Wolves boss Vitor Pereira’s brutal half-time team talk at Anfield proved effective.

Vitor Pereira has admitted he didn’t recognise Wolves in the first half of the 2-1 defeat at Liverpool but was proud of the response in the second period.

Wanderers were always expected to suffer defeat away at the Premier League title favourites but the manner in which they went 2-0 down was incredibly disappointing. Two unacceptable defensive mistakes, a clear lack of team cohesion and a failure to press as a unit cost Wolves as Liverpool ruthlessly clinched a two-goal advantage.

The first goal conceded was as a result of a miscued clearance from Toti Gomes, intercepted and bundled into the net by Luis Diaz. The second was equally as sloppy as Emmanuel Agbadou swung and missed a clearance attempt, allowing Diaz to sprint through and win a penalty as he was wiped out by Jose Sa. Mohamed Salah then clinically converted.

Wolves, inspired by the introductions of Marshall Munetsi and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde off the bench, looked a completely different outfit in the second 45. The momentum swung in Wanderers’ favour as an offside trap proved effective to deny Salah a second goal, VAR overturned another Liverpool penalty for a blatant Diogo Jota dive, and Matheus Cunha scored a wonderful 25-yard goal to reduce the deficit.

“In the second half, we proved that we are prepared to compete with every team in this league,” Pereira said during his post-match press conference.

“But when I look at the game, I see two different teams. The first team I didn’t recognise on the pitch from my team. Why? Because we didn’t play in our way, we didn’t force their mistakes, we didn’t press them in the way that I want to press.

“But in the second half everything changed because the mental click changed everything. When you go there and you play without fear, you play in your way with confidence, personality, trying to compete for the result without nothing to block your mind. The team proved they have quality and this is the lesson we must take from this game,” he concluded.

Vitor Pereira berated Wolves players at half time, it worked

Games of two halves - as the cliche goes - aren’t infrequent but there was such dramatic contrast between Wolves’ performances in each half against Liverpool. It would be easy to accept defeat when two down at Anfield - especially given Liverpool’s ruthless form this season - but Wolves dug deep to get themselves back into the game. It wasn’t enough to clinch any points, but there are certainly positives to take.

So what was it that prompted such a response, then? Embarrassment? Pereira giving the hairdryer treatment? A bit of both, it seems, as Wolves’ head coach admitted he had stern words with his players.

When asked what he said at half time, Pereira replied: “Play! Play at your level, I don’t care about the result, play! Respect yourselves. Play with risks. Press them!

“In the first half we came just for the party, to see them play, and this is not our way to play or how to work. In my opinion we had too much respect for Liverpool in the first half. Our block was there but not to press, just waiting for the goal. This is something we must correct for the next game for sure, because we must be proactive and press them.

“But I’m proud of the way we played in the second half because we showed our quality, we showed our personality. They showed to me that I can be confident in the future.”

Football is a results business but lessons learnt are important too. Wolves fans will be hoping their team take on board what happened at Anfield ahead of their next Premier League game, away at AFC Bournemouth next weekend.

In other news, Pereira has confirmed three new Wolves injuries.