Liverpool 2 Wolves 0 - Liam Keen and Nathan Judah reaction
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00:00 Hello for the final time this season, I'm Nathan Judah. I'm here with Wolverhampton
00:14 Wanderers reporter, Mr. Liam Keane. Liam, Liverpool 2, Wolverhampton Wanderers 0, Wolves
00:21 finished 14th in the table. What did you make of that game?
00:24 Well, it was a game that turned very quickly on the Nelson Smedo red card. Wolves have
00:29 really recovered from that. Obviously it's always difficult against Liverpool with 11
00:33 men, let alone with 10. They concede two quite poor goals to be honest, and then have a second
00:38 half that is a lot better, albeit with a few disappointing moments, not scoring when 8
00:43 Neu and Koonu go through, not being able to get back into the game. Look, the season's
00:47 fizzled out one and truly hasn't it? And they finish on one win out in the last 11, 8 losses
00:52 in that time. Nothing but a disappointing end to what has been a really good season.
00:57 Yeah, look, I mean, we weren't expecting much today, but at the same time I thought that
01:01 11 vs 11, Wolves started pretty brightly. They were well organised, they were passing
01:07 the ball. Yeah, Liverpool having a bit of possession as well, as you'd expect today.
01:10 Emotional day for the fans, a lot of the players and some of the kids are still on the pitch
01:14 behind us. The clock's just come off after about two and a half hours. But at the same
01:18 time, I thought it was a pretty even game. And then you get, well, it would be wrong
01:23 if we weren't talking about VAR to finish the season. Nelson Tomeida, yellow card, overturned
01:28 by VAR to a red. What do you make on that decision?
01:31 Well, Gary said disappointed, said that had it been given as a red initially, he wouldn't
01:37 have expected VAR to overturn it. So it's fairly similar to where I land because I think
01:43 it's a red card tackle, in my opinion. I think it's reckless. I think it's silly. I think
01:47 he lunges, goes over the ball, catches the player. I think it's dangerous and it's a
01:51 red card. Obviously, everyone has to go about their opinions. There'll be plenty of people
01:55 that disagree with me, but I think it's a red card. However, the issue for Wolves or
01:59 the gripe that Wolves will have, which I can understand, is that once the referee is very
02:04 firmly given a yellow card, is that enough? And is it right for VAR to intervene and overturn
02:10 it? There's a very strong argument that it isn't. And Gary's argument is that VAR was
02:14 not brought in to correct moments like that. Is it clear and obvious? Probably not. It's
02:19 subjective. I thought it was a red card. There's plenty of people that won't think it's a red
02:22 card. So that's where the gripe will come for Wolves. Albeit, I do think the challenge
02:27 was silly from Samedo. Samedo, by the way, was at a brilliant season, but was having
02:31 an absolutely horrid time before getting sent off. He looked tired, out of sorts, getting
02:37 caught in behind, not recovering, looked like he was really struggling. Then he makes a
02:42 clumsy mistake and gets sent off. We'll talk about the ramifications of that and Nelson
02:46 Samedo's future in a little bit. But first of all, like you say, that 20-minute spell
02:51 before the end of the first half, where it could have been 3-4-5 and it took them to
02:56 get into half-time before they did pull themselves together and put in a decent, spirited second
03:00 half performance. But the game was over by then, wasn't it? Yeah, it was. The goals,
03:04 as I've already said, were poor. The first one, it's a great cross from Harvey Elliott,
03:08 but you can't allow him to do the cross. And then when he does, McAllister gets a run on
03:12 Santi Bueno. But the height difference and strength and positional difference between
03:17 these two players means that Santi Bueno should never be getting beaten by Alexis McAllister
03:22 in the air and they go 1-0 up. So it's a really poor goal for Wolves to concede. The second
03:27 one, similar in that it's avoidable, losing the first ball really as that corner comes
03:35 in and they're not really recovering. And they, as you say, had moments where they could
03:39 have gone down by a few more goals and they managed to survive, but then had moments in
03:42 the second half where they could have scored. Doc has one ruled out marginally offside.
03:47 So overall, there were good moments, but they were overshadowed by just a bit of recklessness
03:55 and just Wolves being caught out when they could have avoided it really. We saw a Pedro
04:01 Neto sighting at the end of the game as well. We did. Yeah, great to get him back. They
04:05 hoped he would get back for the end of the season. He did. He looked lively enough when
04:07 he came on as well. Had a few decent moments. It's going to be big for him going forward.
