No word from Julen Lopetegui, who can now concentrate on Premier League survival. But Andy Hunter’s report is in, and here it is. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night, and stay wrapped up warm.
A smiling Jurgen Klopp speaks to the BBC. “[I enjoyed it] a lot. A lot. It is a pretty rare feeling, it feels like ages ago that we had that feeling. We had to fight hard at the end, but that’s the nature of the competition. It feels great for the moment. It was the reaction we wanted to see, and the boys delivered. [Harvey Elliott] was good, especially with an early knock on the ankle. The goal was exceptional. But I had a few men of the match today, just the others didn’t score. It was really good passion. A cup game. Great! It is my job to help the boys, and find a formation they can feel. But on the pitch the boys have to make it. I liked the game a lot.”
Harvey Elliott talks to the BBC. “It was a good turnaround. The last few results haven’t gone our way. We haven’t performed to the best of our ability. But tonight is a stepping stone for the next couple of games. We need to take this into the weekend, so this is the perfect way to go into the next game full of confidence, and hopefully we can put it right [against Chelsea] in the Premier League. I’ve been judged a bit on assisting and goals, and it’s definitely something I’ve been working on, so thankfully it came off today. It’s a big sigh of relief because I feel like I personally haven’t been at my best, so to get the goal is good for my confidence. Milly was screaming ‘shoot!’ so if he’s screaming, I’m gonna have to do it! A massive thanks to our fans; I know it’s been freezing tonight.”
Julen Lopetegui looks thoroughly deflated. His team battled in search of an equaliser, and played well in that second half, but didn’t put enough pressure on Liverpool in the final third. Liverpool’s new-look defence held firm, Kelleher wasn’t seriously put to work, and the visitors deserve the victory on the balance of play. Wolves will argue that this should have never got to a replay, but VAR couldn’t prove Toti’s late “winner” at Anfield was onside, so here we are. Liverpool will of course argue otherwise, and their reward for snapping a poor run of form with a staunch victory is … another visit to Brighton, who did a number on them last weekend. Say what you will about the FA Cup, but it’s never ever stopped throwing up stories!
FULL TIME: Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 Liverpool
Nope. Neves wedges into the box. Costa tries to get on the end of it, but the man of the match Elliott heads clear, and the holders are through to the fourth round!
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90 min +5: The away fans belt out You’ll Never Walk Alone. Too soon? Perhaps. From a desperate last Wolves attack, Salah tries to break upfield, and looks to be tearing off to seal the deal … but he’s judged to have handled as he took control of the loose ball! Free kick in a central position, 25 yards out! Drama here?
90 min +4: Nunes plays the corner back up the right wing. It doesn’t reach Podence, and that’s a horrible waste of an opportunity to stick the ball into the dangerzone with less than 90 seconds to go.
90 min +3: Costa drives powerfully down the left. He crosses low. Phillips can’t hack it clear. The ball falls to Cunha, whose shot deflects wide right for a corner.
90 min +2: The ever-dangerous Ait-Nouri crosses from the left. With danger lurking behind, Konate flashes a header behind for a corner. Before it can be taken, Gomez is booked for a late clatter on Podence earlier in the move. Then the corner’s taken, and nothing more about that need be said.
90 min +1: The first of five added minutes. Costa crosses from the left. Cunha aims a header towards the top right, but without any real power. Easy for Kelleher.
90 min: Liverpool go up and nearly seal the deal. Elliott – just as he’s being named man of the match on the BBC by Alan Shearer – rolls a pass down the left for Jones, who enters the area and whistles a low drive across Sa and inches wide of the right-hand post.
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89 min: Traore does all the hard work brilliantly, driving down the right, evading a couple of chances, and reaching the byline. Then, with options in the middle, he wallops a cross over everyone at 101 mph.
87 min: Ait-Nouri crosses from the left. Cunha heads it on to Costa, on the penalty spot. Costa controls and returns it to Cunha, just to his left. Cunha opens his body and swishes a wild shot over the bar. That was a great chance to work Kelleher at the very least.
86 min: Wolves can’t get it forward at the moment. The clock ticks on. Can they force extra time? Here’s Mark: “If I was a big six team (I’m not), the player I’d be all over is Ruben Neves. He’s been so good, he’s always an option building from the back and his range and accuracy of passing tonight has been instigator of much of Wolves attacks.”
