Liverpool began their defence of the Emirates FA Cup with a 2-2 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield on Saturday night. Tallies from Darwin Núñez and Mohamed Salah would not be enough to see the Reds through to the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Instead, there will be another match added to Liverpool's already crowded schedule. There will be a replay of the match, this time at Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton. Much to the displeasure of Jürgen Klopp, who in his press conference yesterday endorsed eliminating replays in the early rounds of the FA Cup, the Reds will have another date with Wolves in about 10 days. The date and time will be determined soon.
First Half
The early portions of the first half were fairly bland if we are being honest. Liverpool did have the better part of possession for the first 25 minutes of the half but, they couldn't do anything with it.
Unfortunately for the Reds, Alisson decided to put some spice into the proceedings. After making two relatively easy saves from Wolves' chances, the Brazilian keeper tried to play to the ball to Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Alisson hesitated for a split second, Wolves forward Goncalo Guedes read the play, intercepted the pass, and smashed the ball home to give Wolves the 1-0 in the 26th minute. It was an awful error by the usually stout Liverpool goalkeeper.
Fortunately for Alisson, his teammates kicked it up a notch as the match headed toward halftime. Darwin Núñez would find the end of a beautiful, looping Alexander-Arnold service and finish it on the volley past the Wolves keeper.
The Liverpool goal in the 45th minute seemingly came out of nowhere and definitely woke the Reds up. They finished the half very strongly with Andy Robertson just missing an opportunity to get a 2nd goal in the dying seconds of the half.
Second Half
Mohamed Salah would get the Reds started in style in the second half. In the 52nd, the Egyptian King scored his 17th goal of the season. He would capitalise on an error by Toti, the Wolves defender, and smash his 173rd goal into the back of the net for Liverpool.
That number is significant because Salah passes another king, this time King Kenny Daglish, for 7th all-time in goals scored for the Reds. This goal would give Liverpool a 2-1 lead but, Liverpool's poor play on the back end would cost them later.
In the 62nd, Wolves would sub on Matheus Cunha and Hee-Chan Hwang and it would give them a spark. Only 4 minutes later, the two substitutes would combine to create havoc in the Liverpool end and tie up the match.
Hwang would get credit for the goal from the Cunha cross. The pass would clatter off Ibrahima Konate first, then Hwang, and then leak past Alisson. The keeper should have probably kept the ball out. No matter, it was now 2-2 after 66 minutes.
Liverpool were lucky to get the draw. In the 83rd minute, it appeared that Wolves had taken the lead through a corner. VAR intervened and determined a Wolves player was offside in the build-up to the final strike by the defender Toti.
LFC Globe Verdict
It wasn't a great game for the whole Liverpool defence in their first effort since the van Dijk injury but, Alisson was particularly bad. A sloppy night around the Liverpool goal almost ended the Reds' FA Cup run early. It took a controversial VAR decision to save them this time. Now, they have to go to Wolverhampton and replay a match they could have won.
It is a disappointing start to the FA Cup campaign but, the campaign isn't over yet. You have to think the Manager might be rethinking his comments on replays yesterday.
Man of the Match and What's Next
Despite the disappointing result, there was some history made tonight at Anfield. Mohamed Salah is the Man of the Match for scoring his 173rd goal for Liverpool. That puts him in 7th place all by himself on the list of Liverpool goal scorers.
Next up for Liverpool is a trip to the south coast of England. The Reds face Brighton in the Premier League next Saturday at Amex Community Stadium. It's an early kick-off at 1230 GMT.
Goals
Liverpool
- Nunez 45'
- Salah 52'
Wolves
- Guedes 26'
- Hwang 66'
Substitutes
Liverpool
- Keita for Henderson 68'
- Elliott for Fabinho 75'
- Oxlade-Chamberlain for Gakpo 86'
- Doak for Salah 86'
- Gomez for Alexander-Arnold 86'
Wolves
- Cunha for Jimenez 62'
- Hwang for Guedes 62'
- Nunes for Neves 62'
- Semedo for Lembikisa 68'
- Bueno for Ait-Nouri 73'
Cards
Liverpool
- None
Wolves
- Jonny - Yellow 62'
