PLAYER RATINGS: LIVERPOOL 2-2 WOLVES

Liverpool once again served up a worrying display at Anfield as they failed to put away a rotated Wolves side. Guedes capitalised on a terrible Alisson error before Darwin equalised late first half. Salah scored in the second half but substitute Hwang sealed a replay. Here are player ratings from the encounter.

Alisson – 4.5

Silly error to give Wolves a headstart. He could clearly see Guedes so why he still tried to pick a pass that close to him (minutes after the Portuguese had almost scored from intercepting a lazy Matip pass) I’ll never know. Made good saves from Guedes and Ait-Nouri and was quick off his line to sweep up and deny Traore. Could have done better for the second.

Alexander-Arnold – 6

Wasteful early on with his passing but pulled out an absolutely unreal pass for the equaliser. Played a few more jaw dropping passes second half. Defended well when thwarting a counter on the edge of his own box.

Matip – 4.5

Not assertive enough for a man of his size. Almost gifted Guedes an early goal with a lazy pass. Strode out from the back but gave the ball away a fair bit. The most experienced player in a shaky backline tonight. Showed zero leadership. Should have headed a delicious Trent delivery but instead stuck out a leg out at it.

Konaté – 3

Error prone. Handed Wolves a cheap corner early on. The second goal came from him giving the ball away twice under no real pressure, and then he failed to get enough on the clearance. Wasted good openings from set pieces. Didn’t learn anything from Mbeumo’s goal as he again went down too easily and allowed Troare bear down on goal. Luckily Alisson was there to bail him out.

Robertson – 5

Loads of energy but little quality on the final ball. Combined well with Gakpo early on but wasn’t as influential as the game grew.

Fabinho – 3

Woeful yet again. Ait-Nouri kept waltzing past him like he wasn’t even there. He’s fallen off a cliff this season and needs dropping in all honesty. There’s no real options however so he’ll continue to start week in, week out.

Henderson – 4.5

A passenger first half. Poor hooked cross went straight out of play. Ait-Nouri and Ruben Neves breezed past him a number of times as well in midfield. Second half there was an improvement as he provided a foil for Salah on the right.

Thiago – 4.5

He gets away with murder because he looks classy on the ball. He was absolutely woeful first half. Hodge constantly harassed him out of possession, with one such turnover indirectly leading to the opener. Second half he improved slightly but still wasn’t good enough on the night. Didn’t offer any control and was constantly left for dead when they broke.

Salah – 6.5

Started brightly but soon faded. Took his goal really well when Toti’s header fell to him in the box. Was far too greedy on a few counter attacks with Gakpo free on the left. Tried to take on one too many men. Subbed off late on.

Gakpo – 6

Registered the side’s first shot on target with a fierce drive straight down the keeper’s throat. Showed some lovely control and balance. His chipped pass found Salah for the second goal (via the head of Toti). Could have been played through by Salah on a number of occasions when he was free on the left. Battled well against Traore.

Darwin – 7

Wasn’t given much service first half. He had to pull wide to get involved. He brought the side level with his first sight of goal, steering Trent’s pass into the bottom corner with a first time finish. He deserved that goal. Second half he showed lots of heart but wasn’t presented with any real chances. Lovely exchange of passes with Robbo down the left wing, with his cross finding Salah who should have done better.

Substitutes

Keita – 5.5

Offered a real boost in the middle of the park for about 15 minutes. He got on the ball and found line breaking passes. He won it back well too and helped ramp up the pressure on Wolves. Final 10 or so minutes he kept giving it away. Jekyll and Hyde.

Elliott – 5

Almost caught in possession with his very first touch, a collective ‘man on’ shout from the crowd helped him out. Found half a yard to swing in crosses but kept hitting the first man. Won the ball back well when Doak lost it.

Gomez – 5.5

Offered an option on the overlap and saw a few crosses cleared.

Oxlade-Chamberlain – 0

What has Fabio Carvalho done wrong? Since scoring at Etihad (where he was hooked at halftime) he hasn’t been handed a single minute. Ox came on ahead of him here on the left wing. He was dreadful, gage it away almost every time he touched it. Put one ball straight over the head of Doak and into touch. Why is he getting minutes over a promising talent like Carvalho?

Doak – 6

The brightest player in red on the night. Only one who wasn’t scared to run at a man and beat him. Unlucky with a right footed strike from just inside the box.

Jürgen Klopp

Went as strong as possible but again his side conceded the first goal. I thought for sure we’d see halftime changes because some of the performances first half were bordering on embarrassing. He kept the same team and was repaid when Salah edged the side infront.

Wolves made changes on the hour mark and changed the flow of the game. Klopp was too late to react and Lopetegui’s men found an equaliser. They almost found a winner as well but for a favourable VAR call. His management of Fabio Carvalho since the youngster scored at City remains baffling.

He can bury his head in the sand all he wants about his midfield but they will keep getting overrun. The defence will keep making mistakes as they’re getting overexposed, and every match will be an end to end affair with zero control. Now he has a replay to fit into the schedule.