84 min: On comes a walking headline: Diego Costa, 34. He replaces Jimenez. His last FA Cup goal was in the 2017 final, as Chelsea were beaten 2-1 by Arsenal. He couldn’t score his next tonight, could he? It’d be his first for Wolves if he does so.
83 min: The livewire Doak nearly intercepts a ball on the halfway line. Had he managed to control, Wolves – who are throwing everyone forward in desperation – would have been in a world of trouble.
81 min: The excellent Ait-Nouri crosses from the left. Phillips heads high into the air with Jimenez lurking. Kelleher does extremely well to claim the dropping ball amid the hubbub.
80 min: Podence and Keita get involved in a truly pathetic spat deep in Liverpool territory. A light petulant flick from the former, the latter crashing to ground as though shot. The referee comes across to tell them both to grow up quicksmart.
79 min: Traore bursts past Tsimikas down the right. He stands one up into the middle. Jimenez wins a header that glances off Gomez. Once again, Wolves don’t get the corner they deserve. Over the two matches, they’ve not had much help from the referees and VAR operatives.
78 min: Tsimikas finally gets over to the corner and takes it. It’s not worth waiting for.
77 min: Fabinho finds Doak down the right with a long-range diagonal pass. Doak looks for Salah in the middle. Toti is forced to run the cross behind for a corner. Tsimikas to take. He doesn’t rush across. “I am really enjoying watching Rayan Ait-Nouri play this year,” begins Justin Madson. “Whenever I watch Wolves play, there’s at least one moment where he is providing a much needed offensive spark. He’s looked lively tonight and is definitely a bright spot for Wolves. How soon until a Big Six team comes knocking?”
75 min: Liverpool make a double change: Thiago and Bajcetic make way for Fabinho and Doak.
73 min: The free kick is just to the right of the D. Neves looks for the top right. The curler isn’t quite aimed for the corner, allowing Kelleher to fingertip over. Wolves don’t get the corner – it was a subtle flick – and Neves is quite rightly livid. Given there wasn’t too much in the award of the free kick, perhaps that’s all levelled out.
72 min: Raul flicks Cunha into a little space down the inside-right channel. He goes over the leg of Phillips, just to the right of the Liverpool D. Free kick, and Phillips goes into the book. Not sure there was too much contact there, but it was a positive move and Wolves have their reward.
70 min: Now Cunha hovers on the left-hand edge of the Liverpool six-yard box. He can’t quite sort his feet out to shoot, and when he finally does, Keita nicks the ball away to clear. The home team have their tails up.
69 min: Neves rolls a fine pass down the right to release Semedo into space. Semedo’s cross is decent but Konate confidently clears. Instantly better from Wolves.
67 min: A brief lull, much as you’d expect after the replacement of five players. Everyone readjusting to life.
65 min: Subs aplenty ahoy! Wolves replace Jonny and Moutinho with Podence and Cunha. Liverpool respond by switching out Gakpo, Carvalho and Milner for Salah, Jones and Phillips.
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63 min: Keita slips Gakpo free down the middle. Gakpo attempts to chip Sa, but the keeper spreads to block brilliantly. The flag then goes up for offside anyway. “And we come to the defining conundrum of Traore,” announces Joe Pearson. “He is an exciting and threatening presence with the ball, but he just doesn’t score. Just nine goals in 139 appearances for Wolves. That’s not a very good return.” Liverpool fans are going to be furious with you if you’ve just rattled Fate’s cage and tempted him with some treats.
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62 min: Thiago nicks the ball off the toe of Neves, who goes down dramatically. It’s a fine tackle, but the crowd want the already booked Liverpool man to receive his marching orders. Nope. Good pantomime fun, though.
61 min: Ait-Nouri rolls a low cross in from the left. Jimenez, his back to goal on the edge of the Liverpool box, lays off to Traore, who flashes recklessly miles over the bar. A fine chance to finally work Kelleher spurned.
59 min: Carvalho races down the left and feeds Tsimikas on the overlap. Tsimikas fires a low cross into the six-yard box, but Gakpo fails to attack the near post. Collins attempts to clear and the ball pings off Tsimikas and out for a throw. Liverpool have been quiet since the restart; that’s the best they’ve managed in the second half so far.
