Wolves Fans' Verdict v Liverpool: A game of two halves
Our Wolves fans have their say on the defeat to Liverpool.
John Lalley
Ultimately, Wolves were outclassed by a quality outfit and there’s no disgrace in that. Effort, determination and commitment Wolves displayed in abundance and they simply could not have dredged up anything more.
As the eight minutes of stoppage time dragged on interminably, the team were out on their feet, totally spent and the least they deserved was to avoid what could have degenerated into a wholly disfiguring scoreline. Liverpool, for all of their domination remained vulnerable in defence all game.
During a spirited first-half, Wolves exposed their static back-line with genuine pace from both flanks. Neto on the left tormented his defender and displayed the kind of quality he effortlessly churned out before his debilitating injuries; it’s taken a long time for him to regain both confidence and impetus, but for forty-five minutes, he was superb. He created Hwang’s goal and fashioned a glorious chance for Cunha and had Cunha played him in with the goal at his mercy late in the first-half instead of wildly blazing a shot off-target, the task facing Liverpool would have been so much harder.
On the right, Semedo overlapped with tremendous verve showing some dazzling control and footwork as well as comfortably nullifying any threat Diogo Jota may have posed. Combining with Neto and Semedo and linking effectively were the indefatigable Gomez and the excellent debutant Bellegarde who bristled with energy and invention until fatigue understandably overtook him.
Wolves could and should have turned around with a bigger lead; the problem has bedevilled us for so long and once again we paid a harsh price.
From the opening moments of the second period, we were facing a rejuvenated Liverpool; their total domination of the ball finally stretched us to breaking point. We may just have held out, but Jose Sa’s inexplicable decision to rush a speculative clearance instead of hanging on to regroup and face the next barrage of pressure settled the issue.
The chance of a much- needed breather was spurned and we were suddenly swamped by a numerical disadvantage and our resistance was gallingly cracked. We are in a lot of trouble; no doubts on that score and self-inflicted wounds are particularly painful and this club has recklessly shot itself in the foot with a resounding blast of both barrels.
Resilience will only take you so far, but I admired the effort here. They gave it their best shot and came up short; we simply have to go again next week in a game that early season or not, already appears highly significant.
Clive Smith
We set the benchmark against United. The worry was we would, or could not, play that well again. In this game we showed we could and for 45 minutes we were terrific and a real joy to watch. Had we gone into the break leading 3-0 no-one could have said we did not deserve it.
Gomez found Neto unplayable and we constantly fed him the ball. Inside 10 minutes his quick feet weaved in the box to the byline and picked out a perfect cross for Hwang to score. Neto alone had the chance to score a couple and assist even more by the break.
The half saw us play fast open forward thinking play. Picking passes up through the channels, finding willing runners – it left a depleted Liverpool defence all at sea and unable to cope.
The last couple of minute of the half saw Liverpool have some chances and that set the tone for the rest of the game. From them on we struggled to get any prolonged possession and played most of the second half in our own half.
Gomes is becoming a favourite of mine. A Paul Ince / Keith Downing sort of player. He gets my MOTM just ahead of Lemina and Neto. Bellegarde also caught the eye and made a good impression throughout.
Moving forward the key will be picking a consistent best starting XI. Fitness will undoubtedly play a part in that. Also the rotation of the substitutions. In this game the choice of Doherty puzzled me – I would have gone for a straight swap for Semedo. Hindsight is wonderful, however bringing Silva on clearly did not work as he failed to retain possession or pick out the right pass at a time when the result was still in the balance.
