Liverpool came from behind again to win away from home in dramatic circumstances, claiming a 3-1 win at Wolves to make it four wins from five games at the start of the season.
Wolves 1-3 Liverpool
Premier League (5), Molineux
September 16, 2023
Goals: Hwang 7′; Gakpo 55′, Robertson 85′, Bueno OG 90′
The Reds fell behind early doors to a Hwang Hee-chan goal, but responded in the second half through strikes from Cody Gakpo, Andy Robertson and Harvey Elliott.
Victory extended their run of consecutive Premier League games without defeat to 16, and allowed them to leapfrog Manchester City into top spot in the division.
Here are five talking points from another important win for Jurgen Klopp‘s side.
Liverpool a serious team again
The most encouraging aspect of Liverpool’s strong start to the new season has perhaps been that they haven’t had things all their own way.
Red cards, the concession of an early goal, a 12.30pm kick-off away from home after an international break; put an obstacle in front of this Reds team and they will hurdle it.
That was definitely not the case last season, when setbacks were more often followed by a collapse than the steely responses we have seen this term.
Klopp appears to have his mentality monsters back, and that bodes well for Liverpool achieving their aims this season.
Klopp gets away with Mac Allister error
In explaining his decision to leave Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez on the bench pre-match, Klopp said: “The South Americans came back really late. We need them as substitutes.”
And after around 10 minutes of this game, the German was no doubt left wondering why he didn’t apply the same logic to Alexis Mac Allister.
The Argentine had needed oxygen after representing his country in the high altitudes of Bolivia only days ago, and yet was asked to start here in arguably the most demanding position on the pitch.
The results were entirely predictable, Mac Allister looking a shadow of himself en route to being deservedly hooked at half-time.
Klopp surely won’t be asking the 24-year-old to play in an early kick-off after such a gruelling travel schedule again, though that will demand that he shows greater faith in Wataru Endo.
The Japanese was a bizarre omission from the line-up, particularly given he is very much a signing for the now, rather than the future.
Post-match, Klopp said Mac Allister had “low energy.”
Quansah shines on first start
How easy it would have been for Klopp to take a small risk with Ibrahima Konate‘s fitness by restoring the Frenchman to the starting line-up here.
Instead, he made the brave decision to throw in Jarell Quansah for his first Premier League start in what the first half showed was testing circumstances.
The 20-year-old had merited that faith with his performances in pre-season and off the bench across the start of this campaign, but this still represented a major step up.
Fortunately, Quansah answered every question asked of him, making three tackles, five clearances and two interceptions before cramp set in and ended his afternoon.
He also ended the game with a passing accuracy of 96.3 – higher than any other player on the pitch – and that despite showing plenty of ambition in his choice of pass.
On the strength of this performance, Liverpool could well have uncovered another gem from their academy in Quansah.
Mohamed Salah has a shot at assists record
It is easy to forget that Klopp’s attempts to mould Mohamed Salah into more of a creative force than an out-and-out goalscorer were not initially well received.
But the Egyptian’s utterly convincing transition into that role could well have him eyeing up a long-standing Premier League record this season.
Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne share the honour of having laid on the most goals for teammates in a single campaign having done so on 20 occasions.
Only denied a hat-trick of assists by Elliott’s goal being chalked as an own goal, Salah moved onto four assists for the season, and still has 33 games to add the 17 he requires to break the record.
If he keeps assisting at this rate, the 31-year-old will have another record to add to a lengthy list of career milestones.
Liverpool depth showcased again
Liverpool’s squad depth (or alleged lack of it) was a common talking point among supporters across the summer window on social media.
But suggestions they are somehow massively short have been regularly shown up by the calibre of the manager’s substitutions across the start of this season.
Here, Klopp was able to throw on Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Harvey Elliott, Ibrahima Konate and Ryan Gravenberch as he looked to turn things around after a strong starting XI failed to show its quality.
Those subs would be the envy of any manager across the Premier League, and were made despite the likes of Thiago Alcantara, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk missing out on the squad.
Admittedly, question marks remain over whether that depth sustains into the defence, though Quansah’s emergence could answer many of those.
As such, we should perhaps appreciate the embarrassment of riches Klopp has at his disposal a little bit more.
