Holders still in the FA Cup but an unwanted replay looms at Molineux
Liverpool 2 Wolves 2, 7th January 2023
Liverpool 2 Wolves 2, 7th January 2023
LIVERPOOL 2 (Nunez 45, Salah 52)
WOLVES 2 (Guedes 26, Hwang 66)
Four goals, two belated New Year’s gifts, two incredible club records, one debut of real promise, one ridiculous VAR decision and one unwanted FA Cup replay at Molineux looming large on the horizon of an already over populated fixture schedule. These are your headline figures from an otherwise frantic and typically English FA Cup encounter this evening at Anfield and whisper it, the holders are more than a tad fortunate to still be in the competition.
But in it they remain, and here’s how I saw this evening’s cup tie with Wolverhampton Wanderers unfold:
A strong Liverpool starting XI (minus the injured Virgil van Dijk) started brightly and easily dominated the first quarter of an hour of the game. With Thiago Alcantara conducting the midfield orchestra and Andy Robertson brilliantly combining with debutant Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez, the Reds set the desired template for the evening ahead: a high defensive line and a busy industrious midfield condensing play entirely in the visitors half of the field. For nearly a quarter of an hour this pattern was set in stone, highlighted by the returning captain Jordan Henderson playing “Gunner” and forcing the Wolves defence to play quickly and hurriedly forward and with the ball back in possession of his teammates, both Salah and Gakpo went close in the early exchanges.
On the quarter of an hour mark everything changed in a typically chaotic defensive fashion with Joel Matip gifting a half chance to Goncalo Guedes, but the Portuguese striker screwed his half chance badly wide.
11 minutes later he wouldn’t be so profligate.
GOAL! LIVERPOOL 0 WOLVES 1 (Guedes 26)
After dominating the early going, Matip’s mistake seemed to unnerve the Reds who wilted rather and allowed their visitors from the Midlands a definite foothold in the game. The goal itself came from a passage of chaotic defending seemingly calmed by the Reds Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson Becker before his quick throw to Thiago put his team back under pressure. With the ball now back at his feet again, the Brazilian shot stopper inexplicably played a weak pass across his six yard area only for Goncalo Guedes to snap an instant control of the gifted stray pass before rolling the ball past the scrambling Becker in the Reds goal.
There’s no blame attached to Alisson Becker as the man with the most magnificent of beards has pun intended saved the team on innumerable occasions and I love the bones of the Brazilian goalkeeping custodian on a par with the brilliant Pepe Reina and my goalkeeping idol from childhood, Bruce Grobbelaar. But his glaring mistake is endemic of a defence living on its wits and the fraying of nerves (see every game since Christmas) and they were once again behind in a game they’d largely dominated.
The first half was largely petering out under the control of the visitors who’d not only grown into the game since they grabbed their gifted lead, but largely dominated proceedings from thereon, exemplified by the crunching tackle of Adama Traore on Reds captain Jordan Henderson that saw goal scorer Goncalo Guedes test Alisson Becker from long range with a rasping drive on 36 minutes he beat away to safety.
Then, on the cusp of half-time, a gift was duly returned the way of the hosts and the teams entered half-time all square.
GOAL! LIVERPOOL 1 WOLVES 1 (Nunez 45)
There was no danger whatsoever from an Andy Robertson throw-in on the Liverpool left hand side but Wolves defender Nathan Collins somehow screwed his volleyed pass sideways rather than forward and with almost the entirety of the players condensed on the near side of the field, the ragged loose ball bounced into acres of space and perfectly into the running stride of Trent Alexander-Arnold. Locally born Alexander-Arnold, at just 24 years of age playing his 250th game for the club he’s supported since childhood, placed a controlling header into his running stride before unleashing a superb curling pass over the heads of the retreating Wolves defence and perfectly into the forward run of Darwin Nunez who never broke stride as he instantly volleyed back across Wolves goalkeeper Matija Sarkic, and into the far corner of his net.
The Reds entered the half-time break level and were a little fortunate in doing so.
If the home team Reds were indeed fortunate to be level at half-time, they were equally deserved of their lead seven minutes into the second half.
GOAL! LIVERPOOL 2 WOLVES 1 (Salah 52)
Dominating from the off with Andy Robertson resuming his roaming runs and combination passes with Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez, it was no surprise when the Reds left back combined with debutant Gakpo on 52 minutes with the 23 year old from Eindhoven having a significant part to play that saw his new team take a merited lead. Gakpo’s intended pass to eventual goal scorer Mo Salah was headed up rather than away by Wolves defender Toti Gomes, but with two touches of his magical left foot and a trademark opening up of his body position to guide yet another goal into an opposition net in a Red Liverpool shirt, Mo Salah coolly guided home a goal scoring chance he made look far easier than it actually was, and The Egyptian King has now eclipsed the forever King, Kenny Dalglish, to become Liverpool’s 7th all-time record goal scorer with 173 goals. Salah was clearly offside but there was neither a linesman’s flag nor the dreaded VAR, and with Gomes’ headed interference presumably and bizarrely adjudged to have broken the phase of play, the goal wasn’t queried and Salah had yet another club record to his name.
