Wolves player ratings vs Liverpool: Sarabia and Matheus Nunes disappoint at Anfield
Latest Wolves news from BirminghamLive includes the player ratings from the 2-0 defeat to Liverpool
A quickfire second half double from Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah handed Liverpool a 2-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Van Dijk broke the deadlock at Anfield in the 73rd minute before Salah clinched three points for Liverpool four minutes later. Liverpool cruised from thereon, leaving Wolves where they started the evening in 15th place in the Premier League table.
Wolves made a rapid start to their meeting with Liverpool last month and were two goals up inside 12 minutes. They couldn’t repeat the feat at Anfield, but Wolves did create the game’s first meaningful chance. Raul Jimenez flicked a corner on to the far post where Pablo Sarabia had escaped his marker only to miss the target with his header.
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Liverpool created the best chance of the first half five minutes before the break. Wolves gave the ball away inside their own half to afford Darwin Nunez space in behind, which the Liverpool striker used to pick out Harvey Elliott. The goal was gaping for Elliott, unmarked on the six-yard line, but he skewed his header wide.
Elliott produced a better effort on the stroke of half-time after being teed up again by Nunez. The Liverpool youngster’s ferocious effort from the edge of the box was destined for the bottom corner, but Jose Sa had other ideas and tipped it around the post.
Liverpool thought they had taken the lead midway through the second half after Nunez swept the ball past Sa. Wolves players appealed to the referee that Diogo Jota had fouled Max Kilman, which allowed Nunez an unchallenged strike at goal. After a quick check of the pitchside monitor Paul Tierney overturned the goal and parity was restored.
Liverpool made a legitimate breakthrough within minutes. Sa saved van Dijk’s initial header from Liverpool’s wide free-kick only for Jota to square for the Dutchman to nod in at the second attempt.
The hosts swiftly doubled their advantage through Salah. Kostas Tsimikas broke down the left and cut the ball back for Salah to tap in from close range.
READ MORE: Diogo Jota shares Wolves prediction ahead of Liverpool reunionREAD MORE: Jude Bellingham transfer tipped to give Wolves potential Ruben Neves boostJose Sa 7
Sa made a fantastic save from Elliott shortly before half-time and he also denied van Dijk moments before Liverpool took the lead. The goalkeeper has improved a lot since he received criticism at Manchester City a month ago.
Nelson Semedo 6.5
The right-back did well for 70-odd minutes before a costly slip allowed Tsimikas to get away from him and set up Salah for Liverpool’s second goal. Semedo’s effort and endeavour going forward couldn’t be faulted.
Craig Dawson 7
Dawson cleaned out Jota with a wonderful old school tackle at the beginning of the second half. He was quite solid and dealt with the majority of the balls Liverpool hurled into Wolves’ penalty area.
Max Kilman 6.5
The highlight of Kilman’s game was a brilliant recovery challenge to stop Jota in his tracks after an awful pass from Matheus. Kilman wasn’t directly to blame for either goal.
Hugo Bueno 6
The Spaniard coped well with Salah in the opening stages before becoming the latest Wolves player to suffer an injury. Bueno’s hamstring injury actually occurred as he chased Salah back to try and stop a Liverpool attack.
Mario Lemina 6.5
Lemina was a little bit sloppy in possession on occasions, but he tends to make up with it by storming around the field robustly to win the ball back. He made lightwork of a few Liverpool players in one-v-one situations.
Ruben Neves 6.5
Neves stepped onto Liverpool’s midfielders numerous times to win the ball back in good positions. His performance levels have been so high this season that this represented an average display for the Wolves captain.
Pablo Sarabia 5
Sarabia was very bright in the opening 15 minutes and missed a good chance, but he faded quickly. It was no surprise to see Sarabia replaced at half-time.
Joao Moutinho 6.5
The veteran’s inclusion didn’t exactly excite supporters, but he played his part in a positive Wolves performance for the first 60 minutes at Anfield. Wolves lost some control of the game when Moutinho was substituted.
Matheus Nunes 5
Matheus has so many excellent qualities, but he didn’t show very many of them at Anfield on this occasion. He was sloppy in possession and twice needed to be bailed out by his teammates after gifting Liverpool the ball inside his own final third.
Raul Jimenez 5
The Mexican was ineffective, but it wasn’t for a want of trying. He desperately needed some support, which he had at Fulham in Matheus Cunha. There was too big a gap between Jimenez and his teammates all evening.
SUBS
Rayan Ait-Nouri (for Bueno, 24) 6
Did well against Salah initially before being caught out a couple of times late on.
Adama Traore (for Sarabia, 46) 6
Adama added legs to Wolves’ attack, but he was nowhere near as troublesome as he was when the two teams met at Molineux.
Joao Gomes (for Moutinho, 64) 6
A longer cameo off the bench for Wolves’ newest recruit. Gomes put himself about without much success.
Daniel Podence (for Matheus, 64) 6
Wolves couldn’t get their little number 10 on the ball much. It will be interesting to see whether Lopetegui finally hands him a start against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
Diego Costa (for Jimenez, 79) N/A
Another quick runout from the bench for Costa, who is clearly behind Jimenez in the pecking order now.
Not used: Bentley, Collins, Jonny, Neto
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