Arne Slot’s Liverpool made it four wins on the bounce in all competitions since their loss to Nottingham Forest, beating Wolves 2-1 at Molineux.
Liverpool took the lead through Ibrahima Konate just before half-time, going in 1-0 up at the break. However, Wolves equalised in the 56th minute through Rayan Aitn-Nouri, forcing Mohamed Salah to save the day, converting from the spot in the 61st minute to give Liverpool a 2-1 lead and secure the three points.
Slot’s side now sit on top of the Premier League, winning five of their opening six games, the only loss coming to Nottingham Forest a few weeks ago, when they lost 1-0 at Anfield.
Mohamed Salah's performance in numbers
Liverpool’s key man, Mohamed Salah, stepped up with another goal from the spot to win them the game, as he often does. But it wasn’t just his goal, he also made two key passes, completed two out of three dribbles, and won five of ten ground duels.
Salah has started the season strong under his new manager, scoring five goals and providing four assists in his eight games played.
Slot looks to Salah to be the difference maker in the final third, often holding width on that right side, making runs in behind, and being the main outlet for the Reds.
But Liverpool has never had an issue in this area of the pitch, often creating a lot of chances, and scoring many goals with their attacking contingent.
However, an area of concern recently has been the midfield, and Slot may have found his man who is just as important as Salah to this team.
The importance of Ryan Gravenberch
In September 2023, Liverpool signed Ryan Gravenberch from Bayern Munich, for a fee of around £34.2m. His debut season at the club was underwhelming, playing 1,839 minutes for Liverpool in all competitions.
However, this season, under Slot, Gravenberch has been heavily relied upon early in the season, starting seven of their eight games so far, and playing 90 minutes in each of them.
The only game he missed was in the EFL Cup against West Ham, where he was left out of the squad, probably for rest purposes.
In yesterday’s performance against Wolves, Gravenberch was given an 8/10 match rating by GOAL, being praised for barely losing possession in midfield. This shows in the metrics, as the 22-year-old midfielder completed an impressive 92% of his passes, and even won seven out of seven ground duels, and his one and only aerial duel for his side.
The 6 foot 3 midfielder has a powerful frame and long legs, allowing him to win many duels in the middle of the park, often eating up ground to beat opposition players to the ball, and lunging in to win challenges.
Minutes
90
Touches
73
Accurate Passes
57/62
Pass Completion
92%
Long Balls
1/1
Ground Duels
7/7
Aerial Duels
1/1
Tackles
3
Gravenberch has softened the blow of Liverpool not signing a midfielder this summer, and an area they tried to address by signing Real Sociedad midfielder, Martin Zubimendi.
However, if it wasn’t for the Spanish midfielder snubbing Liverpool, they may not have seen this version of Gravenberch, who has now become one of the first names on the team sheet for Slot’s side.
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