Neves fells Klopp army
JURGEN KLOPP’S Liverpool crashed out of the FA Cup and sustained a potentially costly injury to Dejan Lovren.
The Premier League leaders arrived after losing their unbeaten Premier League record at Manchester City. Goals from Wolves’ Raul Jimenez and Divock Origi cancelled each other out before Ruben Neves’ second-half strike ensured the Reds – who lost Lovren to a hamstring injury – fell to another defeat as Wolves set up a fourth-round trip to Shrewsbury or Stoke.
Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo said: “I am very pleased. The team performed very well in a tough game. We took our chances. Neves has talent. He has done it before and we encourage him to shoot from range. It was a good strike.”
The tie of the round sees Manchester United visit Arsenal while non-league Barnet are at home to Brentford.
League Two giantkillers Oldham and Newport face trips to Doncaster and Middlesbrough respectively.
ONE chance of silverware gone, but Jurgen Klopp has his eyes on bigger prizes this season.
However, if Liverpool do not take advantage of their four-point lead in the title race or crash out of the Champions League, then you feel this was a night Klopp may live to regret.
Klopp made nine changes, fielded a makeshift back four and yet still ended up losing Dejan Lovren to a hamstring injury after just six minutes which might feel almost as painful as the defeat.
They threw on Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino to try to salvage a replay but it was not enough to save Liverpool as Wolves took full advantage on what they will class as a memorable night.
Everyone is quick to remind us about how long it is since Liverpool won the league – 29 years – but this proud club has not lifted the FA Cup for 13 years either.
Wolves, meanwhile, rose to the occasion as before the game they gave a minute’s applause to FA Cup winning club legend Bill Slater who died last month aged 91.
And they did him proud with a brave performance, full of desire and a worldclass winner from Ruben Neves to leave Molineux rocking.
Liverpool brought on Dutch teenager Ki-Jana Hoever, who is 11 days short of his 17th birthday, for Lovren and he became the youngest player to play for the club in the FA Cup.
Playing a kid at full-back is one thing, trusting him at centre-half quite another, and yet it was not Hoever who made the mistake in the build-up to Wolves’ 33rd-minute opener but the old stager James Milner.
Playing just in front of the makeshift back four, Milner took his eye off the ball and clumsily let it run under his foot to open the door for Wolves. Diogo Jota nicked the loose ball, nudged it to Raul Jimenez and the Wolves No9 raced away with Liverpool’s defence having gone AWOL.
He took his chance brilliantly, sprinting clear before burying a low shot past Liverpool’s stand-in keeper Simon Mignolet.
Now a player down, a patched-up defence and toothless in attack, Liverpool looked in big trouble and on the brink of going out of the cup.
No wonder Klopp sent Salah, Sadio Mane and Firmino out to warm up at half-time and maybe that was the kick up the backside Divock Origi needed.
Origi has been a forgotten man at Anfield this season other than his winner in the Merseyside derby but his finish for the 51st-minute equaliser was superb. Xherdan Shaqiri clipped
the ball forward, Milner scuffed a shot but inadvertently knocked it to Origi who brilliantly worked some space before firing a terrific drive past Wolves’ No2 keeper John Ruddy.
But Wolves regained the lead just four minutes later. After a patient build-up, the ball eventually fell to Neves and the Portuguese midfielder unleashed a brilliant 25-yard shot.
The ball dipped and swerved but Mignolet still should have done better as Neves’s shot was from a long way out and there must be question marks over the keeper.
At the other end, Ruddy showed no such signs of rustiness as he produced a stunning finger-tip save to push Shaqiri’s free-kick onto the post. Finally Klopp sent for the cavalry as on went Salah and Firmino.
Liverpool threw everything at Wolves but when Ruddy grabbed the ball for the last time the deafening cheer proved how much the FA Cup still means.