One aspect of Liverpool 4-0 Wolves should undoubtedly frighten the rest of the Premier League. The Reds could well be favourites once again.
Liverpool beat Wolves 4-0 on Sunday in a real statement game. Jurgen Klopp’s side – as fresh as they’ve been in some time – proved to have far too much for their opponents and commanded the game.
It keeps them level with Tottenham Hotspur at the top of the Premier League as they look to mount an improbable title challenge.
Improbable as Liverpool are dealing with a bad injury crisis, of course. The Reds have neither of their first-choice defenders and that’s enough to ask serious questions of the champions.
Klopp can’t rely on his defence, after all, and we saw how he’ll try to answer those questions on Sunday – attack.
The Reds were aggressive on the counter, looking to get at Wolves when the moment allowed them. And one aspect of that will frighten everyone in the Premier League.
Average
Liverpool, in truth, weren’t even at their best against Wolves – despite the 4-0 win. It was a comfortable win, certainly, but not a flawless performance.
Last season, for instance, Liverpool won by four goals three times. They beat Leicester City, Southampton, and Crystal Palace 4-0 – but things were different.
For one, the wins over Leicester and Palace were near-faultless. They were the best performances of the season – as he detailed here and here.
Whereas the win over Southampton was different again to Sunday’s performance. Liverpool had near-enough their first-XI for it, while they didn’t actually play very well. A second-half blitz won the game, rather than a fine performance.
What we got on Sunday, though, was a solid performance with a well-deserved win – and major room for improvement.
Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, to name two, weren’t at their absolute best. Similarly, Diogo Jota will affect games far more than this.
So Liverpool deserved every goal, defender very well, and did it all with a great-not-exceptional performance. All against a top Premier League team, too.
If this is the average attacking Liverpool this season, they’ll be title favourites once again. They’ll have games where they play even better than this and there are several stars yet to return
Premier League teams beware.
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