the times | Monday December 6 2021 1GG 11
thegame
RICHARD TANNER
Tyrese Campbell and Mario Vrancic
scored goals of stunning simplicity to
defeat Queens Park Rangers at Loftus
Road as Stoke City joined their hosts
in the Championship play-off places.
The clarity with which Campbell
latched on to a perfectly judged
If a player tells you are they are
happy to be known as a “super-sub”,
don’t believe them. There was a
period in my Ireland career that I was
only ever played off the bench. I
asked Jack Charlton why he was using
me that way and he said: “Because
you are s*** when you start and
you’re f****** brilliant when you
come on late.”
I hated it but I knew there was
some truth to what he said because
when I was substitute I always came
on wanting to prove a point, so it
made me sharper. Jack felt when I
came on late it would unsettle
opposing defenders, and he was right.
Some players don’t react like that —
they are more likely to sulk, even
after they come on. I remember when
Daniel Sturridge was at Liverpool, I
never felt making him substitute was
the way to get a reaction out of him.
Divock Origi showed again on
Saturday that he wants to prove a
point when he comes on, and he did it
brilliantly. I still don’t think any player
could enjoy playing as rarely as he
does for Liverpool, but it may well be
that he has decided that is better than
the drop he would have to take if he
went somewhere to play every week.
He did OK when he went on loan to
Lille and Wolfsburg but neither
wanted to buy him at the end of the
loan spell. The best he might get in
England would be a top-of-the-
Championship side and he won’t win
any major medals at a club like that.TONY
CASCARINO
I used to be a
‘super-sub’ –
and I hated it
PHIL OLDHAM/SHUTTERSTOCKKlopp congratulates Origi on his late winner against Wolves but the Liverpool
manager is still unlikely to reward the striker with a starting spot in his sideKINGS OF THE SMASH
AND GRAB
Winning goals scored in the
90th minute or later since
Premier League began in 1992
Liverpool 39
Man United 25
Tottenham 25
Newcastle 19
Man City 16
West Ham 15
Southampton 12
Wigan 12
Sunderland 9
Stoke 7Jürgen Klopp remains bemused yet
delighted that no team have bought
Divock Origi, a striker he describes as
“a legend” despite the bit-part nature
of his Liverpool career.
There may be financial reasons
behind why he is still at Anfield; with
Liverpool wanting £25 million for the
26-year-old, who would also cost his
new club £80,000 a week in wages.
Of greater significance, though, is
that the Belgium forward has never
been in any great rush to leave and is
now the second-longest serving
player after the captain Jordan
Henderson, having been signed by
Brendan Rodgers from Lille for
£10 million in 2014.
In those 7½ seasons he has made
only 166 appearances — Saturday’s
latest dramatic cameo at Molineux
was his 100th as a substitute —
although two of the campaigns were
spent on loan, first back at Lille and
then a year with Wolfsburg.
But while most players at his age
would want to play more, Origi seems
happy with his lot. Having achieved
cult hero status, won medals and
being confident of getting about 25
games a season, why would he want
to leave Liverpool during what could
prove one of their greatest eras?
Alternatively, he could move to a
club where he would start every week.
Clubs such as Wolverhampton
Wanderers and Newcastle United
may show interest when the January
transfer window opens but there is
little chance Klopp will agree to sell
because Mohamed Salah and Sadio
Mané will be at the Africa Cup of
Nations.
Klopp’s description that Origi is
“one of the best finishers I’ve ever
seen” raises the question of why the
manager does not start him more
often. The first reason is that he has
world-class players like Salah and
Mané ahead of him. The second is
that like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in his
playing days at Manchester United,
Origi seems at his best as an impact
player.
He has scored several late winners,
most notably in the Champions
League final against Tottenham
Hotspur in 2019 and against Everton
in 2018, and he did it again on
Saturday when he swivelled on to
Salah’s cut back to fire past José Sá in
the 94th minute to earn Liverpool a
fifth successive win. Klopp had told
him as he sent him on in the 67th
minute “this is your game” and Origi
duly delivered with a goal that could
prove highly significant.
“I tried to stretch the defence and
play my qualities,” Origi said.
“Whenever I get the ball, be strong
and then try to go on the one-on-
ones and create danger. For me,
against Wolves it played out well. I
tried to utilise the space as much as
possible and being able to score and
help the team is the most important
thing.
“We knew it was going to be a hard
game defensively, as well as
offensively. They were well organised
but in the end we found the solution.
It’s a huge win. Getting that win,
getting that goal is the best feeling
and it keeps our momentum going.”
Liverpool have not often needed to
dig deep for a victory this season but
they delighted Klopp in the way they
kept searching for the win right until
the end.
