22 Dec 2018 06:51:16
well done lads! top at X'mas, hopefully we last the distance this time round. in 08/ 09, we drew too many matches. in 13/ 14, we had a leaky defence that ultimately costs us. this team has a fearsome attack, a capable midfield, a very strong defence and a top class goalkeeper, with a decent bench to call upon. fingers crossed we'll claim no. 19 come May.

Some thoughts about the game:
Alisson - dealt with everything he needed to quite comfortably, apart from a spilled shot and a misplaced pass. him being able to sweep minimizes the threat of ball over the top that we used to struggle with. and his distribution was top class again. thinking about it, he conceded 2 due to individual errors and 1 wrongly ruled. if all these were eliminated, he has only been beaten 4 times all season!

VVD - he gave Traore a schooling. marshaled the defence and took his goal really well. many other players might have put too much on it and see if sail over the bar. his calmness and assured touch gace us the all important 2nd goal.

Lovern - had a couple of shaky moments but he dealt with what he came up with and did well.

Milner - thought he was caught out of position a couple of times but Wolves didn't really take full advantage. but he did his job, passed the ball well and offered a little something going forward. also nice bit of corner flag play at the end.

Robertson - thought he could have done better defensively and didn't offer much going forward today. appeared more controlled in his forward runs to support rather than drive the attack - which was important knowing how Wolves can hit on the break. decent performance.

Fab - caught in possession a couple of times and couple of loose passes in dangerous positions. however, he was composed for large parts of the game, broke up play, supported in the attack and did well for his assist.

Hendo - with Klopp playing two '6's, could see him taking more risks. didn't quite pull off some of his forward passes initially but as the game went on, he also played better with good movement, passes, crossing from deep, covering and breaking up the play.

Keita - thought he had a decent game actually. brought the ball to the edge of the box to try and make something happen. not to sure if being on the left of the 3 is his best position but he did what he needed to.

Mane - once again, a menace and some of his interplay with Salah and Firmino was a joy to watch.

Firmino - some people said he looked sluggish. i sincerely don't know which game they are watching. he was excellent with his movement, dropping deep to build the play. sure some passes didn't quite come off, but its his role to take some risks and try to make things happen. also, showed his awareness and willingness to track back and cover for Keita when he was injured upfield.

Salah - at his absolute best. his constant sprints past the defenders with 5 - 10 yards advantage over him must have been so demoralizing to them. great goal and great assist. but his overall play is getting back to its best.

Lallana - thought he did fine. kept the ball well and not too many touches on the ball.

Clyne - came on very late with little time to do anything meaningful.

{Ed025's Note - an extremely severe case of red tinted glasses there sg, as a team liverpool done well in awful conditions but im afraid some of your player assessments are straight out of a fantasy novel, did you really think lovren did well?, was keita decent?, bobbys movement excellent..really?, mane a joy to watch? i think it would be a good idea if you watched the game again and re-evaluated the performance of some of the players mate, i will have a bit of bias for your own team but this is really out there my friend..

1.) 22 Dec 2018
22 Dec 2018 07:43:30
Ed, as a Liverpool fan who was at the game I'm inclined to agree with you. One thing I will say about mane is though, his tracking back was from another planet last night. I'm not going to rip players apart, there were a few who didn't quite look at it last night, but you can't and won't every game. The player assessment from the OP in my opinion is mainly incorrect, but that is their opinion. We did the business against a very good passing side, like to mention how excellent wolves were at switching the play very quickly and that is all that matters.

{Ed025's Note - your dead right in istanbul, good professional job by the guys on a bloody awful night of weather, it is all about opinions but there does have to be a tinge of reality mate for us to take him seriously..

2.) 22 Dec 2018
22 Dec 2018 08:14:12
I agree with you ed025. I think many of our players never really got out of second gear. Also we gave away the ball countless times, Fab and Keita being the two most guilty. Also I think while bobby's movement was good as was his pressing his passing again was quiet poor. But a win nonetheless in such a weather against a good Wolves side is massive.

{Ed025's Note - job done shayan, im not knocking the performance mate and you cant play great every week but a bit of realism would be nice at times..

3.) 22 Dec 2018
22 Dec 2018 08:31:56
Lallana -thought he did fine. kept the ball well and not too many touches on the ball! I agree with what he say sgynwa. The only trouble is then he came on to the pitch as substitute! I personally think that his time at Liverpool must be ended asap. He contributes very little and for some reason when he is on the pitch Liverpool continually take short corners! The taking of corners is perhaps the weakest point of Liverpool's play and the only difference the short corners make is to add a few seconds on before the opposition clear the ball. I know that a few fans are already saying that van Dijk's goal came from a corner but mostly they are just a waste of time as they produce little or no danger. We need a corner coach instead of a throw-in coach as we have not improved in that area either!

4.) 22 Dec 2018
22 Dec 2018 09:07:35
Keita was well below par!
And after loverns brain fart speech to the press I feared the worst he played ok and nottin above!
We got the 3 pts in bad conditions so job done!

5.) 22 Dec 2018
22 Dec 2018 09:14:02
What exactly did Lovren say that was wrong. I'm sure he said he was "hopeful" we would stay unbeaten not that we actually would.

6.) 22 Dec 2018
22 Dec 2018 10:03:29
haa. maybe. my assessment factors in the weather conditions, the run of game they have been on, and on the back of an intense match against united just few days ago. with these in mind, i thought the performances were decent enough.

i did indicate that some of them didn't do so well except that the specific instances weren't cited. yes, everyone saw how Lovern tried to be a starfish while clearing the ball and end up having the ball bounce off him and Roberton's brilliant backheel cushion in our own penalty areas which Wolves blast wide.

only thing i'll add is Mane's touch was heavy on quite a few times and attacks did break down. and i completely forgot about Gini! who had a decent game too except that he missed a good chance at the end.

its around x'mas, so a bit of fantasy isn't that bad, especially when you're up at 4am to catch a game.

have a good X'ams! (and maybe after X'ams Ed025 could also wake up from your Andre Gomes dream? =P)

{Ed025's Note - thats not very likely sg, but have a good holiday mate and i hope santa brings you everything you need...like reality.. :)

7.) 22 Dec 2018
22 Dec 2018 10:14:21
Couldn't care less about who played well and who was s**t against Wolves. A lot of teams including the big guns have come away from Wolves empty handed or with just a point, so getting all 3 while putting in a professional and defensively solid performance collectively is all that matters.

8.) 22 Dec 2018
22 Dec 2018 11:22:39
With ed25 here, OP. Ithought Bobbie was under par, Robbo was average and Mane was too in and out. Keita was not good (maybe the injury or tackle on his ankle affected him) . All in all as Ed25 said, it's all about results right now in the hectic period and we got the result with a clean sheet to boot. Al good with me.