Liverpool 2, Wolves 1 - Match Recap: Hold On For Dear Life
A look back at the key moments in Liverpool’s nervy victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers in Premier League action.
Liverpool 2 - 1 Wolves
Liverpool: Diaz 14’, Salah (pen) 37’
Wolves: Cunha 67’
Pre-Match
How nice it is to be home after the disappointment and drama of the midweek match. Liverpool once again have a chance to return their gap at the top of the table to 7 points if they bottle the frustration from Wednesday and douse themselves in it for Sunday. Our Reds need to move forward, not dwell on the past week, and that starts with beating Wolves at Anfield.
The only injury concerns are Cody Gakpo, who was taken off while limping at Goodison Park on Wednesday, but Trent Alexander-Arnold appears to be ready to start again, as well as Diogo Jota making himself available to find those goals. There are 14 Premier League matches remaining in the season, 42 points on the table, and a league title to be won. We go again, and this time it’s Wolves.
First Half
As anticipated, Cody Gakpo misses out, but Diogo Jota slots right into his space on the starting XI. Ryan Gravenberch gets things started at the first whistle and within thirty seconds we’ve won a corner. Roberston takes it short towards Virgil van Dijk who lays it off to Trent Alexander-Arnold, but the Scouser’s effort lacks power and goes wide. Liverpool lose a bit of control early on and Wolves are able to get forward for a corner as well, but it leads to a promising counterattack from the Reds to get back towards the Wolves goal.
Liverpool’s first goal arrives in the 14th minute after Liverpool finally string more than a couple passes together, with Luis Diaz having the ball switched from him across to Salah and back towards him, with the Colombian throwing himself against it to make sure it rolls through an open goal. It’s 1-0 to the Reds! The match has settled considerably, but even after the goal Liverpool appear to be in cruising mode - the only concern coming to mind being that they hopefully don’t lose focus this early on.
While the squad haven’t necessarily switched off, there’s been a lack of urgency in these last fifteen minutes. A second goal before the halftime break would do wonders to put this game to bed, and though another chance presents itself as Diogo Jota dances around defenders, his shot is saved by the feet of Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sá. The calm control is a nice change after the frantic energy of Wednesday’s Derby, but one can’t help feeling a little lingering anxiety.
Luis Diaz has another chance at goal, driving down the left side of the pitch but is taken out by Sá in the box and the hosts are awarded a penalty! Mohamed Salah steps up to the spot, runs up, and makes it 2-0 for the Reds! A nice little cushion to go into the last ten or so minutes, but it’s already threatened when Konate commits a foul just outside our own box and gives away a free kick to Wolves. The shot looks worryingly on target but thankfully goes wide of the goal.
Second Half
Liverpool make an uncharacteristic halftime change, with Ibrahima Konate coming off and replaced by Jarrell Quansah, as Konate is carrying a yellow card. With a 2-0 lead though, focus will be on defending that lead so the young Quansah might have his work cut out for him (not that Wolves have been particularly threatening up to this point).
Naturally, not long after the restart Wolves get forward and have a one-on-one chance saved by Alisson Becker. Trent sends a high ball flying towards Mohamed Salah and for a brief second Liverpool are 3-0 up, but Salah’s goal is ruled out for being offside. Play switches quickly back the other way, with Wolves charging back towards the Liverpool goal, but Alisson makes another save, and goes down briefly injured for his efforts. For a moment it looks like Kelleher would be coming on but Alisson receives enough treatment on the pitch to keep going for now.
Did you think today would end up with two penalties? Because I sure didn’t but that’s exactly what has happened in the 56th minute, as Wolves defender Emmanuel Agbadou goes for Diogo Jota and the striker comes down in the box. Simon Hooper immediately points to the spot, but goes to the screen to review and rules out his on-field decision when it’s clear that there was no actual contact.
Another two changes come on for the Reds around the 63rd minute, with Conor Bradley and Darwin Nunez coming on for Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota respectively. With both players only just coming back from injury, it was a good hours long showing as they get back up to full fitness. Unfortunately, Liverpool underestimate their opponents and Matheus Cunha takes a peach of a shot to cut the lead in half. The Reds had been sloppy leading up to the goal, giving away more than a couple passes, and now have to refocus to make sure that one goal doesn’t lift up Wolves enough to come from behind.
Liverpool make a fourth change, adding on Wataru Endo to the midfield and taking off Luis Diaz to try and help out the midfield. There is some more life injected into this stage of the match as Liverpool try to get their defensive selves together, but they haven’t had any shot attempts since Salah’s ruled out goal so that could be more to worry about. Wolves are packing their areas and doing well to block any channels into their box around the 75th minute, forcing Dominik Szoboszlai to carry the ball back to Virgil van Dijk despite being right at the face of the goal.
One more goal Liverpool goal would do well to wash away the nagging anxiety that their goal brought on, and the Reds do look marginally closer to achieving it after a couple set pieces, but lose out and give Wolves a goal kick that pushes things the other way. Things are getting desperate in these last five minutes of the match, as both teams push for one more goal. There are six minutes added to the half, which Wolves are surely going to squeeze every second out of.
Final Thoughts
Despite giving up a goal to lose the clean sheet and make the match markedly more anxious, Liverpool did the thing. Back to seven points clear at the top of the table, and another opponent dispatched. Bring on your Martians.
Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com
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