Moment of Sa madness sinks Wolves
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 v Liverpool 3
Eight months have passed since a stuttering Liverpool were well and truly trounced by Wolves under the animated guidance of Julen Lopetegui. As that well worn anthem “You’re getting sacked in the morning” rang out from the South Bank, little did we know that it would be the Wolves head coach rather than Jurgen Klopp who would part company with his club prior to the start of the new season. Pivotal to that February triumph were Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho and Adama Traore. But, like Lopetegui, they too are no longer on the Molineux payroll and with Liverpool having shrugged off last season’s crisis of confidence, the odds on another 3-0 Wolves triumph were slight.
But as the game went beyond the 80th minute mark, Wolves were battling gamely, still on equal terms. The unlikely prospect of a draw was getting ever closer until four minutes later they were undone by a moment of Jose Sa madness. The Wolves keeper is a strange mix, at times a brilliant shot stopper at others hopeless with his ball at feet distribution. Minute 84 saw him lapse into the latter. Having comfortably collected the ball in his six yard box Sa could see that most of the Liverpool eleven were in the Wolves half. He could also see Pedro Neto as a lone figure on the half-way line. Sensing a possible break Sa rushed to the edge of his box. But rather than settle before launching the ball, he kicked it whilst running at full pelt. The result, a sliced half hit clearance which ballooned into the air to land at Andy Robertson’s feet well inside the Wolves half. With the Old Gold on the back foot Robertson immediately fed Mohammed Salah in the right channel before sprinting into the box where, with Wolves now in disarray, he collected a return pass from Salah to slide the ball into an empty net. It completely knocked the stuffing out of the home side and a game that was heading for a hard-fought point ended up as a heart wrenching defeat.
The 3-1 margin certainly didn’t reflect the game which Wolves had bossed during the first half. But as has been said many times previously the Old Gold failed to take all their chances, Matheus Cunha’s awful header in the 33rd minute being the most glaring. At least Hwang Hee Chan had managed to slide home from an acute angle in the sixth minute following a flowing move involving the resurgent Pedro Neto. Indeed, so dominant were Wolves in the first half that it took Liverpool all of 38 minutes to fashion their first opportunity, but Cody Gakpo failed to make use of a Robertson cross.
Recognising that his side were in need of an injection of pace, at half time Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp replaced the anonymous Alexis MacAlister with Luis Diaz. He soon started to cause problems and was involved in the Liverpool equaliser, his neat passing seeing the ball reach Salah whose in swinging right wing cross was turning in by Gakpo in the 55th minute. One can tell from the way Diaz collects the ball, moves with it and distributes it that he is a class player. Which is why one can tell from the way that he collects the ball, moves with it and distributes it that Fabio Silva is not a class player and never will be. In the same way that Matheus Cunha will never be a goal scorer. Wolves are wasting their time with both.
But, before they address those pressing twin problems, they first need Jose Sa to engage his brain. I trust his team mates received a fulsome apology.
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Sa 5, Semedo 7, Dawson 7, Kilman 7, Ait Nourri 7 Sub Bueno, Lamina 6 Sub Traore, Gomes 7, Bellegarde 7 Sub Doyle, Neto 7, Cunha 6 Sub Silva, Hee Chan 6 Sub Doherty
Liverpool FC: Alisson 6, Gomez 6, Mattip 6, Quansah 6 Sub Konate, Robertson 8, Szoboszlai 6, MacAlister 5 Sub Diaz 8, Jones 6, Salah 7 Sub Gravenberch, Gakpo 6 Sub Nunez, Jota 5 Sub Elliott
Attendance: 31,317
Referee: Michael Oliver 7
©Mark Brennand