Whatever Vitor Pereira said in the dressing room at half-time in Wolves’ defeat to Liverpool certainly impacted the players.
It was a game of two halves at Anfield, as Wolves lost narrowly to the Premier League leaders in a contest that arguably could’ve ended with a result.
Pereira can be proud of his team’s second-half performance, as Wolves limited Liverpool to have no shots after the interval, something that hadn’t happened at Anfield since 2003/04.
While the game ended in Wolves’ 16th defeat of the Premier League season, there were plenty of positives to take from an inspired second half.
What Vitor Pereira told his Wolves squad at half-time at Anfield
Aside from the strong second-half display, Wolves will feel aggrieved by some controversial decisions on the pitch at Anfield.
Fans piled on Simon Hooper after the referee failed to send off Ibrahima Konate, who arguably should have seen red for two bookable offences.
It’s not only Wolves fans who believe that Konate should’ve been sent off, as pundits echoed the opinion but, in Pereira’s eyes, such details were less significant.
The Wolves manager was not happy with how his team performed in the first half, which is ultimately where the game was lost as Liverpool scored twice before the interval.
As mentioned, it truly was a game of two halves, making many wonder what was said at half-time to trigger the Old Gold exploding out of the blocks after the restart.
Pereira gave an insight into what he told his Wolves squad in the dressing room, as relayed by Express and Star.
“Play to your level, I don’t care about the result. Respect yourself, play with risks and press them,” Pereira said when asked what he said to his players.
The Wolves boss went on to express his deep dissatisfaction regarding the first-half display, saying that his squad got it all wrong in their early approach.
“In the first half, we came just for the party, just to see them play, and this is not my way to play. This is not our way to play and not our work, but I’m proud of what we did in the second half.”
The difference between Wolves in the first and second half vs Liverpool
Wolves put in a shift in the second half and very nearly got a result from what ended in a close contest.
Matheus Cunha scored in the 67th minute to give his side a glimmer of hope, with several chances arriving to the Old Gold and most notably Marshall Munetsi.
| First half | Statistic | Second half |
| 0.38 | Expected goals (xG) | 1.11 |
| 6 | Shots | 10 |
| 0 | Big chances | 1 |
As seen above, Wolves cranked up momentum in the second half, showing that they weren’t ready to back down against the league leaders, which was Pereira’s wish all along.
Next up for the Old Gold come Bournemouth, where the boss will be eager to see his side play a comprehensive 90 minutes rather than a game split down the middle.