57 min: Thiago is booked for clipping an in-flight Jimenez right in front of the referee. A Liverpool name finally goes into the referee’s notebook, to the ironic cheers of the home faithful.
56 min: Keita and Carvalho nearly open Wolves up with a crisp one-two down the inside-right channel. Traore, of all people, breaks up the move and clears.
55 min: They’ve yet to get Kelleher’s hands seriously warm, though. Despite Wolves hogging the ball, the visitors look comfortable enough.
53 min: Harvey’s loose pass surprises Konate, and allows Ait-Nouri to advance down the left. Ait-Nouri fizzes a low cross into the mixer. Kelleher claims easily enough. Wolves have been the better side since the restart.
52 min: The home crowd are in better humour now, as Keita drags a long-range shot so far right that it nearly goes out for a throw. Wahey, etc.
51 min: The corner’s worked out to Neves on the right. His cross hits Tsimikas on the back of his trousers, then Keita on the shoulder. He claims a penalty. He’s not getting one. The crowd go ballistic on his behalf, but really.
50 min: Since the restart, Wolves are seeing more of the ball than Liverpool. Collins sprays a pass down the left, where Ait-Nouri wins the first corner of the second half.
48 min: Other than that, a slow, steady start to the second period.
46 min: Toti rakes a long pass down the left that nearly releases Ait-Nouri. Milner slides across to put a stop to his gallop in the 1980s style. Hard but fair.
Liverpool get the ball rolling for the second half. Wolves have made a couple of changes: Hodge and Lembikisa make way for Semedo and Nunes.
Alternative opinions department. Here’s Danny Stephens, regarding the comment about Liverpool not doing anything particularly egregious (45 min). “I don’t think it’s the severity of the fouls, but Liverpool have definitely used three or four niggly fouls to choke off promising Wolves moves. The referee Andre Marriner has been extremely patient with that. There probably should have been yellow by now for anyone who did it again. Like a team warning in rugby.”
Half-time entertainment. The Women’s Super League is back, and so is Women’s Football Weekly. This episode features a controversial penalty decision, an 89th-minute equaliser, a cricket score and a win for bottom-of-the-table Leicester – is the great escape on?
HALF TIME: Wolves 0-1 Liverpool
Nothing happens in the added minutes, and that’s the end of the first half. There hasn’t been much in it. Liverpool slightly the better team … and they’ve scored a cracking goal. As things stand, the holders will be travelling to Brighton in the fourth round.
45 min: To be honest, Liverpool haven’t done much that’s been particularly egregious. Lopetegui’s ire may stem from a sense of injustice at Gomez’s block of Ait-Nouri’s shot just before the Liverpool goal. He’ll not have seen a replay yet, so will still assume it should have been a penalty. Anyway, here we all are, with two minutes of bonus time added before the break.
43 min: Traore tugs at Tsimikas’s shoulder, then clips his ankles. He’s the first player to go into the book. Lopetegui, who feels Liverpool have been constantly fouling his players since the get-go, laughs sarcastically in the fourth official’s face.
42 min: Ait-Nouri dribbles elegantly infield from the left, but a heavy touch betrays him on the edge of the box. Shame, because it was a fine run past a couple of despairing challenges.
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40 min: A long Neves pass down the right releases Traore, who reaches the box ahead of Tsimikas and Gomez. But there’s nobody in the middle, so he has to have a whack from a tight angle. He flays a wild effort wide right and high.
38 min: Liverpool’s tails are up. Tsimikas advances down the left and crosses long for Elliott, who is never winning a header at the far stick. A bit more on the cross, though, and the ball would have evaded Jonny, dropping instead at Elliott’s feet. Then Thiago is found by the right-hand edge of the Wolves D. He sees off Collins with graceful ease, then strokes a shot with the outside of his boot wide left. It wouldn’t have counted, because up pops that offside flag again.
35 min: Keita slips Carvalho into space down the inside-right channel. Carvalho strides into the box and whistles a confident low shot past Sa and into the bottom left. But up pops the flag, correctly so, as Carvalho was miles offside.
