.

Bennett in the main defended well but his distribution let him down too often.

Coady looked like he was determined to have a good game, which he did. His pass to Jota however brought about their second goal.

Boly looked his usual cool and calm self - what was the fuss all about, he seemed to say. Looked as commanding in our defence as that other fellow in a red shirt did for them.

Moutinho put in his usual impressive shift before looking weary near the end. He lost out in most physical battles.

Neves does raise his level in games like this, unless it is just that his first touch, control and vision are required more in these sort of games. His role and form has fluctuated during the season, but it is a pleasure for him to be in our side. Man of the match.

Dendoncker disappointed. We needed him to win headers and be strong in the middle but he looked second best too often, and also one paced.

Jota got into some excellent positions, often from Neves passes, but failed to get enough attempts on goal or pick out the right pass. His frustration seemed to get the better of him too.

Jimenez was involved in several good moves, but like Jota, needed a greater end product.

From the bench Traore, Vinagre and Gibbs-White all managed a few minutes.

Best wishes to you all over the summer.

Adam Virgo

What's your verdict on the match? Man City won the league, Liverpool nearly won the league therefore we’re all happy.

None of us expected to go to Anfield and get anything but we more than had our fair share of chances to equalise at 1-0.

Their first goal was nicely worked, a bit of fortune too for the ball to come off one of our players and land straight at Mane for an easy finish.

Their second was offside and what a shock that Liverpool had yet another goal in their favour which should have been disallowed.

We weren’t great in the first half, we seemed to sit back a lot and rarely threatened going forward apart from Doherty hitting the bar when we actually took a risk in attack.

Second half we continued to gamble more and it almost paid off a few times, Jota having our best chance but Alisson did well to get down quickly.

The atmosphere in the away end was quality all afternoon, the home fans seemed to not like some of the chants we were singing but that’s their problem, they decided to boo and whistle whenever we had the ball. Also the Liverpool fans that spat onto our fans from above just show what a vile club they are and one reason why no one wants them to win anything. I don’t know if you can get banned for spitting at the opposition fans but it’s disgusting behaviour.

It’s been an incredible first season back in the Premier League, seventh place finish which is just unreal and all we need now is for City to win the cup final so we get into Europe.

Who played well – and who didn't impress? Doherty played very well I thought, had our best chance in the first half and in the second he got forward a lot more, causing problems down the right.

In the first half no one really played great apart from Doherty. Other than the goal we defended fine but it was when we retained possession and got into good positions because we’d then not do anything from it.

Second half we came out a completely different side, Jota was far more dangerous, although Jimenez had a poor game for his standards but against Van Dijk and a Liverpool defence who had the best defence over the season it was always going to be difficult.

We gained more control in midfield after half time. Moutinho, Dendoncker and Neves had a lot more of the ball and used it to good effect.

Russ Evers

What's your verdict on the match? Beaten by a whirlwind start and an offside second against a team who were trying - and in most "normal" seasons they would have done it - to win the league.

For large parts of the game we matched and bettered Liverpool but clinical finishing made the difference and there were times we could not get close to them.

But Liverpool knew they had been in a game and yet again we walk away with our heads held high.

The season is over and what a ride it has been. Let's just hope Man City manage to put the icing on the cake next week.