Andy Robertson: "We got what we deserved from the second half" in 3-1 win over Wolves

Stand-in captain Andy Robertson and coach Jürgen Klopp are on the same page: Liverpool's 3-1 comeback win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday lunchtime was "deserved".

"I think we dominated the second half and probably got what we deserved out of the second-half performance," the Scotland captain told TNT Sports after the game at Molineux.

"We obviously weren't at the races first half. [...] Wolves were the better team. They created the best chances, put us under pressure and we made too many mistakes.

"But in the second half, we came out, changed the formation slightly, went to kind of a 4-4-2 and I think it worked," he said.

Likewise, coach Jürgen Klopp found a silver lining in Liverpool's lacklustre first-half display: "The good thing about the first half was it was that bad I didn’t think we could play the second half like that."

As it happened, things did get better in the second half. With Liverpool trailing 1-0 to Hwang Hee-Chan's early opener, "We changed pretty much everything at half time and that worked out pretty well."

Tiredness, a factor

Acknowledging that he could have made five substitutions during the break - ultimately deciding to introduce Luis Díaz in place of Alexis Mac Allister and alter the team's tactical setup instead - Klopp admitted that the game hadn't gone to plan at all: "Obviously, we wanted to start completely different."

He pointed towards "low energy levels" as a factor, picking out Mac Allister and "some others" who struggled with the demands of this Saturday lunchtime kick-off following the international break.

However, rather than changing the personnel, "we thought we’d change the system and give us a bit more speed up front".

Darwin Núñez and Harvey Elliott (who forced the third goal) replaced the underperforming Cody Gakpo (despite his goal) and Diogo Jota just ten minutes into the second half, giving the Reds greater control of the game.

"The first half was really bad, and the second half was really good. Do I want to see that every week? No, but for today I’ll take it."

Great resilience

Coming back from such a bad start, Liverpool showed great resilience to secure what was ultimately a routine win.

According to Robertson, this is a great sign going forward: "It's a new start. We've got a lot of new players, kind of a new way of playing and things like that."

"Second half, they just came out, played with no fear and we made really good substitutions," he said, alluding to the strong characters in the dressing room.

And things will only get better: "We've got a strong squad, we've still got players obviously missing with Trent and Thiago and things like that. They weren't in the squad today so we can only get stronger. But if we keep everyone fit, we believe that we've got a squad that can compete, and we need to keep on showing that."

Magnificent Mo

While "delighted with the goal", Robertson was keen to heap the praise on teammate Mohamed Salah.

"Look, I don't get many goals, so it's always nice to score. Obviously, we knew they're quick on counterattacks from corners, so we had to be alert. I know Mo can always pick a pass so I just thought I may as well go in there. Luckily, I slotted it in."

Salah, who was heavily pursued by the Saudi Pro League during the recently closed transfer window, set up Cody Gakpo's equaliser before teeing up Robertson for Liverpool's go-ahead goal. Perhaps unfairly, he probably won't be credited with a third assist for Harvey Elliott with the stoppage-time goal taking a big deflection.

"I think during the speculation he was superb on the pitch," said Robertson. "I thought he put in a really good second-half performance, like we all did.

"But saying that, he probably only gets credit when he gets goals now, which is probably slightly unfair. I think he's got two assists today and he's got us back in the game. He's created the chances for us and second half he was really good and probably set the tempo for us."