It’s fair to say the World Champions did not produce a performance which set the pulse racing at Anfield, but they will not mind whatsoever. Vintage Liverpool? No. Three points? Yes.
Despite the Reds tightening their grip on the Premier League title, it was VAR that stole the show and sent the travelling fans home with a bitter taste in their mouths.
Neither side were at their best and seemed to be feeling the effects of gruelling encounters this past week. Liverpool travelled to the King Power on Boxing Day while Wolves hosted the reigning champions, Manchester City a day later. It seems the euphoria of victory can only keep you going for so long and two days rest is nowhere near enough to perform at the highest level.
VAR
VAR overturned a disallowed Liverpool goal and concluded there was an offside in the build up to Pedro Neto’s goal for Wolves.
The ever so popular chant insulting the technology was sang for most of the game by the visiting contingent as they believed they were robbed of a famous win at the home of the Premier League leaders.
The call to give Liverpool their goal after the ball hit Adam Lallana’s shoulder was the correct decision and exactly what the technology was brought into the league for. The decision by Anthony Taylor and his assistants on the field of play was wrong and corrected. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Human error is human error.
What is wrong is the use of the technology to award offsides which are not ‘clear and obvious’. There was nothing ‘clear and obvious’ about todays call on Jonny’s offside. There was nothing ‘clear and obvious’ about Teemu Pukki’s offside decision against Spurs nor the Wilfred Zaha offside decision against Southampton. We could be here all day with more and more case studies but what has become very clear is that the technology is being used to the nth degree and not in a way the fans had hoped.
Leggy Liverpool
Jürgen Klopp opted to make one change from his sides victory against Leicester on Boxing day, bringing in Adam Lallana for Naby Keïta. The decision to do so by the manager raised a few eyebrows, especially considering the intensity the Reds brought to the contest.
Not every performance from the World Champions will be full of flair and energy and today was very much one of them days. Andy Robertson and Gini Wijnaldum suffered the most, producing a display solar opposite to what fans come to expect from the duo.
Thankfully for Klopp, Sadio Mané stepped up to the plate when it mattered most, firing in what was to be the winning goal on the 42nd minute mark. The Senegalese international now has 10 league goal this season, one more than team-mate, Mohamed Salah.
On a much more positive note, it is now 6 clean sheets in 6 games for the partnership of Virgil Van Dijk and Joe Gomez. The pair have been in fine form of late and the Englishman has seen his stock increase since the unfortunate injury of Joël Matip and Dejan Lovren. It is believed that both Matip and Lovren will be ready for selection come next month, giving manager Jürgen Klopp a selection dilemma every coach wish they had.
The Reds have four days to rest and recuperate before they face off against high-flying Sheffield United and fans will be hoping to see a much more stereotypical Liverpool performance against the Blades.
