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Liverpool secured three points against Wolves at Anfield after making things hard for themselves during the second half of the Premier League clash on Sunday. The Reds needed a response after dropping two points late at Goodson Park against Everton in a controversial 2-2 draw.
Arsenal have made it impossible for Liverpool to feel safe as the Premier League leader, with a meagre seven-point gap. The Gunners secured a 2-0 away victory against the relegation-threatened Leicester City on Saturday to put the pressure on Liverpool.
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot highlighted the Wolves game as the chance to channel the frustration in the right way. Everton’s draw highlighted the problems that Liverpool have faced with the Premier League referees during the recent year’s title chases.
First-half
Liverpool started the first half strongly, living up to Slot’s demand to channel their anger in the right way. Nevertheless, Wolves remained a formidable foe to deal with, playing with attacking conviction despite their Premier League standing right now.
Liverpool enjoyed 52% of the position in the first half, hitting three out of 10 shots on target against Wolves. The Reds scored the first goal in the 15th minute after a clever transition from Diogo Jota allowed Mohamed Salah to find Luis Diaz on the left side of Wolves’ goal.
The scrappy finish provided Liverpool with a much-needed goal and Salah added another in the 37th minute after Alexis Mac Allister’s through ball allowed Diaz to break the Wolves’ defensive line, leading to a foul from Jose Sa. The Egypt captain’s goal provided Liverpool with a much-needed two-goal cushion against the visitors who never stopped creating chances for themselves.
Second-half
Wolves thoroughly dominated the second half of the game from the start, surprising the Anfield fanbase and the home team. The Wanderers had 10 shots with three on target while reducing the Reds to no effort on goal.
Liverpool had a Salah goal disallowed in the second half with VAR failing to check the goal with offside lines. The second-half also involved a penalty incident on Jota but the VAR check rightfully negated the decision after the Portuguese forward was caught simulating.
Flamboyant Wolves forward Matheus Cunha scored the only goal for the visitors in the 67 th minute of the game. However, the atmosphere and the Wolves’ continuous dominance created a frustrating 20 minutes for Liverpool.
The glaring concern
Liverpool showed signs of fatigue, particularly in midfield where they failed to maintain control of the ball. Meanwhile, Diaz struggled to stretch the play and provide an attacking outlet on the left side of the attack while Jota got completely nul lified due to his limitations in influencing the overall game.
Premier League used the X account to reveal that Liverpool’s failure to register a shot in the second half is the first time on record that they failed to register a shot in a single 45-minute at Anfield.
The Reds cannot afford to make similar mistakes in their upcoming fixtures which are tough and within a short period. Liverpool will face Aston Villa next in the away game followed by another away Premier League clash with Manchester City. The Reds will face Newcastle United at Anfield on the 27 th of February, followed by a home game against Southampton.
There is a genuine concern of a repeat of last season when Liverpool’s form declined suddenly, costing them numerous titles. At the same time, winning the games despite not reaching their best is a necessary part of becoming a Premier League champion. As 13 games remain in the Premier League, the Reds need to take every game as a finale.
More must-reads:
- Arsenal move another step closer to transfer steal
- Falcons HC speaks out after offensive starter gets carted off practice field with concerning injury
- The 'Second-leading receiver by NFL team' quiz
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Green Bay Packers: Luke Musgrave’s Wife’s Stunned Reaction to Jordan Love’s Wife’s Personal Post
The Green Bay Packers are about to kick off their 2025 NFL regular season, so it feels like a good time for some of the players to look back at some of the key moments and experiences they’ve had in the offseason. For quarterback Jordan Love and tight end Luke Musgrave, the 2025 NFL offseason will always be one that they’ll cherish — and not just because of anything that’s football-related. Love and Musgrave both got married to their respective longtime girlfriends in the offseason. The signal-caller tied the knot with Ronika Stone in June, while Musgrave and Madi Weisner exchanged vows in July. Ronika Stone’s wedding lookback gets Green Bay tight end’s wife’s reactions Mrs. Love recently shared a post on Instagram that shows a series of snapshots from her wedding with the Packers’ signal caller. “Every detail was SPECTACULAR ,” Ronika wrote as a caption for the post. She clearly is still awed by how her wedding looked that day, with several beautiful flower arrangements adorning the special day. Ronika’s post drew plenty of comments, including one from Mrs. Musgrave, who wrote “UNREAL.” It’s great to see Packers players’ wives showing support for each other just as Love and Musgrave do on the field. For Musgrave, he is looking to have a big rebound in 2025 after only appearing in seven games and coming up with 45 receiving yards with zero touchdowns and only a couple of first downs on seven receptions and 10 targets. The Packers, who will play the Seattle Seahawks at home this Saturday for both teams’ 2025 NFL preseason finale, will face the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field in Week 1 of the 2025 regular season.
