BOBBY DAZZLER!
Reds head five points clear as Firmino nods in
RobERTo FiRMino leaps like a salmon ( right) to head in Liverpool’s crucial second goal in a hard-fought 2-1 win at Chelsea.
Firmino, known to the Anfield faithful as bobby, helped Liverpool to their sixth straight Premier League win to keep them five points clear of Manchester City.
WHEN the sucker punch came, Roy Hodgson directed a vicious one of his own at the empty seat next to him. If three of the men in his charge had shown even a fraction of his precision and ruthlessness, only Wolves would have taken a beating.
Alas, the furniture got it while Christian Benteke, Jeffrey Schlupp and Joel Ward stared at each other in baffled wonder at the blaze of late missteps that let this one get away. Two points were dropped and their fingerprints were on both.
That is not to say they committed any great crime or a howler beyond the ordinary. But, when combined, their two bad misses and a tumble were the stuff of calamity, a step-by- step-by- step walk into a lamppost when 1-0 ahead against 10 men. It should have been straightforward; it went horribly wrong.
And so Hodgson raged. At the chair first, and then in a more understated manner in his press conference, when he resisted apportioning blame but chomped hardest at the kindest of questions in these scenarios, concerning what positives he might take.
‘We don’t always have to take a positive,’ he said. ‘Sometimes there isn’t one. I don’t know quite how you can talk about positivity. We feel very disappointed and upset.’
Well, yes, quite. And true. It was a rotten way to give away a win and the best way to untangle what happened is to go through it in order.
The Benteke error came first and was easiest to understand, if only because it was all so familiar. His personal struggle has become a collective anxiety now, to the extent that you fear for him when he finds himself in shooting positions.
In this instance, the miss occurred around 12 minutes from time, with Palace 1-0 ahead courtesy of Leander Dendoncker’s deflected own goal off a Ward shot and with Romain Saiss already dismissed. Credit to Benteke, he did much to create the one- onone, but he then hesitated, shuffled and fluffed the shot right at Rui Patricio. With four goals in 54 Premier League games, you have to wonder how such an effective striker became so muddled in his primary function.
Schlupp then missed a one-onone of his own that was equally presentable, and from there came the third strike of the damned, when Ward made an almighty hash of a straightforward cross from Adama Traore with 96 minutes played. If there was a complication, it was that the delivery was dipping awkwardly to the back post.
For a second Ward looked to be positioning himself to clear with a diving header and then he appeared to lose balance and fall. It allowed the ball to fall for Diogo Jota behind him and with a touch and finish, Wolves were saved with the last act of the match.
A big moment for both clubs, but bigger for Wolves. Having worked so hard to make Wolves one of the bigger fish in the tank, Nuno Espirito Santo and his side have been floating in a troubling way. The toilet will not be far away at this rate, but a point helps, even if their winless run of six is the worst of Santo’s reign. It’s the Europa League’s fault, of course. Nothing wrecks stable homes quite like it. And yet that is the burden of success and this season it has been Wolves’ problem. This game illustrated the workload issue. Consider the hallmarks of their excellent 2018-19 season —stability in selection, with nine unchanged teams in their first nine games, and a tight defence. They made four changes for this one after the midweek game against Braga, have used 17 starters in all through six games, and their backline is coughing up chances. At least they got away with those they gave up here. ‘It’s not about relief,’ Santo said.
‘We have heart, we have character, we have spirit, we had one man down and we kept fighting. It says a lot about the spirit we have.’ CRYSTAL PALACE (4-4-2): Guaita 7; Ward 6.5, Cahill 6.5, Sakho 6.5, Van Aanholt 6; McArthur 7 (McCarthy 83min), Milivojevic 6.5, KOUYATE 7.5, Schlupp 7; Zaha 7, Ayew 6 (Benteke 69, 5). Subs not used: Dann, Meyer, Townsend, Hennessey, Kelly. Scorer: Dendoncker 46 (og). Booked: McArthur, Ayew. Manager: Roy Hodgson. WOLVES (3-5-2): Patricio 7; Saiss 4.5, Coady 6, Boly 5; Doherty 6 (Neves 57, 6), Dendoncker 5.5 (Neto 65, 6), Jota 7, Moutinho 6, Jonny 5.5; Traore 7, Jimenez 5.5 (Cutrone 76). Subs not used: Vallejo, Gibbs-White, Ruddy, Ruben Vinagre. Scorer: Jota 90. Booked: Coady, Saiss. Sent off: Saiss. Manager: Nuno Espirito Santo Referee: Stuart Attwell 7. Attendance: 25,122.