Ryan Gravenberch was deservedly named Man of the Match after Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Wolves, with his defensive statistics particularly impressive.
Gravenberch added another Man of the Match award to his growing collection after being picked out during Sky Sports’ coverage of the Reds’ victory at Molineux.
That came at the behest of Ibrahima Konate, who joked that the honour should have gone to him after he scored his first Premier League goal.
But there is little debate over Gravenberch’s influence on Arne Slot‘s side, which showed once again at Wolves – as evidenced by statistics via FotMob.
Flawless Gravenberch
It is almost a default so far in Slot’s reign that Gravenberch will be a contender for Man of the Match, having taken to his new role with effortless poise.
Ahead of the trip to Molineux, the 22-year-old admitted that following his £38.5 million move from Bayern Munich he “had the time to adapt and really needed it,” and now he is showing his world-class potential.
That was seen again at Wolves, particularly in Gravenberch’s defensive work.
No player won more tackles (3/3) or more duels (8/8) than the Dutchman, whose 100 percent success rate came with seven ground duels and one aerial duel won.
Gravenberch was also fouled more times than any other player (four), with his ability to draw contact an underrated trait for a press-resistant midfielder.
The youngster was efficient on the ball, too, finding a teammate with 57 of his 62 attempted passes for a 92 percent success rate – bettered only by Virgil van Dijk (93%).
According to Opta, Gravenberch enjoyed a rare distinction with his efforts in and out of possession:
2012 – Yesterday, Ryan Gravenberch was the first Premier League midfielder to contest more than 5 duels in a match with 100% success (8), make 3+ tackles with 100% success (3), and make 50+ passes at 90%+ accuracy (57/62) since Sandro for Spurs v Blackburn in April 2012. Elite. pic.twitter.com/0WzFD13stH
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 29, 2024
Interestingly goalscorer Konate was the only Liverpool player to start the game who won more of his duels than he lost (5/8).
Win your duels, win the game
Slot has been consistent in his message throughout his time as Liverpool head coach so far: win your duels and you should win the game.
The 46-year-old was rightly nonplussed when it came to his side’s performance in the first half at Wolves, with Konate revealing that Slot had urged his players to improve their concentration and aggression.
That played out in the stats, with Liverpool losing the duels battle in the first half before going on to win it after the break:
Having only won 42.5 percent of their duels in the opening 45 minutes, that increased to a majority 57.9 percent in the second half.
Gravenberch clearly played a big part in this, with the No. 38 going from strength to strength as Slot’s lieutenant.
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