Virgil van Dijk proves Jurgen Klopp spoke too soon by inspiring nervy Liverpool

02 March 2023 , 02:00

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There was sufficient head-scratching when Virgil van Dijk was named in FIFA’s world best XI this week, for Jurgen Klopp to remind everyone it wasn’t judged on his last five games.

His point was the Liverpool defender’s excellence underpinned the heroics of last season AND a Holland World Cup run, but he could easily have merely said wait and see…because Van Dijk had the perfect answer here at Anfield.

He has scored some big goals for the Reds, but none may prove more important than his close range header which finally tore open a tough, tight Wolves defence, which had again exposed a lack of confidence in Klopp’s team.

It was hardly a classic goal, Jose Sa feebly patting van Dijk’s initial header from a corner straight to Diogo Jota, who tapped the ball back to the big Dutchman to nod home on 73 minutes, but memorable for its impact.

Just how important will ultimately be judged if they finish in the top four or not, but given the lack of confidence Liverpool displayed at times here, you wonder whether a draw would have killed any hope of catching Spurs.

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Instead, it lifted the Reds and destroyed Wolves, who seemed intent on largely containing in the hope of exploiting the pace of sub Adama Traore late on, but Sa’s error crushed that plan.

Van Dijk nodded the ball over the line from close range (Getty Images)

Mo Salah, stepping to within a goal of Robbie Fowler in the all time Liverpool scoring charts, used his knee to convert a second four minutes later, and suddenly Klopp was almost as transformed as his side…and their hopes of Champions League football next season kept alive.

That seemed a long way away when Darwin Nunez had a goal ruled out for Jota’s foul on Max Kilman on 66 minutes, which seemed to sum up the home side’s luck.

But then confidence even amongst the elite is a fragile thing, and Klopp’s demeanour through some of this beige contest told you exactly where he thinks his team is currently at.

Klopp wasn't pleased with what he saw for most of the contest (Getty Images)

He stood on the touchline staring intently, almost in a trancelike state, as if mesmerised by the decline and fall of his great team.

There were flashes of course. Salah was lively down the flanks, if rather effective as the penalty area approached, but it was Nunez who provided the real threat, with an energy and intent on the left, that was missing elsewhere.

Nunez produced most of the game’s best moments, a brilliant cross to pick out Harvey Elliott, who really should have done better than to limply place a free header wide from barely eight yards.

Soon after there was another Nunez flash, a clever chest down to the same player, but again the contact wasn’t clean, and Jose Sa flopped onto Elliott’s bouncing shot.

He was angry too, when Fabinho woefully under-hit a pass when he was free and would surely have scored, but his most frustrating moment came with that VAR decision to overturn his sweetly struck shot to finally beat Sa.

Liverpool could argue that Jota had been pushed into Kilman, and so at least deserved a penalty, and there is some truth in that, but there was no way referee Paul Tierney was ever going to offer such a radical interpretation.