FA Cup: Liverpool 2 Wolves 2 - Report

A very astute tactical display in the first half saw Goncalo Guedes fire Wolves ahead after 26 minutes.

Wolves deserved to keep that lead until half-time but fell asleep at the back just before the break, allowing Darwin Nunez to equalise.

Mo Salah then gave the hosts the lead after the restart and they looked set to take control of the fixture, until substitute Hwang dragged Wolves level just three minutes after coming on.

Toti Gomes thought he had won it for Wolves before the goal was ruled out for offside, to Wolves’ fury.

Neither side could break the deadlock in the closing minutes, meaning a third round replay will now take place at Molineux.

Analysis

Julen Lopetegui made nine changes from the team that drew with Villa in mid-week, and switched to a 4-4-2 formation.

Only Nathan Collins and Ruben Neves kept their place, as Wolves put the upcoming Carabao Cup quarter-final, and Premier League survival, above the FA Cup on their list of priorities.

Dexter Lembikisa made his first start for the senior side, after making his debut off the bench before the World Cup break, while Raul Jimenez made his first start for the club since August 31.

Daniel Podence, Joao Moutinho and Diego Costa all missed out, with injury concerns.

Jurgen Klopp named a strong starting XI, in a 4-3-3 formation.

Among them, Cody Gakpo made his debut after his £35million signing from PSV Eindhoven.

In the opening minutes, Jonny Castro Otto got caught on the ball, which forced Toti into giving away a foul on the edge of the box when he attempted to make a recovery tackle. Salah curled his effort just over the bar.

Wolves did have one corner, which they squandered, but the majority of the first 10 minutes saw the visitors happy to sit in their defensive shape. When they did try to launch counter attacks, Neves uncharacteristically gave the ball away three times early on.

Lopetegui’s side were almost handed a gift when Joel Matip made a mess of it in possession in his own box. Guedes stole it, but was closed down as he took aim from six yards.

Moments later, Jimenez seemed to be racing through but was tackled as he set his sights on goal.

The hosts looked dangerous but were yet to get out of first gear, while a swift counter-attack offered Wolves another good chance. Guedes did well to win a duel and Jimenez charged forward. He found Rayan Ait-Nouri, who had a shot blocked.

Another good chance came when Adama Traore crossed for Jimenez, but he could not quite catch the ball properly at the near post.

Then, Jimenez robbed Thiago and went down claiming a foul, which was waved away. In the same phase of play, goalkeeper Alisson had a dreadful moment when he passed the ball directly to Guedes, who tapped home from 10 yards to put Wolves ahead.

Wolves were finding a lot of joy in their intensity, at the right times. Youngsters Joe Hodge and Lembikisa were finding a lot of success in that.

Another chance was created from good tracking back, too, when Adama won the ball and found Guedes. His strong shot from distance was moving in the air and forced Alisson into a firm save.

Wolves were utilising the counter-attack perfectly and a nice ball to Adama saw him cross low, and Jimenez was inches away from meeting it at the far post as he came sliding in.

Adama was causing all sorts of problems and found himself in space again to dance beyond several players and feed Jimenez on the right. He made the right choice in trying to cross for Ait-Nouri, but Matip made a good headed clearance.

On the stroke of half-time, Liverpool found their equaliser. Trent Alexander-Arnold found himself in space on the right and swung in a deep cross for Nunez who finished first time into the bottom corner. A poor Collins clearance led to the chance, while Lembikisa lost his man on the cross.

Liverpool poured on the pressure during the three minutes of added time, but the sides entered the break drawing 1-1.

The start of the second half was fairly subdued until Wolves handed Liverpool an easy chance to take the lead. It should have been a standard headed clearance for Toti, but he made a mess of his attempt and gifted the ball to Salah, who slotted home to take a 2-1 lead.

Salah was offside, but the goal stood because Toti made an attempt to play the ball, under the law of the game.

Wolves almost equalised quickly when Neves played Ait-Nouri through on goal. He took an early shot which Alisson saved with his legs.

Jimenez had a great chance to play Lembikisa through when Wolves were four on three in attack, but he selfishly looked for goal and had a poor effort blocked.

In the 63rd minute, Lopetegui threw the dice by bringing on Matheus Nunes, Hwang and Matheus Cunha, in replace of Neves, Guedes and Jimenez.

Within just three minutes, that move paid off. A one-two between Cunha and Hwang saw the latter have a shot deflect off Ibrahima Konate and back off the South Korean before squeezing under Alisson, to drag Wolves level.

Toti put Wolves ahead late on, which prompted wild celebrations, before the offside flag went up. A long VAR check then took place and the goal was still disallowed, which left Wolves furious. The decision came because Nunes was offside when a corner was headed back out to him.

As the game entered five minutes of added time, neither team looked likely to score as the tempo of the game at dropped.

As a result of the 2-2 draw, Wolves’ congested fixture list will get even busier when Liverpool come to Molineux for a third round replay.

Key Moments

GOAL 26 Guedes puts Wolves ahead

GOAL 45 Nunez fires Liverpool level

GOAL 52 Salah puts the hosts ahead

GOAL 66 Hwang drags Wolves level

Teams

Wolves: Sarkic, Lembikisa (Semedo, 68), Collins, Toti, Jonny, Neves (Nunes, 63), Hodge, Adama, Guedes (Hwang, 63), Ait-Nouri (Bueno, 73), Jimenez (Cunha, 63).

Subs: Sa, Kilman, Mosquera, Ronan.

Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold (Gomez, 84), Matip, Konate, Robertson, Fabinho (Elliot, 74), Thiago, Henderson (Keita, 68), Gakpo (Doak, 84), Salah (Oxlade-Chamberlain, 84), Nunez.

Subs not used: Kelleher, Tsimikas, Phillips, Carvalho.