33 min: Thankfully for Sa, who hasn’t covered himself in glory so far this evening, nothing comes of the corner. “Having just seen a replay of the goal, it wasn’t quite in the top corner, but the goalkeeper was off his line, so it lobbed him down the middle,” reports Andy (not that one) Flintoff. “It was a good strike, but with slightly better positioning, I think the goalkeeper would have saved it quite comfortably.”
32 min: Elliott twists his way down the right before slipping Gakpo into the box. Gakpo blazes over the bar. From the restart, Wolves play out from the back, only for Sa to clumsily miscontrol a backpass and shank it out for a corner.
30 min: Ait-Nouri stops an in-flight Milner progressing down the right. Sa – who wasn’t best positioned for the goal, as good as Elliott’s strike was – flaps. A game of head tennis comes to an end when Konate barges Collins over.
29 min: All that pre-match BBC bedlam explained.
Well, we found this taped to the back of the set. As sabotage goes it was quite amusing. 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/ikUhBJ38Je
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) January 17, 2023
28 min: Now Traore is brought down on the right by Tsimikas. Liverpool are conceding quite a few fouls here, and the home fans aren’t happy with the repetitive nature of it. Moutinho’s free kick is swung into the box and half cleared. Neves hits a pearler goalwards, but it’s blocked. The home fans roar their approval, nonetheless.
26 min: Milner sticks a leg across Moutinho, who was striding down the middle of the park. A free kick for Wolves, 30 yards out. Lopetegui once again does his nut. But no booking. Nothing comes of the set piece.
24 min: Gakpo tries to knock the ball past Ait-Nouri in the Wolves box but runs slap bang into his man instead. He wants a penalty, but he was looking for it, and is told in no uncertain terms to get up.
23 min: The free kick comes to nothing. Neves escaped a booking, which is kind of generous given the inherent cynicism in the challenge, but Wolves have had no luck with the officials in this tie, so they’re due a break.
22 min: Toti attempts to play out from the back. He’s hounded by Keita and Elliott and panics, rolling a hospital pass across the front of his own box towards Neves, who has no option but to bring down Carvalho, who was preparing to make it into the area.
20 min: Wolves have responded well to falling behind, in so much as they’ve spent most of the subsequent time in Liverpool’s half. They’re not doing a great deal with their territorial advantage, though.
18 min: Lopetegui was fuming after the Liverpool goal. He claimed Ait-Nouri’s shot was handled by Gomez. Replays show it hit Gomez’s elbow, but only on the ricochet, and at close range. It was never a spot kick … and it was checked by VAR, which they got back up and running, just in time.
16 min: Carvalho slips Tsimikas into the Wolves box down the left. Tsimikas blasts wildly over the bar from a tight angle. He had options inside.
15 min: … so Liverpool haven’t conceded the first goal for once. Molineux is noisy now, albeit with the travelling fans making most of the (non XXX-rated) noise.
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GOAL! Wolves 0-1 Liverpool (Elliott 13)
What a goal this is! Ait-Nouri cuts into the Liverpool box from the left but his shot is blocked. Liverpool counter. Elliott picks up the ball to the right of the centre circle, keeps on going down the channel, and launches a stunner into the top right from 25 yards! Wow.
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11 min: Tsimikas, who scored the winning penalty in last year’s final, advances down the left but ultimately loses control. It’s been a quiet start to the evening, the (possibly saucy and XXX-rated) screeching on the BBC apart.
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9 min: Liverpool’s press panics Wolves into shipping a half-chance for Gakpo from distance. His pea-roller dribbles harmlessly towards Sa, who needs no second opportunity this time.
8 min: Liverpool finally get forward, Elliott looping high into the Wolves box from the right wing. Sa makes a meal of gathering, but does so at the second attempt under pressure from Carvalho.
7 min: The BBC’s preamble was soundtracked by an ear-splitting screeching noise, as well. It’s all been very strange.
6 min: Wolves win the first corner of the evening out on the right. Moutinho takes. His team-mates make nothing of it, and Kelleher collects. “Maybe Klopp thinks Liverpool’s best chance is to advance under cover of darkness,” quips Richard Hirst, because somebody had to.
5 min: The power cut that affected the floodlights has by all accounts wiped out the screens for the VAR. What a technological debacle this tie has been so far, when you also factor in the VAR chaos that arguably cost Wolves the win at Anfield.
