KLOPP SHOCK AS NEVES STUNNER FELLS KOP STARS
Kop boss has his eyes on the Prem but may live to regret FA Cup defeat
ONE chance of silverware gone but Jurgen Klopp has his eyes on bigger prizes this season.
Yet if Liverpool do not take advantage of their four-point lead in the title race or crash out of the Champions League, he may live to regret this defeat at Molineux.
Klopp made nine changes, fielded a makeshift back four and lost Dejan Lovren to a hamstring injury after six minutes. He threw on Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino to try to salvage a replay with 20 minutes to go. It was not enough.
That it is 29 years since Liverpool won the title is often mentioned, but it is 13 years since they lifted the FA Cup.
Wolves rose to the occasion, having had a minute’s applause to mark the death last month of FA Cup-winning club legend Bill Slater at the age 91.
They did him proud with a brave performance, full of desire and a world-class winner from Ruben Neves. Klopp played it safe by resting a number of firstchoice players, only in Lovren to lose one of those he did select.
Lovren was replaced by KiJana Hoever, who at 11 days shy of his 17th birthday became Liverpool’s youngest ever player in the FA Cup and the third youngest in their history.
James Milner had made his Premier League debut before Hoever was born on January 18, 2002, and here the veteran model pro was trying to help the rookie through his big night.
Playing a kid at full-back is one thing, trusting him at
centre-back quite another, yet it was not the Dutch teenager who made the mistake in the build-up to Wolves’ 33rd minute opener but the old stager.
Milner, operating just in front of the makeshift back four, took his eye off the ball and let it run under his foot.
Diogo Jota nicked it, nudged the ball to Raul Jimenez and he raced away with Liverpool’s defence having gone AWOL.
There have been doubts about Jimenez’s finishing this season but he took this chance brilliantly, sprinting clear and burying a low shot past Liverpool’s second-choice keeper Simon Mignolet.
With a patched-up defence and toothless in attack, Liverpool looked in big trouble, prompting Klopp to send out substitutes Salah, Firmino and Sadio Mane to warm up at half time. Perhaps that was the kick up the backside Divock Origi needed.
Other than his winner in the Merseyside derby, Origi has been a forgotten man at Anfield this campaign, but his equaliser in the 51st minute was superb. Xherdan Shaqiri clipped the ball forward, Milner scuffed a shot and inadvertently knocked it to Origi, who brilliantly worked some space before firing a terrific drive past Wolves’ No.2 keeper John Ruddy.
As the away end celebrated, Klopp never moved a muscle, his arms remained crossed and a fed-up look still on his face.
His mood did not get any better when Wolves regained the lead four minutes later. They were patient in the buildup before the ball eventually fell to Ruben Neves to unleash a brilliant 25-yard shot. The ball dipped and swerved but Mignolet should have done better.
At the other end, Ruddy showed no such signs of rustiness as he produced a stunning fingertip save to push Shaqiri’s free-kick onto a post.
Finally Klopp turned to Salah and Firmino to try and rescue the tie. 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.