The Sunday Times November 28, 2021 5
McCarthy6Lyanco7Romeu5
Ward-Prowse5
Livramento8
Perraud5Salisu7
Bednarek5A Armstrong6
Broja5
Adams53-4-3Alisson7Konaté7
Robertson7
Alexander-
Arnold7Mané8
Salah8Fabinho7Jota9Van Dijk7Henderson7
Alcântara74-3-3Star man Diogo Jota (Liverpool).
Substitutes:
Liverpool A Oxlade-Chamberlain (for Alcántara
59min, 6), J Milner (for Henderson 67, 6),
T Minamino (for Jota 81).
Southampton N Redmond (for Bednarek 45, 5),
N Tella (for Adams 45, 5), K Walker-Peters (for
Perraud 88).
Referee A Marriner.
Norwich City remain the Premier
League’s least potent goalscorers but
at least they are now competing as
equals over the rest of the pitch under
Dean Smith, who has overseen a win
and a draw in two games in charge.
They also remain second from
bottom, with nine points from 13
games, but the Carrow Road faithful
responded to the final whistle with
applause and songs instead of the
boos of earlier in the season.
Wolverhampton Wanderers, who
stay sixth, can be satisfied they came
away with a point.
The Smith era gained instant lift-off
when a much improved second-half
performance helped Norwich to
come from behind to beat
Southampton 2-1 last weekend.
Southampton were Smith’s final
opponents as Aston Villa’s manager,
but a home defeat by Wolves three
games earlier had been a key result
before his sacking. Villa had led 2-0
with ten minutes, remaining only to
end up 3-2 losers. Not quite a second
successive afternoon of revenge,
then, but it was close.
“I thought the performance was
better,” Smith said. “When I first
came in I said I wanted us not to give
away big chances and we restricted
them to very few. We’ve created four
big chances. On another day we win
the game. On another day Teemu
Pukki goes away with a brace. We
could’ve been more clinical.”
Pukki curled an early opportunity
wide before Josh Sargent fired over
from further out, but it was not long
before Wolves showed their teeth.
Raúl Jiménez was on the end of
Rayan Ait-Nouri’s delivery into the
box but Grant Hanley did just enough
to ensure the shot was too high.Norwich fans start to believe
Norwich had the next chance. Ben
Gibson was on the end of a free kick
into the six-yard box but Romain Saiss
deflected his header behind.
Milot Rashica went close with a
free kick, then Norwich were forced
into a midfield change ten minutes
before the break, Lukas Rupp
replacing Mathias Normann.
Immediately Sargent pirouetted to
miss a shot completely. That was a
moment of comedy; what followed
at the other end was sheer farce.
Hanley’s attempt to play out from the
back was hampered by Hwang Hee-
chan’s press and the Scot’s pass sold
his goalkeeper, Tim Krul, short.
The Dutchman’s desperate
clearance under pressure from
Francisco Trincão went straight to
João Moutinho 20 yards out, but
Krul recovered and used his shin to
block Moutinho’s attempt to find
the empty net.
Norwich recovered their
composure to create their best
chance of the half. Max Aarons played
a one-two in the box with Rupp, but
the Wolves goalkeeper, José Sá,
blocked with his legs.
The second period began with
another Wolves chance from aPukki goes close for a Norwich team showing improved form under Smith
Jon West
NORWICH CITY
0WOLVES
0defensive error — Gibson at fault this
time — but Jiménez’s close-range
header was neither on target nor
directed towards a team-mate.
Rashica went close before Nélson
Semedo was booked for hauling him
down on the edge of the box.
Pukki had been quiet for a while
but when Rupp put him in behind
the defence the Finn could only stab
straight at Sá. He then poked a
difficult chance wide three minutes
from time.
Bruno Lage, the Wolves head
coach, conceded that his side had
been lacking in front of goal.
“If you look at the whole game,
it’s a point, but we should do better,
especially in the final third,” he said.
“We lost too many balls, conceded
the transitions. Football is also about
shooting on goal.”Star man Milot Rashica (Norwich).
Norwich (4-3-3): T Krul 6 — M Aarons 7, G Hanley
6, B Gibson 6, B Williams 7 — B Gilmour 7, M
Normann 6 (L Rupp 35min, 7), K McLean 6 —
J Sargent 6 (C Tzolis 68, 5), T Pukki 6, M Rashica 7
(K Dowell 82). Booked Gilmour, Gibson.
Wolves (3-4-3): J Sa 7 — M Kilman 7, C Coady 7, R
Saiss 7 — N Semedo 6 (L Dendoncker 76), R Neves
6, J Moutinho 6, R Ait-Nouri 7 — F Trincão 6 (Traoré
68, 5), R Jiménez 7, H-C Hwang 6 (Hoever 90).
Booked Neves, Semedo.
Referee S Hooper. Attendance 26,911.A patient Liverpool build-up ended
with Jordan Henderson slipping Salah
to the byline where his cross was
turned in from close range, again, by
Jota. The total distance of his two fin-
ishes possibly aggregated ten feet.
At the other end of the scale, Alcân-
tara scored with one of his trademark
long-range strikes, although the large
slice of luck he enjoyed as it deflected
in off Lyanco was probably earned by
the skill the Liverpool man showed.
Late in the first half, Alisson even
managed to warm his hands by diving
to keep out Adam Armstrong’s low
shot but seven minutes after the
restart, and a fine Alex McCarthy save
from Mané’s long-range shot, Van Dijk
did add the fourth from Trent Alexan-
der-Arnold’s corner, volleying in his
accurate delivery.
With that cross, for those keeping
score, the 23-year-old Liverpool full-
back reached 40 Premier League
assists, an astonishing statistic when
one considers that the only players to
have reached it by a younger age are
Cesc Fabregas and Wayne Rooney.THE GAFFER TAPES WHAT THE MANAGERS SAID
JÜRGEN KLOPP
Last season we had
to find solutions and
we found them
quickly enough to
qualify for the
Champions League. This season
we had a proper pre-season
which was incredibly helpful. It
won’t be like this for ever, scoring
two or more goals each game. If
we win 1-0, I’m happy.RALPH HASENHÜTTL
We wanted to
surprise them a little
bit [by selecting a
three-man defence]
but we surprised
ourselves a little bit. It was not a
good idea against a team on
fire. That was my mistake. We
changed at half-time to our normal
shape and that worked a little
bit better.171
Salah’s assist against Southampton
took him to 150 Premier League
goals and assists in 171 games. He is
the third fastest to reach that markSTEPHEN POND/GETTYand his pull-back was calmly con-
verted by Jota.
Mané had the ball in the net ten
minutes later, a header ruled out for
offside, and while Southampton occa-
sionally threatened on the break,
their fate was determined after 32
minutes and Jota’s second.