Liverpool played against Wolves in an away game a few days ago. Liverpool came away with the 3 points by beating Wolves 3-0. It was definitely a great result and hopefully this will kickstart 2011 for the team.
It was Kenny Dalglish's 4th game since taking over the manager position. Under King Kenny, Liverpool was not able to get a win for the past 3 games. In other words, it was one of the poorest starts for a new Liverpool manager. However, even though Liverpool was not able to win any games before the clash with Wolves, we have seen steady improvement from the team. In the FA cup 3rd round game against Manchester United at Old Trafford, despite conceding an early goal from a controversial penalty kick, without captain Steven Gerrard for over an hour, and playing with only 10 men, Liverpool was able to come out with a 0-1 lost.
In the next game, a league game against Blackpool away from Anfield, Liverpool had a brilliant start thanks to a superb strike at the 2nd minute from Torres. Unfortunately, Liverpool made a few defensive mistakes and conceded two goals in the match to come away with a 1-2 loss. The effort was there but Liverpool just wasn't able to create any good chances. I must say Blackpool plays really good football and it's very entertaining to watch them play.
In the 3rd game against Everton at Anfield, again, Liverpool took the lead at first. The team played really well in the first half and with a little bit of luck, they should've been 3-0 up. However, the team conceded two cheap goals early in the 2nd half. I thought that was unlucky. After watching the replay, the 1st Everton goal should not have happened. One of the Everton players was offside, but a corner kick was given. The corner kick then resulted in the goal. Liverpool, despite losing, kept their pressure up and they were able to tie the game from a penalty kick by Kuyt. Unfortunately, Liverpool was not able to get the win.
After watching the above games, it is apparent that the style of football that Liverpool is playing is totally different than before (under Roy Hodgson). Before, Liverpool played a lot of long balls. That didn't work well most of the time. With Kenny, it's back to the old pass and move style. This style is much more pleasing on the eyes and so far it's been quite effective. This style is more suitable for Torres as well as he has been scoring more goals lately. This style was used again in the match against Wolves and it worked perfectly. Liverpool started off slowly. But as the 1st half went by, Liverpool became more dominant. Unsurprisingly, the Reds got a goal from Torres. It was a simple tab-in by Torres. However, the build-up play leading to that goal was awesome. Lots of passing and suddenly a through pass to Meireles sliced open Wolves' defence. A simple pass to Torres, who was wide open, resulted in 1-0 for the Reds. In the 2nd half, Liverpool continued to dominate Wolves and within minutes, Liverpool expanded the gap through Meireles. who has been on fire this match. The goal came out of no where. He was about 30-35 yards away from the net and somehow the ball flew to him. He controlled it a bit and volleyed it. The ball lobbed over the goalkeeper and went into the top right corner of the net. I actually couldn't believe my eyes when the ball went in. It's great to see what Meireles is capable of and I hope his excellent form will continue. After that goal, Liverpool was happy to sit back, soak up the pressure, and play counter attack. Wolves had more possession during this period but they were not able to create decent chances. As the game came to an end, Torres found the net again to complete his brace. It was, once again, a simple tap-in. However, the build-up to this goal was spectacular. The goal came from 31 consecutive passes from Liverpool. Liverpool kept the ball in possession for 2 minutes and it looked like they were toying with Wolves. In this match, Dalglish's influence to the Reds was extremely evident. Liverpool actually played like a team - they attacked as one unit, and they defended as one unit. When they were attacking, instead of sitting in the midfield, Lucas, Poulsen, Johnson, Kelly, and Meireles all joined the attack. At times, I saw 8 Liverpool players in the final third of Wolves' side. I don't recall seeing this happening when Hodgson was in charge.
The victory against Wolves was a very positive result. Even though Wolves is in the relegation zone, they are still a capable team and they DID beat Liverpool at Anfield a month ago. Considering that this match was also an away game, I think Liverpool is definitely improving and I hope their good form will continue.
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