The number of reporters sitting close together in the reporters’ seats and the number of fans gathering in front of the entrance of the players before the game tells us that the quiet mid-sized club Wolverhampton’s opponent for the weekend match is the noisy big club Liverpool. there was.
Liverpool, in terms of club size and squad, is a club that cannot be easily compared to Wolves (Wolverhampton nickname). When Mohamed Salah, who won the Premier League top scorer along with Son Heung-min (Tottenham) last season, got off the red Liverpool team bus on the afternoon of the 4th (local time), Wolverhampton fans shouted “Sala!” and were greeted in person by Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp. I was thrilled with (?). I didn’t even feel the slightest sense of rivalry.
The expressions of coach Klopp and Ace Salah, who entered Molineau Stadium, home of Wolverhampton, with a confident expression, gradually hardened. In the 5th minute of the first half, Hwang Hee-chan’s clever move in the box took away the timing, and Joel Matip hurriedly followed and scored an empty own goal. In the 12th minute, Craig Dawson gave up an extra goal in front of the goal. Klopp made a ‘gesture of anger’ in front of the bench. Salah began to put on his signature annoyed expression whenever the game didn’t work out.
Liverpool, who conceded consecutive goals in 12 minutes, were truly in a state of ‘mental breakdown’. To the extent that Hwang Hee-chan said after the game, “The first half, Wolverhampton’s performance was close to perfect,” the first half of the day was far from the appearance of the’second round’ competing for the league championship with Man City. Darwin Núñez, Salah and Naby Keita’s shots were all powerless. In the 23rd minute, Núñez’s cross from the left flew into the crowd. In the 25th minute, Matip was at risk of conceding an extra point as the ball was stolen while relaxing in his own half. In the 32nd minute, ‘Soccer Guru’ Thiago Alcantara’s space pass was easily blocked by Hwang Hee-chan. Overall, the players seemed to be missing a screw.
In the 26th minute of the second half, in a counterattack situation, Ruben Neves scored a key goal, increasing possession and pushing Wolverhampton. However, Núñez missed a one-on-one chance with the goalkeeper. Cody Hakpo, whom Liverpool ambitiously recruited in the transfer market in January, was often robbed of the ball while hesitating in front of the gate. There was little Salah could do on her own. The game ended in a 0-3 defeat for Liverpool. 온라인바카라
It seems that away fans immediately thought of Brentford and Brighton nightmares. Liverpool lost last month with scores of 1-3 and 0-3, respectively, in Brentford and Brighton expeditions, which had a lower power. In the last 3 league away games, they recorded 3 runs in a row. It’s been about 42 years since 1981 that Liverpool lost to Wolverhampton. Liverpool, who recorded a winless streak (1 draw, 3 losses) in the last 4 games including home and away, only gained 29 points in 20 games, and fell to 10th place, a double-digit ranking. The difference between 4th place (Newcastle) and 18th place (Everton) in the relegation zone is the same as 11 points. In terms of numbers, it’s just average.
The problem is that the sluggishness did not come suddenly. In October of last year, key strikers Luis Dias and Diogo Jota suffered long-term injuries a week apart, and the depth of the striker suddenly thinned. This is the reason why Hakpo was recruited unreasonably. Starting this year, center backs Virgil Van Dijk and Ibrahim Konate were injured one after another. Even for a team led by Klopp, a top-notch coach, Wolverhampton, who is fighting to remain, was a daunting opponent in a situation where the wings were broken and the shield was broken. Wolverhampton, who only scored 2 goals in the previous 4 games, scored 3 goals on this day alone. It has been 11 months since Wolverhampton won by more than 3 goals in the league after winning against Watford (4-0) in March last year.
Liverpool, on the other hand, have scored 1 goal and conceded 9 in their last 4 matches. It is a game that is worse than a team that has stayed in the relegation zone. Coach Klopp had to be asked a spicy question at the press conference after the game, ‘Do you have the confidence to save the team? If Arsenal, which is running at the top, is a ‘rich house that has been resurrected’ after a long time, Liverpool can be likened to a ‘rich house that has been ruined’ due to the difficulty of entering the Big 4 for the first time since the 2015-2016 season. This is a fact I witnessed in a game I went to cover ‘Bull’ Hwang Hee-chan. Director Klopp replied, “I am confident” in his unique confident tone to that question. Liverpool’s next opponent is the Merseyside derby (13th) against Everton, who defeated Arsenal after a manager change.
