Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Wolves at Molineux yesterday saw them take their place at the top of the Premier League.
But it was a far from convincing performance by the Reds, who committed a defensive error that saw them pegged back to 1-1 in the second half by the side sitting bottom of the table. As a result it’s left many wondering, new coach Arne Slot included, about what the game actually told us about this Liverpool side.
With that in mind, here’s three things we learned from yesterday’s match.
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Ryan Gravenberch is the truth
When Liverpool’s pursuit of Martin Zubimendi failed in the summer, the whole fanbase was left wondering what the state of the team’s midfield was going to be going into the season.
In the first few games, Ryan Gravenberch stepped forward to make the role his. It’s fair to say that everyone was surprised with how different Gravenberch looked to last season, particularly in his breakout performance against Manchester United. At Old Trafford, he intercepted a wayward Casemiro pass and drove forward to play in Mo Salah whose cross was duly converted by Luis Diaz for the opener.
Seven appearances into the season it’s becoming increasingly clear that this is the player that Gravenberch is. At 22 years old he will still have a distinct amount of growth to do, both on the pitch and personally, and so step-ups in level shouldn’t surprise us too much. He’s completing just under double the amount of passes as last season (33.2 per-90 vs. 59.2), winning over double the amount of tackles (0.96 per-90 vs 2), and intercepting the ball at a rate of 1.67 per-90 this season to 1.12 last. It speaks to a player who is much more confident in himself and being asked to play to his strengths much more clearly.
Diogo Jota has to play
For such a difficult match to see themselves through at points, the pivotal moment came when Diogo Jota was brought down for a penalty just after Liverpool’s defensive error had delivered Wolves a goal.
His movement – drifting behind three Wolves defenders – on his former home ground as Trent Alexander-Arnold delivered a perfect left-footed cross led to Nelson Semedo basically rugby tackling his compatriot to the ground. If he had not been fouled, Jota would have been in the perfect position to score his second Premier League goal of the season.
Chances were few and far between for both teams throughout the entire game, but Jota’s concentration, composure and ingenuity to keep exploiting Wolves’ back line won Liverpool the game in the end.
Quiet concern is not a bad thing
No one wants to worry about their team and it does feel silly to say that you would be right to be concerned about a team on top of the Premier League at time of writing. But a little bit of disconcertion heading into games against teams in the European places is not the worst thing in the world.
Being unhappy with the way you’ve performed as of late can be the type of thing to force Arne Slot and his boys to really troubleshoot during training. Knowing that they will be coming up against Chelsea, Arsenal and Aston Villa sides, amongst others, that can exploit poor performances in the next month may just be the exact impetus to squad needs to shock themselves out of any complacency that may be present.
