Liverpool’s defending against Wolves today has been described as being a ‘mess.’
It feels like we says this every week now, but this afternoon Liverpool have plumbed new depths yet again. Over the course of a disastrous first 15 minutes at Molineux, the Reds shipped two awful goals.
The first was arguably the worst of the two, with indecision from Joel Matip allowing Hwang Hee-Chan to nip in and put Wolves 1-0 up. But it was the second that led former Everton striker and BBC Sport pundit James McFadden to label Liverpool as a ‘mess.’
“It comes from the set up. Wide free kick from the right hand side, Liverpool have their line, Dawson makes a run off the back of the line. Wolves manage to keep the ball alive and it’s a brilliant finish from Dawson,” he said. “It’s just a mess from Liverpool defending.”
Liverpool hit new lows
What is there to say after that? This season has turned into one of absolute misery for Liverpool fans.
The failure to add to the squad sufficiently in the January transfer window is looking more costly as every game passes.
It’s got to the point where you just come to expect this kind of turgid performance. But that isn’t right. These players are better than this, they need to pull their fingers out.
At Wolves, the main culprit has undoubtedly been Matip. His centre-back partner Joe Gomez has been almost as culpable, though.
Without Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate, Liverpool always looked vulnerable. Neither Matip nor Gomez have ever been able to assert themselves as the ‘lead’ centre-back.
To have the two of them bumbling along next to each other always had potential to be a recipe for disaster. And so it has proven.
Of course, there’s still a half to go. But this game looks over already. This Liverpool team don’t have the necessary fight and will to get back into this game.
With this kind of shocking defending, things could well get worse this afternoon. At what point do we start to genuinely worry? Because right now, things are going from bad to worse to cataclysmic.