04:12 Obviously, we don't know the Portugal squad yet. It makes me feel that it might be a difficult
04:16 thing to get in considering the injuries he's had, which might be great news for Wolves,
04:20 by the way, if you can get him back in over pre-season and give him a full summer training
04:25 camp. He'll be massive for Wolves next season if he's at the club. Big if because it's all
04:29 dependent on this buyer's market, as I keep describing it, whether a club will come in
04:33 and pay the money for him. It's going to be a bidding war out there for a number of players,
04:37 not just Pedro Neto. It'll be interesting to see what happens with him. Yeah, lots of
04:40 players' futures are in doubt, you've got to say, at this moment in time. Nelson Samoa
04:45 being one of those, just because of the contract situation, because of the amount of money
04:48 he's on. Now he's suspended three games to start next season. That's not the be-all and
04:52 end-all, but it doesn't help. Rye smiling at a joke that Gary O'Neill said in the post-match
04:57 press conference saying that everyone's doing everything to try and keep him. It's not great,
05:01 is it? That's the big decision that Wolves, Geoff Shee, Fosun and Gary O'Neill and Matt
05:05 Hobbs are going to have to make. Yeah, exactly. Gary's made his position very, very clear.
05:09 I'm desperate to keep Nelson Somaedo. If we want to be serious about keeping our best
05:12 players, which was a really good, really, really big line, if we're serious about keeping
05:16 our best players, Somaedo's huge for us. So he's made it very, very clear. Matt Hobbs,
05:20 I'm sure, I can't speak for him, but I'm sure, will be desperate to keep Nelson Somaedo.
05:24 He's done really well this season. His best season in a Wolves shirt by some distance.
05:29 And the other side of that, which is a side that fans understandably won't like, but is
05:33 a reality in the modern game, is that from a business point of view, and of course I'm
05:38 not sat in the boardroom right now looking at the figures, but from all the information
05:40 we have, the business decision for Nelson Somaedo to leave makes a lot of sense. He's
05:48 on a lot of, he's on very high wages for his squad, one of the highest paid players at
05:52 the club. He's got one year left in his deal, will retain some value this summer for a club
05:56 that may want to purchase him for all of the financial reasons and business reasons you
06:00 can think of, Wolves should, at 30 years old, should be selling Nelson Somaedo. And from
06:06 every footballing reason that you can think of, Wolves shouldn't be selling Nelson Somaedo.
06:11 And this for me is going to be one of the really interesting ones going into the summer
06:14 because it's that battle now between Gary wanting to keep him and I would imagine, again
06:19 can't speak for them, but I would imagine the powers that be at the club thinking it
06:22 might be the right time to let him go. So that one's going to be one to watch, as well
06:27 as Sravi who's in a very similar position. Yeah, look battles are, is completely the
06:31 right description I think, because there is going to be a lot of battles and some I think
06:35 Gary Neal will win and Matt Hobbs and some they won't win and it's a case of getting
06:40 the players, if these players leave, they've got to replace them with some quality and
06:44 quantity and that's going to be the big question going into what is a massive summer because
06:49 there's going to probably have to be one big sale, you've got to think at least one big
06:52 sale, who that is and what position that is. We're already short in a lot of areas of the
06:57 pitch apart from maybe arguably centre midfield. So look there's going to be a lot of questions
07:02 and Gary Neal wants the squad to compete. They finished 14th this season, it's the lowest
07:07 they could have really finished I think. It's disappointing, ironically they finished 13th
07:11 last season and they were bottom at Christmas. Now Gary Neal's done a magnificent job and
07:16 I think people cannot overlook that from where this club were four days before the start
07:20 of the season. But he has got to be backed if Wolves are going to really take Gary Neal
07:26 and this football and this squad seriously, that they want to compete, they want to challenge
07:30 because if they don't and they just want to stay in the league, that's when you get the
07:36 worst and you fear the worst. You start badly and all of a sudden you're relegated. You
07:39 can't do that, you've got to push towards that top half of the table because if you
07:43 just have to be between 12th and 15th, you've seen the likes of Southampton and a lot of
07:47 these other clubs that that happens to and then they find themselves in the Championship.
07:50 Yeah absolutely and the quality and quantity is the key phrase there because Wolves with
07:55 a lot of the injury issues this season have been very very short in what is a talented
07:59 but small squad. And look, just to reiterate where Wolves are at and the strategy going
08:04 forward, they don't need to sell players. Last summer they needed to, otherwise they
08:07 were going to have potentially a points deduction coming their way. This summer they don't need
08:12 to sell players. They could start next season with this exact same squad.
08:14 But they've got to have a bigger squad, so they have to.
08:16 Well let me finish. They could go into next season with the exact same squad and from
08:20 a financial point of view, be fine. However, from a footballing point of view, it's again
08:26 that battle between the two and Gary's got every right to say I need a handful, a few
08:31 more players to make this squad bigger, stronger and more capable to compete. So that's the
08:36 battle. So with a lack of investment coming from Fosun, they will potentially, as you
08:41 say, need to sell one big asset to bring the money in to then reinvest and bring players
08:44 in. So I know there's been a lot of people getting confused between thinking it's contradictory
08:48 to say that they don't need to sell, but then they do need to sell to bring players in.