3 min: Traore gets a chance to cross with the lights on this time. His ball is met by Jimenez, who heads harmlessly wide right. A fast start by the hosts.
2 min: The lights, back on, are bright enough for us to continue. Wolves are livid that Liverpool are given a drop ball to restart, as Traore was on the attack and preparing to whip one into the mixer. Wolves are livid. So much for Molineux floodlit friendlies!
Wolves get this third-round replay underway. Traore romps down the right wing and is about to cross … when the floodlights momentarily fail! Molineux descends into darkness for a couple of seconds before they come back on. Very eerie.
The teams are out! Wolves wear their famous old gold, while Liverpool sport their equally storied red. A rare old atmosphere at a very cold Molineux. Hi-ho Wolverhampton. “Good afternoon Scott, from sunny California.” Hello Mary Waltz, from frozen Britain. “I root for the relegation-threatened Blue side of the Mersey but I feel sorry for Klopp. I know I am not supposed to but the collapse of Liverpool has been so sudden and I miss the joyous Klopp of the last year or two. Sullen Klopp is sad to watch.” He seemed happy enough in that pre-match interview on the Beeb, to be fair. How long that will last, we shall see. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes.
Julen Lopetegui is asked by the BBC whether he’s still fuming about the performance of the referee and the VAR at Anfield … “Today we have a big game at home against one of the best teams in the world. We have to put our focus only on this. We have tried to choose our best line-up, knowing we have to be 100 percent, all the players.”
… while Jurgen Klopp is asked whether the quick turnaround from the Brighton fiasco is a blessing for Liverpool. “We will see! After a game like that, there is no chance for any kind of good mood. You need time to process and let it settle. There’s always the next game, which is good, and it gives you a new opportunity, and that’s what we are here for. We want to go to the next round. I know how it looks at the moment. In the last game, Wolves scored a goal which maybe should have been allowed, or not, but now we are here and want to give it a proper try. Some changes we had to make, some we wanted to make. We want the fresh legs to have a better chance to win it.”
Wolves make two changes from the XI named at Anfield. Jose Sa and Joao Moutinho come in for Matija Sarkic and Goncalo Guedes. Diego Costa returns from the workshop and takes up his place on the bench.
By contrast, Liverpool rip it up and start again. Only three players who started the original tie keep their place: Ibrahima Konate, Thiago and Cody Gakpo. In come Caoimhin Kelleher, James Milner, Joe Gomez, Kostas Tsimikas, Stefan Bajcetic, Naby Keita, Harvey Elliott and Fabio Carvalho. Darwin Nunez remains injured. (For the record, it’s also eight changes from the rabble sent out for last Saturday’s debacle at Brighton, with Konate, Thiago and Gakpo once again the only three to keep their place, so whichever way you slice it, Jurgen Klopp has given everything a good old shoogle.)
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The teams
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Sa, Lembikisa, Collins, Toti, Jonny, Hodge, Neves, Moutinho, Traore, Jimenez, Ait-Nouri.
Subs: Sarkic, Podence, Hwang, Cunha, Semedo, Kilman, Nunes, Costa, Bueno.
Liverpool: Kelleher, Milner, Gomez, Konate, Tsimikas, Bajcetic, Thiago, Keita, Elliott, Carvalho, Gakpo.
Subs: Alisson, Fabinho, Salah, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jones, Robertson, Matip, Phillips, Doak.
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The teams.
✌️ Two changes from the team that played at Anfield.
— Wolves (@Wolves) January 17, 2023
🔁 Sa and Moutinho introduced.
How we line-up to face @LFC.
🐺📋 @AstroPay_OK
Here’s how we line up to face Wolves tonight in the #EmiratesFACup 📋🔴#WOLLIV
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 17, 2023
Preamble
Wolves can barely lay a glove on Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool in the Premier League – they’ve lost the last eight meetings in a row - but in the FA Cup it’s a vastly different story. Back in 2017 they went to Anfield and did this …
… then two years later at Molineux this happened …
… and finally the other week they were a dubious offside decision away from making it three in a row …
… so can Julen Lopetegui’s rejuvenated side complete the triptych against increasingly dysfunctional opponents tonight? We’ll soon find out, even if there must be extra time and penalties. Kick off is at 7.45pm GMT. It’s on!