Almost immediately the ever impressive Wolves captain Ruben Neves split the Reds defence wide open with a simple lobbed pass into the bustling forward run of Rayan Ait-Nouri who whipped a fierce running volley that forced a strong, low reaction save from Alisson Becker. With a 2–1 lead mid-way through the second half, the Reds were arguably as comfortable as they’d been all game but it’s equally arguable that yet again they gifted Wolves a goal scoring chance and played a large part in their own defensive downfall.
GOAL! LIVERPOOL 2 WOLVES 2 (Hwang 66)
Ibrahima Konate was chased and harried on the edge of the Reds penalty area by the impressively industrious Adama Traore before rushing to a weak clearance that was immediately headed into the path of eventual goal scorer Hwang Hee-Chan 30 yards from the Liverpool goal. Running at the heart of the Reds defence, Hwang played a one-two pass with fellow substitute Matheus Cunha and as both he and Ibrahima Konate slid toward the near post, the ball pinballed between both players before snaking between Alisson Becker’s legs and into the net behind him.
From nowhere, Wolves were level, and in a disappointing final quarter of the game that saw a dearth of real, genuine goal scoring chances for either team the visitors should have won the game and if it wasn’t for that bureaucratic kill joy and sucker of the footballing soul VAR, they would have. As with Brentford just five days ago, a corner led to panic and chaos in the Reds penalty area and with the ball pinballing around amid a a cloud of yellow and red shirts, Toti Gomes made up for his headed mistake for Mo Salah’s record breaking goal earlier with a beautifully and deftly flicked goal that saw pandemonium in the packed “Away End” behind the goal as well as the Wolves players engulfing their heroic goal scorer. They were rightly jubilant and now just 10 minutes away from a famous FA Cup victory.
Enter the VAR killjoys and killers of the beautiful game and after a couple of minutes of energy sapping nothingness in the middle of the highly exciting immediacy of an English cup tie in early January and a dash of the famed FA Cup “Magic” if you will, the goal was disallowed, red and blue lines were squiggled on our telescreens and we were all expected to disbelieve our lying eyes.
It may seem more than a little strange for a Liverpool fan to be so angry at the award of a VAR decision that favoured my team but this intrusive, sanitising correctly incorrect farce is killing our game and needs to be encased in concrete and dumped like a nuclear waste into the deepest of oceans never to be seen ever again.
Here endeth the lesson!
Afterword
Speaking to ITV, Wolves Manager Lopetegui said: “We have seen it, the offside doesn’t exist, I’m sorry. It’s impossible.
“Someone has told him it’s offside, but we’ve seen the images, it doesn’t exist.
“The decision is wrong. I make mistakes every day, and sometimes they do too. Today we have the help of VAR, and it is a pity, because I’m sorry, it’s not offside.”
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said: “I’m not sure about their third goal. We have one picture where it may look offside, but I can understand why they are angry about it. We don’t want the VAR to just have one angle.”
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp on the disallowed goal:
“I don’t really know. On the pitch I couldn’t see it, so I had no idea. For me, I thought it’s a goal. It was the player in the left corner who might have been offside. We have one angle, which I saw in the dressing room, where it could be offside but I would not swear on it, or however you say that, but it could be. But I think this angle the VAR didn’t have, if I’m right, that’s what I heard”.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp on the future replay:
“I know where I am coming from, but the situation is that we could still play extra-time, or a penalty shootout, and the game is decided tonight. So, we deserved not more than a draw tonight and whatever the consequences are, in this case it’s now an extra game, so that’s fine”.
Quotes taken from www.bbc.co.uk and www.liverpoolfc.com
Thanks for reading. Following the recent World Cup shindig in Qatar, here are my thoughts on the Reds three previous games since the resumption of the Premier League. A vast trove of various articles on the Reds can be found within the “Liverpool FC” archive list too:
“Shambolic” Reds stung by the Bees
Brentford 3 Liverpool 1, 2nd January 2023.medium.com
Foxes come bearing Christmas gifts for a below par Reds
Liverpool 2 Leicester City 1, 30th December 2022.medium.com
Game of 2 halves but Reds grab all 3 Christmas points at Villa Park
Aston Villa 1 Liverpool 3, 26th December 2022.medium.com