08:51 No, there's a difference between needing to sell to, you know, abide by the financial
08:55 rules and needing to sell to bring players in. So there's a very big difference between
08:58 the two. So Gary's now again, fighting that battle to see what he can get. He seems, I
09:03 think, to have more clarity and perhaps positivity over the situation. Having spoken to Jeff
09:08 now, I think they're aware that they can do a few small bits of business. Trey Adams is
09:12 a player they're talking to, albeit Gary would not be drawn into that one.
09:15 Which is understandable.
09:16 Which is understandable, of course. And a massive thing that he spoke about in the press
09:21 conference today was the loan players. They've got so many players out there that are going
09:25 to have some sort of value, whether that's at Wolves or away from Wolves to sell them
09:29 on. And he made a very, very barbed but poignant point to say that there are players that people
09:36 have questioned him sending them out on loan. Obviously, there's been questions raised over
09:39 Fabio Silva and Sasha Kaleidis going with Wolves not bringing another nine in. He said
09:43 there were questions over me letting players go, whether it was the right thing for the
09:46 club. And he said, no, we're better off without them.
09:50 100%. That's pretty damning.
09:51 And that is verbatim what he said. We're better off without them for the club and for the
09:55 culture they needed to go.
09:56 You can argue who that was, but you've got to think the likes of Silva, Geddes, Hedentz.
10:01 These are the type of players who you think that will, more likely than not, will not
10:06 have a future at Wolves or Hampton Wonders going forward.
10:07 And I don't think that applied to Sasha Kaleidis.
10:10 I don't think so either.
10:11 From my point of view, as I understand it, Wolves were preparing before his second injury
10:15 to have him back for next season and playing here, unless obviously something happened
10:18 in the summer. Of course, he's going to be injured now until probably January anyway.
10:22 So I don't believe that was targeted in his direction. But people can make their own minds
10:25 at where they think that may have been targeted.
10:27 But he made a very clear point that the culture is massively important. These loan players
10:30 will come back. If some of them have got a future at Wolves, I think it sounded like
10:34 he wanted to keep them around the club and make the squad stronger. If they don't have
10:37 a future, sell them on and get as much money as you can.
10:40 At the same time, Gary Neill took this job and I don't think he expected it. I don't
10:44 think anyone expected Gary Neill to be manager at Wolves to start this season. He knew the
10:47 constraints, he knew the situation, he knew the financial issues that Wolves had, not
10:51 just this season but going forward. So there will have to be, like you say, a bit of give
10:55 and take on both sides.
10:56 Yes, and they have to work collaboratively, to make that happen. We've seen in the past
11:05 that other managers have struggled with that. I think the type of person Gary is, and he
11:10 made a very important comment I felt on Friday at the press conference, he said "I'm not
11:15 the kind of person who wants it all my own way all the time." Basically implying, I will
11:20 give a little bit and I will take a little bit. He's saying he will work with what he's
11:24 got and he will work with the powers that be, provided he can make this work with the
11:28 squad.
11:29 That screams to me, hopefully, a more harmonious summer. But it can't have been much more tumultuous
11:37 than last summer.
11:38 No, tumultuous is correct, yes. But that's it, that's me and you for this season. Last
11:43 video from a game, from a stadium. It's been a pleasure.
11:46 It's sad.
11:47 Nothing's been a pleasure.
11:48 No, it's been a pleasure but I hate when it ends.
11:49 It's ok, we're driving back together. We can chat with the reminisce.
11:54 Reminisce is the right way to put it. Let's have a trip down memory lane.
11:56 Are you positive for next season though?
11:58 I am.
11:59 I think they've got the right structure. They've got Matt Hobbs, they've got Gary
12:01 Neal in charge. Gary Neal gets his first pre-season not just as Wolves manager but as a manager.
12:07 As a manager. And I think that's going to be massive because of how good a coach he
12:10 is, because of how he can organise, not just his staff but his players. I think he'll be
12:15 chomping at the bit and I think you'll see a completely different Wolverhampton Wanderers
12:18 going into next season.
12:19 Yes, absolutely. One of the things that Gary made a big point of improving when he first
12:23 arrived at Wolves was the fitness. He said the players were nowhere near fit enough.
12:26 That pre-season is going to be tough I think.
12:27 Can we stop at both of us if you say that?
12:29 I'll do a few laps. I'll get an interview.
12:32 A little blimp test.
12:33 I'll do that, that's fine. I think it's going to be a tough summer in that regard but a
12:37 positive summer in that I think Wolves have got the right man at the helm. They've got
12:41 the right man going forward. They've got the structure, the structure you just said there
12:44 behind them to make it work. It's not going to be easy by any means. There'll be a lot
12:48 of clubs that are going to have difficult decisions to make but I think Wolves going
12:51 into next summer, the next season rather, should be in a better place with Gary Neal
12:55 in charge.
12:56 For the final time this season, Liverpool 2 Wolves 0. For all the post-match reaction
13:01 make sure you log on to expressonstar.com.
13:04 to come.