Sunday 29 January 2017

Wolves Stun Reds At Anfield

Sports - Football - FA Cup - LFC 1:2 WWFC

Wolves completed the perfect stunner by beating Liverpool 1-2 at Anfield, thereby eliminating them from the FA Cup in the fourth round.


It took the visitors just over 52 seconds to take the lead thanks to Richard Stearman heading in Hélder Wander Costa's free kick with poor marking by seven red shirts just watching on.

Paul Lambert's men dominated from then on, man of the match Costa menacing the Reds, and in the ninth minute ran right through them for the ball to end up just wide after a bit of a stumble.

Throughout the match, it seemed like Jürgen Klopp's men were just watching, not attacking the ball, not marking nor moving, making it too easy for Wolves.

And when Divock Origi lost the ball in his own half five minutes before the break, it was Costa again who pounced on it, broke out and away on the counter.

Challenged by Alberto Moreno, the 23-year old winger crossed the ball to Andreas Weimann who made no mistake of beating Loris Karius with a nice side-footer.

That took Liverpool to the break, 0-2 down, having not recorded any shots on target themselves, Anfield sounding anxious and angry.

Philippe Coutinho replaced Connor Randall after the break to bring more stability and threat to the home side and they did create more.

But it was nowhere near their usual pushing and pressing, making Wolves' marking job much easier, too many players staying static, standing, watching.

Both keepers did not have much to do, Liverpool over-touching, over-playing rather than moving and threatening, substitute Daniel Sturridge missing a couple of sitters.

The only notable save in the second half was made by Karius late on after another counter.

A couple of minutes after that, Origi headed a goal in off Sturridge, giving the Reds a glimmer of hope of a comeback with just under five minutes of normal time to go.

But it was too little, too late, and the huffy and puffy Merseysiders were well beaten for the third time in a row after going unbeaten at Anfield for 370 days before Saturday's loss to the Swans.

Here is my match report of their last match, defeat against Southampton in the EFL Cup semi final second leg.

The 8,300 travelling fans could not have asked for more from their side and the trip was well worth it watching Wolves, the deserved winners.

The three previous occasions they had beaten Liverpool in the FA Cup, they went on to win the trophy. Good luck to them!

Klopp's men are welcoming Chelsea to Anfield next, for their Premier League clash Tuesday evening, the last day of a very dry and dire January for the Reds.

Out of the EFL Cup... Out of the FA Cup... Just a two-point gap keeping them in the top four in the league... It couldn't get any worse... Could it?!

Liverpool Goal: Origi 85:22min.

Wolves Goals: Stearman 0:52min & Weimann 40:50min.

Liverpool Team: 1 Karius; 18 Moreno, 17 Klavan, 12 Gomez, 56 Randall (10 Coutinho 45); 5 Wijnaldum (booked 51'), Lucas (c), 53 Ejaria (23 Can 74'); 11 Firmino (15 Sturridge 65'), 27 Origi, 58 Woodburn. 4-3-3
Subs not used: 7 Milner, 22 Mignolet, 35 Stewart, 59 Wilson.

Wolves Team: 31 Burgoyne; 2 Doherty, 30 Hause (booked 48'), 5 Stearman (booked 29'), 16 Coady; 8 Saville, 14 Evans (booked 89'); 63 Weimann (10 Mason 77'), 4 Edwards (c), 17 Helder Costa (43 Ronan 67'); 9 Dicko (22 Bodvarsson 71'). 4-2-3-1
Subs not used: 6 Batth, 21 Lonergan, 26 Enobakhare, 55 Gibbs-White.

Match Stats: 1st & 2nd half LFC-WWFC
Attempts: 4-5 & 20-7
On target: 0-2 & 5-3
Offside: 0-1 & 1-2
Corners: 3-2 & 7-4
Fouls: 4-7 & 7-13
Bookings: 0-1 & 1-3
Possession: 79%-21% & 79%-21%

Referee: Craig Pawson
Man of the match:  Hélder Wander Costa
Ground: Anfield
Attendance: 52,469

Pictures and stats taken from the BBC match report and live coverage.

Click here for my previous LFC match report.

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