Wolves 0 vs Liverpool 1
JURGEN Klopp said he has waited “ages” for Liverpool to win a game with a positive performance, after the Reds booked their place in the FA Cup fourth round with a gutsy victory over Wolves at Molineux.
Harvey Elliott’s stunning first-half drive earned Klopp’s team their first win since the turn of the year, just three days after a dismal defeat at Brighton in the Premier League.
Wolves applied heavy pressure in the latter stages but the much-changed visitors held on to book a fourth-round meeting with the Seagulls on Sunday, 29 January.
“It feels like ages ago we had that feeling of winning and playing well,” Klopp told BBC One afterwards.
“We had to fight hard at the end but we controlled the game for long periods. It’s great and the reaction we wanted to see.”Tuesday’s triumph was Liverpool’s third since the resumption of domestic football after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
A 3-2 League Cup loss at Manchester City on 22 December was followed by hard-fought victories over Aston Villa and Leicester in the Premier League, before humbling defeats at Brentford and Brighton either side of the 2-2 draw with Wolves at Anfield.
“We had a few man-of-the-match performances today,” Klopp continued. “We played a really good first half, had good periods in the second and in the end it was just about passion to block the shots.”
Wolves’ improvement under Julen Lopetegui has been clear to see but the home side failed to seriously threaten Caoimhin Kelleher’s goal until late on, when Ruben Neves, Raul Jimenez and Matheus Cunha all went close to an equaliser.