Wolves were desperately unlucky not to take at least a point off Liverpool last weekend.
The Old Gold were off the pace in the first half and went into the break 2-0 down following goals from Luis Diaz and Mo Salah.
Some inspired changes from Vitor Pereira, including Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Marshall Munetsi coming on for Gonacalo Guedes and Pablo Sarabia, respectively, helped shift momentum.
However, despite starting the game, one player put in a poor performance, and his injury-forced substitution after 61 minutes has now given the Wolves manager a headache ahead of Bournemouth next weekend.
Liam Keen disappointed with Emmanuel Agbadou’s performance against Liverpool
Expected to stop Liverpool’s prolific front-three was always going to be tough for Wolves’ defence, and especially Emmanuel Agbadou, who Pereira would’ve asked to be physical against.
But the former Stade Reims centre-back had put in a poor display — his worst since making his debut against Bristol City in the FA Cup last month.
The Ivorian was lucky not to concede a penalty. Although Simon Hooper did originally point to the spot after Agbadou went sliding in on Diogo Jota, a quick VAR review showed the defender had not made any contact — luckily.
“I think when you sort of commit yourself to going one-v-one and winning those duels, sometimes you are gonna come off second best. Now, fortunately for Wolves, in his few weeks since arriving in early January, he has been coming off as the winner on most occasions,” Liam Keen said on the Keen & Judah Show.
“He’s very aggressive, he’s very strong, he’s quick, he’s athletic. He’s got all of the really good characteristics for a Premier League centre-back, and I think he’s had a very, very good start to his Wolves career.
“However, this was clearly his poorest performance in a Wolves shirt. Ironically, when you take out some of the individual mistakes, some of the performance around that, he wasn’t horrendous but he certainly wasn’t anywhere near his best, and I know there were question marks over refereeing decisions […] but unfortunately, it was a bit too rash. […] He only missed Jota because it was such a rash challenge. It was so rash he missed the player all together.”
A fair assessment given how outlandish the centre-back’s tackle looked in real time. He really was fortunate not to have made contact with Jota because even the slightest of touches would’ve forced Hooper to stick with his on-field decision.
Lessons to be learned
Liverpool was just Agbadou’s fifth appearance in the Premier League. The 27-year-old is still getting up to speed with England’s top flight, so we mustn’t go in on him too harshly.
Arne Slot’s side are the best in the league, and Wolves were unlucky not to come away from Anfield with something.
Overall, the positives far outweigh the negatives, and that includes Agbadou.
On the downside though, the severity of Agbadou’s injury, which forced him off halfway through the second half, has yet to be determined, but he is not expected to feature against the Cherries on Saturday.