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These college QBs are set to earn millions in 2025
Quarterback is the most important position in football, and the money given to top signal-callers — both in the NFL and at the collegiate level — supports that. On3's Pete Nakos detailed on Thursday what some of the top quarterbacks in college football will earn during the upcoming season. Nakos writes that at least five QBs will make roughly $3 million in the 2025 campaign, while more than 20 starting quarterbacks will command at least $1 million. It's important, for context, to note that these financial figures include direct revenue-sharing from schools and/or NIL deals from third-party collectives. Leading the way among 2025 quarterbacks is Duke's Darian Mensah. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound redshirt sophomore, from San Luis Obispo, Calif., will earn $4 million this year, part of a two-year, $8 million contract with the Blue Devils. Mensah transferred to Duke from Tulane, where in 2024 he threw for 2,723 yards with 22 touchdowns against just six interceptions. True freshman Bryce Underwood of Michigan is set to collect $3 million this season, which is a massive number for someone who has never taken an official snap in college. Still, the 6-foot-4, 228-pound Underwood is a significant contender to win the Wolverines' starting QB job in 2025. The native of Belleville, Mich., was the No. 1 national prospect in the 2025 recruiting class. Redshirt senior Carson Beck transferred from Georgia to Miami in the offseason, and he will make $3 million to $3.2 million this season to start, in a deal that could be worth up to $6 million with incentives, per Nakos. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Beck, who is from Jacksonville, Fla., tallied 3,485 passing yards with 28 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 2024. According to the On3 article, Nebraska's Dylan Raiola will earn more than $3 million in total compensation during the 2025 season. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound sophomore, who hails from Buford, Ga., threw for 2,819 yards with 13 touchdowns and 11 interceptions as a true freshman. Last year, Raiola guided the Cornhuskers to a 7-6 record and a bowl-game triumph. Drew Allar will look to lead Penn State on another deep College Football Playoff run in 2025, and the senior quarterback will earn at least $3 million during the upcoming campaign. The 6-foot-5, 235-pound Allar, from Medina, Ohio, threw for 3,327 yards with 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions a year ago as Penn State made the CFP semifinals. The Nittany Lions are No. 2 in the preseason Associated Press top-25 poll. Other quarterbacks who are expected to make big bucks in the 2025 season include Oklahoma's John Mateer ($2.5 million to $3 million), Vanderbilt's Diego Pavia (at least $2 million), Kansas State's Avery Johnson (at least $2 million), South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers ($1.8 million), TCU's Josh Hoover ($1.75 million) and Cincinnati's Brendan Sorsby ($1.5 million to $1.7 million), among others.
How offseason gambles put the Toronto Maple Leafs in a better position
With training camp on the horizon, the Toronto Maple Leafs are about to enter their first season of a new era. This new “era” rightfully has some fans dismayed, but that doesn’t mean these fans should not be excited. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Unfortunately, this is exactly what we have seen the Leafs do over the last nine years, and it has not worked. Not even close. We have beaten to death the playoff failures and how the “Core Four” was a problem. Mitch Marner unfortunately had to go, and from the sounds of it, it was mutual. But we now have a change in perspective and direction when it comes to the team. In this post, let’s take a look at some of the offseason moves made by the Leafs and why the Leafs are in a better position than last season. Changes and acquisitions With the changes so far, we have seen a shift in team philosophy. The two “go to” guys are now Auston Matthews and William Nylander. Perhaps throw in Knies after signing his six-year extension. But either way, the Leafs will have to fill in the holes with actual supporting players, instead of shopping at Value Village for bargain-bin players like they have the last several years. The three big additions this offseason by general manager Brad Treliving were Matias Maccelli, Nicolas Roy, and Dakota Joshua. Maccelli is a young winger at 24 years old, while Roy and Joshua are entering the tail end of their prime. Maccelli has one 57-point and one 49-point season in his four-season NHL career, with last year being a disappointment. It should be mentioned that he played for the Arizona Coyotes/Utah Mammoth for his career. The team has made the playoffs once in over a decade, and Maccelli was playing for Ilves Tampere in the SM-liiga at the time. Nicholas Roy and Dakota Joshua are known to play a heavier game and have an aggressive forecheck. Roy has been a 30–40 point centre the last four seasons, while Joshua showed promise two seasons ago, scoring 18 goals and 14 assists for 32 points, but tapered off considerably. Last season, he only scored seven goals and seven assists for 14 points in 57 games. This is what Leafs fans have wanted for several years now: a much more balanced roster in terms of salary allocation. But are they better? Are the Leafs better? I think the question everyone is wondering with these acquisitions is: Are the Leafs better? I think this can’t be answered until the conclusion of the 2025–26 season. But for the sake of argument, I will say yes, they are better, but not from a skill standpoint, but from a cultural shift and flexibility point of view. The Leafs’ roster needed to change in a big way; the playoff failures speak for themselves. Brad Treliving’s Gambles Losing a 100-point winger in Mitch Marner hurts. If we add up the point totals from last season for all three new additions, they scored 30 goals and 33 assists for 63 points. Compared to Marner’s 27 goals and 75 assists for 102 points, this looks like a horrible proposition on paper. But what do these three players have in