Metamorphosis

Wolverhampton Wanderers 3 v Liverpool FC 0

At a guess I would reckon that I have been sitting in my current seat for going on twenty-five years. Whilst the folk who sit around me have remained fairly constant, the area directly in front of me has undergone numerous face lifts. In the early days it was the seating area for one of the corporate lounges where those who attended appeared more interested in the food and drink, than what was happening on the field. It was not uncommon for various groups to absent themselves after half time.

Amongst those who were occasionally shoehorned into the same area were the club scouts armed with their secretive notepads, prompting speculation on whom they were running the rule over. When the veil eventually fell on the corporate entertainment the area became, for a short time at least, a press box before they were shifted sideways and replaced by the tech geeks with their lap-tops, spreadsheets and supplies of bottled water. Which is what we have now. From two rows back it’s hard not to speculate on what they are doing, much of it endless revisits to passages of play to analyse the formations which either lead to a goal being conceded or a chance squandered. From this smorgasbord of data, it’s hard to know what in game value it brings, since it doesn’t appear to be shared with the Manager in the dugout. By the time the algorithms have done their thing the moment has passed and it’s unlikely that the precise circumstances will once again be repeated. And even if they were footballers, unlike computers, are human and still prone to error.

But like the steady rise in professional victimhood, they have spread like a virus such that the tech geeks are currently seen as a vital cog in the science that has become football club management. I sometimes wonder what Brian Clough would make of it all. “Now listen here young man …. it only takes a second to score a goal. So get yourself in the box and get to the ball before the opposition”. But as with VAR they are probably here to stay. Not that that equates to anything like improvement. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of basic football nous allied to scouting amongst the home side’s support, who will tell you those with and those lacking character.

It is nearly three weeks since Wolves lost a tepid FA Cup third round replay to Liverpool. Since when Liverpool have continued their miserable season and Wolves have played poorly at the Etihad whilst continuing to spend big. Six new signings during the January window, but significantly better in quality than those brought in during the summer break. It usually takes time to bed in new players but if this game is anything to go by they have all hit the ground running. Never in all the years I have been watching Wolves has there been such a transformation in attitude and ability. It’s as if the side has spent the last twelve months blundering around like a fat ugly caterpillar only to turn themselves into a beautiful, elegant butterfly.

I lost count during the opening 25 minutes how many decent chances Wolves created, but unlike the previous incarnation they thankfully finished two of them. The first in the fifth minute owed itself to a degree of luck when Hwang Hee Chan squared the ball across the box only for it to deflect itself off the thigh Joel Matip into the Liverpool goal. Six minutes later a poor free kick by Ruben Neves was controlled by Cunha who pulling the ball back from the bye line found the head of Max Kilman. His header rebounded of a Liverpool body to Craig Dawson, the debutant crashing the ball through the melee in front of him and into the net. We all looked at one another open mouthed.

Liverpool hit back through Darwin Nunez and Mohammed Salah but neither was able to convert and in the 25th minute Matheus Nunes should have made it three when one on one with Alisson Becker, but the Liverpool keeper made a good save. Then Dawson headed over from a corner when well-placed and rather than 4-0 it was just 2-0 as the sides reached half time.

Following the break Liverpool played with more intensity than they had shown during the first half and in the fiftieth minute the home side rode their luck when a fierce shot from Keita was blocked on the line by a wall of Old Gold. Ten minutes later Dawson, who up until then had played with great composure, gave the ball away cheaply. But from the ensuing attack Salah failed to score one which last season would have been meat and drink. Jose Sa then saved well from Darwin Nunez and, having withstood the pressure on 71 minutes Joao Moutinho’s lovely pass put Adama Traore free. Like an untethered hare off he strode, rounding Andy Robertson before squaring to Ruben Neves who, having sprinted the length of the pitch, side footed home with Liverpool in disarray. It was the most glorious goal and epitomised the transformation in Wolves’ play.

“Your getting sacked in the morning” came the chant from the South Bank. Who would have thought it?

Wolverhampton Wanderers: Sa 7, Semedo 7, Dawson 8, Kilman 7, Ait Nouri 6 Sub Castro Otto, Neves 8, Lemina 7 Sub Podence, Nunes 7, Hee Chan 6 Sub Traore 7, Sarabia 6 Sub Moutinho, Cunha 7 Sub Jimenez

Liverpool FC: Alisson 7, Alexander-Arnold 6, Matip 6, Gomez 6, Robertson 6 Sub Tsimikas, Thiago Alcantra 6 Sub Milner, Keita 5 Sub Henderson, Bajcetic 5 Sub Elliot, Salah 6, Nunez 5, Gakpo 5 Sub Oxlade Chamberlain

Attendance: 31,664

Referee: Paul Tierney 9

©Mark Brennand