Dave Edwards: Wolves need to find a way to get a result

At Liverpool it was the same old away performance that we've come to expect from Rob Edwards' Wolves.

There was lots of spirit, lots of fight, lots of quality at times as well, but we're just falling on the wrong end of the result again and it's seven defeats in a row since Edwards came in.

He'll be fed up with losing games of football. He will see that there are some improvements, undoubtedly, but it needs to keep moving in that direction to pick up points.

There is potential for that in games coming up and it's important they don't lose too much faith. 

Rob will be really disappointed that he still hasn't managed to get that first point because it was a spirited display at Anfield with lots of positives.

In the first half Wolves were a little bit too passive. They were set up to frustrate Liverpool but never gave Liverpool anything to worry about going the other way. 

I always think if you are a counter-attacking team and you are going to set up that way, you have to keep the opposition honest by still being able to threaten them in behind.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to utilise Tolu Arokodare well enough and weren't able to get Hwang Hee-chan and Mateus Mane into good enough positions to really make any of those opportunities count. We were quite poor on that transition.

We defended well for a large part of the half, until 90 seconds of madness saw us give away two poor goals. There were mistakes in the build-up to both of them and that's where the frustration will be felt by Rob Edwards and his coaching staff.

He set the team up to frustrate, to subdue the atmosphere at Anfield, to make it a little bit edgy because Liverpool themselves have had their struggles this season.

Everyone thought it was game over at 2-0 and you have to give some praise to the players and Edwards as they changed it in the second half. There was much more energy and intent.

Matt Doherty and team-mates applaud fans (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP via Getty Images)placeholder image
Matt Doherty and team-mates applaud fans (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP via Getty Images)

The players pressed and were not passive. They got forward quicker and got the early goal which really helped. For the remainder of the game Wolves were arguably the better team.

Arokodare had a decent header and they had some half chances. There was enough there to get a result but they made silly mistakes and could not rally for a big finish.

There were some positives and none more so than Mane's performance, he was the stand-out player and has something that Wolves really lack.

Mane has the pace and confidence on the transition to have a go at the opposition. He's a fearless 18-year-old that wants to make things happen and he was very positive.

Wolves have been crying out for that and although he doesn't always make the right decision on the ball, I'd much prefer to see a player playing positively like that.

I was really impressed and it says a lot about his performance that Edwards played him for the whole 90 minutes on his full Premier League debut, playing at Anfield, with all of the defensive work he had to do as well.

But ultimately, Wolves lost another game and it was similar to the away games at Villa and Arsenal.

Manchester United away is next up tonight and I expect to see a similar set-up and United are not as good as those other teams so it's an opportunity for Wolves to get a result.

There are big open spaces at Old Trafford, so there will be huge opportunities on the counter-attack and Wolves have to make the most of it. They have to stay in the game early on and not be as open as what they were against United and Molineux.

West Ham at Molineux then comes in the New Year and Wolves have to turn around their worrying home form.

They aren't able to play with that same sort of energy and intent like they do away from home and they have to find a way to be more exciting and get the fans engaged.

Andre is suspended tonight and he will be a big miss. It will cause a reshuffle in midfield and I'd expect Ladislav Krejci to play there and the defence will have to be reworked.

I'd also like to see a couple of changes higher up the pitch. Potentially a front two of Arokodare and Jorgen Strand Larsen would work.

At least then, when we do clear the ball, we've got two big men up there to get the first contact, but also get the second contact as well. If you can play Mane behind in a number 10 that would give him some freedom too.

Finally, the tributes to Diogo Jota before the game at Anfield were incredible. 

It was great to see his family at the match. Both sets of supporters loved Diogo and it was nice that in this game they can all come together and give a real meaningful tribute to what a wonderful person he was.

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