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Liverpool’s poor start to 2017 continued as they were downed 2-1 by a resolute Wolves outfit in the FA Cup at Anfield on Saturday afternoon.
Liverpool’s poor defending at set pieces is becoming an unfortunate theme for them this season and so it proved to be once again as Wolves grabbed the lead less than 60 seconds after the match kicked off.
Lucas conceded a needless free kick on the right wing, allowing Hélder Costa to deliver a tantalising ball in for Stearman to head the ball past Loris Karius, giving the visitors a surprise early lead.
Costa continued to make a nuisance of himself and the on-loan winger showed his class by going on a long run from inside his own half past four Liverpool defenders before disappointingly scuffing his shot wide, denying himself a miraculous goal.
The home side began to push up a bit too high in their search for an equaliser and were caught by a classic counter-attack by Wolves in the 42nd minute.
After poaching the ball of the edge of their own area, a quick ball out to Costa set the playmaker on his way. He shrugged off one challenge before putting Andreas Weimann through with a lovely weighted ball into the box and the Austrian took a touch to take the ball past Karius before finishing into an empty net to give Wolves an almost unbelievable 2-0 lead.
There were loud appeals for a penalty from the Anfield faithful shortly before half-time when Wijnaldum went down in a coming together with Weimann, but the referee waved away the protests, awarding them a corner instead.
The home side walked off at the break to the sound of their own fans’ booing after a miserable display to continue their poor start to 2017.
Liverpool began the second half well and Firmino looked to go close early after the break, nudging a header goalwards, but it was blocked by none other than his own teammate, Ragnar Klavan, who was out of position and wrong-footed at the near post.
With Wolves happy to sit back and protect their two-goal lead and look for opportunities to counter, the Reds continued to struggle to create genuine chances and were often guilty playing one too many passes in their bid to force a way through.
However, the home side was able to pull a goal back late on after the visitors failed to clear their lines from a corner, allowing the ball to fall for Origi, who blasted the ball in from close range to set up a grandstand finish.
Moments later, there was almost a carbon copy of the incident, but this time Origi didn’t get much on his shot, which allowed Harry Burgoyne to get across and make the save off the line.
Liverpool threw everything they had at Wolves in the closing stages of the match, but the away side was able to hang on for an unlikely victory and knocked the Reds out of the competition. - TeamTalk Media
