As it feels has been written so many times this season, a 45 second period where everyone shut their brains off led to a defeat away at Liverpool. Outside of that, I still felt it wasn’t a bad performance, although that could just be the blind hope I’m still desperately clinging on to. Our counters looked much more intentional than past weeks, and we were defensively sound (for 89 minutes of the match at least). At the end of the day it just simply isn’t enough. I’m not sure when we’ll pick up our first win. I’m not sure IF we’ll pick up our first win. Almost nobody seems like they want to play for the Old Gold.
Jose Sa – 5
Not much negative to say about Sa. I thought he was much cleaner than he has been in the past on identifying crosses to leave/grab, and he made a few strong saves (excellent on the Jones chance and an even better save chalked off by an offside). You could argue he could’ve come out earlier on the Wirtz goal, but it doesn’t help when your defenders somehow can’t track one run into the box.
Matt Doherty – 4
It felt like he was getting beat a lot down the right side, but it is a tall task going against the attackers Liverpool put forward. He did well for the most part on the ball, but a rough turnover led to Liverpool’s second.
Yerson Mosquera – 5
I thought Mosquera was very defensively sound today. He did a great job on clearances, and was excellent in slowing down the Liverpool attack, whether it was shielding the ball out of play or delaying a quick attack to let defenders get back.
Santi Bueno – 7
Along with being our best defender today, he also does a great job finding himself in the right place to finish chances. And congrats on being our new top scorer (with two)! He has been strong defensively the past few weeks and I believe has done enough to solidify a starting position for the next bit.
Ladislav Krejci – 5
He did well moving the ball around the back and didn’t really make mistakes defensively. Felt mostly invisible for most of the match, but again as a defender that isn’t a bad thing. He was strong defensively, but didn’t add much in possession other than side to side passing.
Hugo Bueno – 5
Felt like he was the better of the wing backs, although he had less of an impact than he usually does. It seemed as though he was in a much more limited role when going forward, although that is expected against a more attacking team.
Andre and Joao Gomes – 5
They are the exact same player. Great defensively at winning tackles, great at passing the ball side to side. I don’t understand the need for both. We have no midfielder that wants to carry the ball forward, just two players who want to move it side to side as soon as possible. We have no connection between the back and the forward and this midfield situation is why. I think they are both excellent players, but they are the same player and it makes no sense to have both of them on the pitch for 90 minutes.
Mateus Mane – 7
Absolutely the best player on the pitch today. It was the first time this season I’ve seen a player in a Wolves shirt with THREE defenders in front of him, and I absolutely loved it. Sprinting in attack, sprinting in defense. A couple poor decisions and miss placed passes? Sure. But the only player in what feels like centuries that has fought for the shirt.
Tolu Arokodare – 6
It is so nice to have an attacker successfully hold the ball up and win headers. We didn’t get very far with it, but Tolu and Mane seemed to work so well together up front. Still is clumsy on the ball at times, but we were missing some of his abilities in attack the past few weeks.
Hwang Hee Chan – 3
If you asked me who our 11th starter was, I’m not sure if I would’ve been able to tell you. He had the good chance that got blocked, but outside of that I don’t know if he made a single impact on the pitch. It was impressive to be as invisible as he was today.
Substitutes:
Jorgen Strand Larsen – 3
I consistently lose my mind when he’s on the pitch. 30 minutes and he touched the ball four times, and still managed to lose two aerial duels. He clearly doesn’t care. Any time a pass doesn’t go to him, he throws his hands up in the air and looks for someone to blame. He doesn’t run. Doesn’t chase down anyone with the ball. I’d rather give some 15 year old a chance than watch JSL continue his extended summer.
Jackson Tchatchoua – 4
He did a much better job not misplacing passes (can’t believe this is a positive for a Premier League player) and he actually completed a cross today. I just don’t understand why someone who can run 100km/h refuses to take on a single player. A defender comes to him and he just passes the ball backwards. He also had that one touch that went about 70 feet which was impressive to say the least.
David Moller Wolfe – 4
Not incredible but I thought he was the better in the group of subs. Good defensively, and was helping push the team forward more than any of the others.
Jhon Arias – N/A
I thought this was one of his better stints of the year. He did a good job carrying the ball (which outside of Mane we had none of on the pitch) and was much better passing as well.