common? They are all expected to have bounce-back seasons. If we add up the point totals of three new acquisitions from the 2023–24 season, they scored 48 goals, 82 assists for 130 points. Much better value, especially when considering these three players will play throughout the lineup, not just on the first line. The team is heading towards a better balance instead of being so top-heavy. Maccelli playing with either Auston Matthews and Knies, or with John Tavares and William Nylander, is a solid bet, especially with Maccelli in a contract year. For the sake of discussion, let’s say Maccelli scores 50–60 points. At age 25 and an RFA, you absolutely re-sign him and have a decent young player in your top-six. Joshua and Roy are less flashy and are older. However, while not every player will be a Matthew Knies, Roy and Joshua could be the missing pieces in the bottom-six that have plagued the Leafs for nearly a decade: A bottom-six that can ram you through the boards and can also score. With Treliving’s gamble on Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll, and the gambles on defence, notably Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Simon Benoit, Treliving has deserved the benefit of the doubt. More often than not, his gambles have paid off. Future opportunities The offseason acquisitions have a lot to do with future opportunities just as much as they do with this upcoming season. The Leafs are no longer married to a high-priced offence that disappears come playoffs. They can continue to find personnel who fit their new vision. The Leafs have just under $2M in cap space. With a logjam of players in the bottom-six, one or both of David Kampf or Calle Jarnkrok will likely be moved. I am not expecting a huge trade, but the Leafs will likely have more cap space by the NHL trade deadline to fill holes. None of the changes made this offseason prevents the Leafs from making changes in the future. If one of the new additions doesn’t work out, their cap hits aren’t insurmountable that they can’t be traded. With few draft picks or solid prospects, these new acquisitions can be used in combination with available cap space to make a bigger acquisition come the trade deadline or next offseason. The offseason moves provide the Leafs with much-needed cap space and roster flexibility. However, if the new additions perform well in the lineup, the team will be much more well-rounded than last season, especially come the playoffs. Way forward I think we need to look at everything in totality, as opposed to viewing it as a “100 point player out, a bunch of third line producers in.” During most of the regular season, most of the series against the Ottawa Senators, and when the Leafs went up 2–0 against the Florida Panthers in the second round, what were your thoughts? My thoughts, and we’ve written about it several times, are that this team has changed. A lot of it is due to Craig Berube and his system, but this was Year 1. Adding more “Berube-esque” players in Joshua and Roy, and this team will perhaps be even better than last year. Combine these solid offseason bets with existing players like Matthews and Morgan Rielly being due for bounce-back seasons, or perhaps Easton Cowan making the roster out of camp, and there’s plenty to be excited about heading into next season. I am not dismissing the importance of points during the regular season. After all, the team still has to make the playoffs. But if the Panthers are any indication, regular season success does not translate to playoff success. It’s how the team plays the game, and the Leafs need to continue to reshape their DNA into something where we will not have an annual eulogy.
Panthers will be without Matthew Tkachuk for a while
Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk’s health entering the season has been a topic of conversation after he returned early from an adductor injury sustained at the 4 Nations Face-Off to suit up in Florida’s run to a second straight Stanley Cup. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period now relays that Tkachuk indeed opted for surgery to repair it, undergoing the procedure “a few weeks ago,” and could miss as much as the first four months of the campaign. It’s still not clear what caused the right-winger’s injury during the 4 Nations tournament, but he missed the balance of the regular season and wasn’t cleared to return until Game 2 of the Cats’ first-round win over the Lightning. Opting for non-surgical rehab initially to accelerate his return timeline, he still managed to rattle off a point per game as he marched to his third straight Stanley Cup Final and second straight win, although his 17:24 average time on ice was a noticeable drop from his previous usage. His projected return timeline makes him LTIR-eligible and offers the Panthers a pathway to cap compliance to begin the season, but it’s not that simple. They’re now $4.5M over the cap and, on top of shuffling their roster to optimize his LTIR relief, they have to figure out a way to reinstate him on the active roster when he’s ready to return while staying below the $95.5M upper limit. They likely won’t concern themselves with the first bit too much, as he’s not a season-long absence and their roster is full, but their roadmap to a compliant roster and a healthy Tkachuk is still murky. Tkachuk, 27, has averaged 99 points per 82 games since arriving in Florida in 2022 via the blockbuster trade with the Flames that sent Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar the other way. He also has 25 goals and 69 points in 67 playoff games for the Panthers over the last three years, ranking fourth and third in franchise history, respectively. In the interim, the Panthers can expect 2021 first-rounder Mackie Samoskevich to play a pivotal role in their early-season success. The 22-year-old winger filled in for Tkachuk down the stretch last year and finished his rookie campaign with a 15-16–31 scoring line in 72 games. He’ll now get more opportunity out of the gate after essentially being forced to sign a league-minimum contract this summer thanks to Florida’s cap crunch and his 10.2(c) status prohibiting him from signing an offer sheet.
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