Wirtz arrives, but can Liverpool solve ‘toxic’ set-piece woes?

Wirtz arrives, but can Liverpool solve ‘toxic’ set-piece woes?

Once again, Liverpool fans were left mixed about a Reds victory, with the same old flaws on display.

Arne Slot’s champions weren’t entirely convincing on Saturday as they beat Wolves 2-1 at Anfield, but they got the job done.

Here, this is Henry Jackson from Anfield (@HenryJackson87) and Dan Clubbe of The Redmen TV (@dan_clubbe) discuss three more points for Liverpool, also assessing 2025 as a whole.

The good…

AND: A win is a win, right?

While completely unconvincing for the most part, this undefeated streak is at least cause for optimism that we can still salvage some semblance of a successful season from what felt like a lost cause just a few weeks ago.

The real Wirtz is really here, and finally getting those elusive goals felt important.

It seemed like it meant a lot to him too, so the future, and at Anfield, could be the catalyst for more.

In terms of individual performances, I thought Frimpong was fantastic, Gravenberch put in his best serve for a while and Bradley’s potential three-point saving intervention was also crucial!

The “good” part can’t end without mentioning seeing Diogo’s kids walking out as mascots, and Rute watching.

It was a very emotional day, and everyone involved is grateful for the healthy touch.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, December 27, 2025: Diogo Jota's children Dinis and Duarte line up as mascots with Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk for the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

HENRY Forget football for a moment. Seeing Diogo’s kids walk out with Virg was such a heartwarming moment.

What I would give for them to get their dad back, but it was nice to see the smiles on their faces.

I agree with Dan that Wirtz feels he has now arrived at Liverpool. He has been playing well for weeks, but is not getting the reward.

He reminds me a bit of Thiago and Firmino, in terms of intelligence and technical genius, and I love watching him play.

I agree that Frimpong was also a standout player, and that pace and end product for his assist are things that Liverpool have sorely missed this season.

Fourth place in the rankings, despite supposedly being in crisis, isn’t too shabby!

The bad…

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, December 27, 2025: Liverpool's Ibrahima Konaté is injured during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

AND: We had a hard time with that, didn’t we?

To be in such a dominant position just to make life unnecessarily difficult for ourselves feels like our toxic trait right now.

Almost conspiring to throw away a two-goal lead against that Wolves side perhaps at their lowest ever level is what is going on.

Set pieces are a big deal. I’m not going to be too critical, both in terms of Aaron Briggs and the goal conceded, but we can’t remain so sensitive on corners.

You cannot cloud our record, both in defense and attack. It’s terrible and needs to be sorted.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, December 27, 2025: Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk after the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

HENRY Watching us try to deal with set pieces is almost comical at this point.

If you don’t laugh, you cry, etc.!

We look so soft because we have been so good in the past, and that has to change or this unbeaten run will be over sooner or later.

Then again, we were so poor after half-time, and I’m not sure there’s a team in Europe worse when they’re 2-0 up than Liverpool.

As Dan says, just getting past this Wolves side wasn’t exactly a great sight in the end, and it sums up the continued lack of confidence despite recent improvements.

Give 2025 a mark out of 10…

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Monday, May 26, 2025: Liverpool's Mohamed Salah lifts the trophy during an open-top bus parade through the city as the Reds celebrate winning the FA Premier League and becoming champions of England for the 20th time. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

AND: Perhaps the most difficult question of the year is summarizing the past year.

From the highest highs of reaching number 20, to the lowest lows of losing our Forever 20, it has been a real roller coaster ride of a year.

It seems many judges are still unsure whether the manager has put us on the right track, despite addressing the alarming form.

Question marks remain over a few areas of the squad: our record signing has a broken leg and perhaps our greatest player of the Premier League era threw down the gauntlet on his treatment a fortnight ago.

This club, eh!

Overall, given what we celebrated during the glory days of spring, I’d be hard-pressed to put the year below a seven, but my word: if we were on track for a perfect 10.

Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk lifts the Premier League trophy as Liverpool are crowned Premier League champions for the 2024/25 season after the Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Crystal Palace FC at Anfield on May 25, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

HENRY It’s actually hard to disagree with this.

Winning the title was an incredible achievement from Slot – let’s not forget that VERY few people expected this to happen immediately after Jurgen’s departure.

But this season was a huge disappointment because we went into it with such confidence for the first consecutive title win since the 1980s.

Unfortunately, Jota’s tragic death overshadows everything, and it is something that we should never downplay in terms of the impact it has had on Slot and the players.

He will be missed forever.

I’ll go with an eight out of ten as we won the league, but as Dans says, at one point it seemed like one of the best years in our history.

I hope 2026 is a 10!

#Wirtz #arrives #Liverpool #solve #toxic #setpiece #woes

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