‘Clutching at straws’ – Steven Gerrard points the finger at Liverpool duo over Wolves goal
Steven Gerrard called out two Liverpool players over their role in Wolves’ opening goal in the Reds’ 2-1 defeat at Molineux on Tuesday night.
After a dismally unwatchable first 70 minutes, the subsequent 20 were packed with incident, and the home side scored from their very shot with less than a quarter-hour of normal time remaining.
Virgil van Dijk was outmuscled by Tolu Arokodare, with the Dutchman’s pleas for a foul falling on deaf ears, and the latter then fed Rodrigo Gomes, who managed to get a shot away and score past Alisson Becker despite the close attention of Ibrahima Konate.
Gerrard calls out Van Dijk and Konate over Wolves opener
Speaking on TNT Sports after the game, Gerrard felt that the Liverpool captain was too weak in losing the initial duel, while also laying blame on his centre-back partner for not putting in a strong enough challenge on the eventual goalscorer.
The 45-year-old said: “I don’t think it’s a foul. He [Van Dijk] has got to be a lot stronger in that situation. I also think that Konate could’ve bailed him out of trouble. He’s gone with the wrong leg trying to put in a tackle. He’s gotta use his long levers and try to wrap his right foot and his right leg around the ball and take ball and man.
“He could’ve bailed out Van Dijk but you’re clutching at straws asking for a foul there. You’re up against big, strong sub who’s come off the bench. He’s the focal point; you know he’s gonna try and dominate you from a physical point of view. You’ve gotta be ready for that. You’ve gotta stand up and be stronger, so I think he’ll be slightly disappointed in himself when he watches that back.”
Preventable errors cost Liverpool dearly yet again
Gerrard’s criticism of the Liverpool duo is legitimate. Van Dijk at his best simply doesn’t get beaten so easily in a duel, even against opponents as burly as Arokodare, while Konate’s positioning allowed Gomes far too much space to surge forward and gave the Frenchman too much to do in terms of recovery.
There was a high level of risk attached to making a last-ditch challenge, as a red card would’ve been inevitable had he gotten it wrong, but with a better starting position he may well have been able to dispossess the goalscorer cleanly before it ever got into the penalty area.
It’s individual errors such as those, and the careless distribution which led to the ‘mess’ of a winning goal from Andre Trindade (as James Pearce put it), that cost the Reds dearly last night and could also come back to haunt them in the race for Champions League football.
The sloppy concession of costly late goals has been a theme of Liverpool’s season, and unless they address that Achilles heel in their remaining Premier League fixtures, a top-five finish will most likely elude them.
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