“I think that ties in with the values
of the club — keep believing, keep
going,” Origi said. “In the end you can
only control the moment you are in
and just try to make the right play
every time again, even if you fail
again and again.”
He will get the chance to build on
his late goal tomorrow when he is
likely to get a rare start in theCult hero is
happy to be
bit-part man
Wolves 0
RATINGS
Wolverhampton Wanderers (3-4-3): J Sá 7 —
M Kilman 7, C Coady 8, R Saïss 6 — N Semedo 5,
R Neves 5, L Dendoncker 5, R Aït-Nouri 7
(K-J Hoever 90min) — A Traoré 7 (F Trincão 88),
R Jiménez 6, Hwang Hee-chan 5 (J Moutinho
79). Booked Dendoncker, Jiménez.
Liverpool (4-3-3): Alisson 6 — T Alexander-
Arnold 8, J Matip 7, V van Dijk 7, A Robertson 7 —
J Henderson 7 (D Origi 67, 8), Fabinho 6,
T Alcântara 7 — M Salah 6 (J Milner 90), D Jota 5
(A Oxlade-Chamberlain 82), S Mané 6. Booked
Fabinho, Robertson.
Referee C Kavanagh.
Attendance 30,729.Liverpool
Origi 90+4^1SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP
IVAN SPECK
Vrancic helps Stoke into play-off spot
Vrancic pass to whip home a
13th-minute shot was matched by
Vrancic’s calmness 12 minutes from
time. The Croat turned away from his
marker and placed his low shot into
the bottom corner.
In between his moments of lucidity,
Vrancic gave away the 62nd-minute
penalty from which QPR should have
equalised when he wrestled Yoann
Barbet to the floor at a corner. Charlie
Austin’s spot kick was tame and made
worse by the fact that the Stoke
goalkeeper Adam Davies was already
diving in its direction.
“Mario has real quality on the ball,”Michael O’Neill, the Stoke manager,
said. “He sees passes that other
players don’t. His goal was brilliant
because he just guided it into the
bottom corner. I just maybe need to
reallocate jobs at corners because he
gave away the penalty today.”
By contrast to Stoke’s clear-sighted
approach, which brought about the
club’s first victory in London since
2014, QPR seemed befuddled, and
lost out on the chance to reassert
themselves in third place. That was in
no small part due to O’Neill’s astute
decision to invite the home side into
their half before stifling them.QPR 0
Stoke City
Campbell 14, Vrancic 78^2
Champions League dead rubber
against AC Milan in the San Siro as
Klopp rotates his squad.
By his standards, Salah had a quiet
day but still set up Origi’s goal for his
ninth assist this season. Ki-Jana
Hoever, the 19-year-old former
Liverpool defender who had come on
moments earlier for Wolves, also
played an inadvertent part in the goal.
Hoever lost possession after
charging up the pitch and was caught
flat-footed by Virgil van Dijk’s superb
long ball and Salah’s instant control as
he raced past him to get to the byline.
Diogo Jota had earlier let his
former club off the hook by shooting
straight at Conor Coady on the
goalline when it looked easier to score
after Sá had been left stranded. Atleast Origi’s winner ensured the
Portugal striker’s 25th birthday was
not completely ruined.
Bruno Lage bemoaned Hoever’s
lapse. “I am frustrated,” the Wolves
head coach said. “When you look at
what we did in 90 minutes, we lose
one ball and then in five seconds they
score. These things cannot happen,
especially against these teams, and
this has happened twice with us —
against Leeds and now today.”
Lage’s problems are at the other
end of the pitch, however. Wolves —
who play away to Manchester City on
Saturday — have failed to score in
four of their past five games and have
managed 12 in 14 matches this season.
Maybe that man Origi would be the
answer.Salah: I need contract answer
Mohamed Salah has said that
Liverpool’s contract offer will
determine whether they appreciate
him or not as he urged the club to
resolve his future.
The Egypt striker again reiterated
he wanted to stay at Anfield, but said
his wishes would be determined by
the owner, Fenway Sports Group.
Salah’s contract expires in the
summer of 2023 and, despite agreeing
renewals with a host of other players,
there is no accord with the forward.“I said it several times, if the
decision is up to me, I want to stay in
Liverpool,” Salah said. “But the
decision is in the hands of the
management and they have to solve
this issue. There is no problem but we
have to reach an agreement. Your
financial value shows how much the
club appreciates you and that they are
ready to do anything for you to stay.”
Liverpool know they will have to
make the 29-year-old the highest-
paid player in the club’s history and
manager Jürgen Klopp said there was
no update he was prepared to give on
the situation when asked on Friday.PAUL JOYCE