2017-01-28

First-half goals from Richard Stearman and Andreas Weimann earned Wolves a thoroughly deserved victory over Liverpool at Anfield

2.46pm GMT

And that’s all from me. It’s been remarkable. Bye!

2.42pm GMT

Here’s Paul Wilson’s match report

Related: Wolves stun Liverpool in FA Cup after Richard Stearman kickstarts upset

2.40pm GMT

And Jürgen Klopp holds his hands up:

It was a very bad performance. Started bad, didn’t really get better. There’s not a lot of good things to say about this game. Difficult. We were obviously not ready in this moment. We had the ball, gave it away, made a foul, free kick. The goal happened. We tried, but not good enough in the first half. Second half was better, but should be better. Not a lot more to say. Sorry.

I’m responsible for the line-up. It’s not allowed as I undertand it to blame the players. You learn a lot about players in these situations, but it’s my responsibility. I’m responsible for it, 100%.

2.39pm GMT

Paul Lambert does some post-match gloating:

I said we’d try to do it, we got a great start which gave us something to hang on to. But when you play here you have to be big and brave. When you do score early, it’s human nature to drop back. All credit to them, we worked in training on that. Don’t worry, don’t panic. We’re a young side, but we’re growing up and getting better. That’s the longest ever 10 minutes. Harry only had one save to make, everything was routine for him.

2.32pm GMT

That was an absolutely super cup tie, a classic of its type, between slightly down-in-the-dumps giants and a visiting lower-league side with a good gameplan and more decent players than Big Manager really gave them credit for.

2.28pm GMT

A bit of early post-match reaction from the victorious and emphatically chuffed Conor Coady:

We had a game plan, we knew what we had to do. We scored two outstanding goals. Words can’t describe it. It’s a special day for me and my family but the boys have come up trumps today.

We knew we had to start fast. It was vital for us to be on the front foot, but to get the goal was an incredible feeling. We’re delighted to be in the next round. I thought we were incredible, the work rate the midfield and the strikers put in, we restricted them to long-range shots and that was the plan.

2.24pm GMT

It’s over! Liverpool’s hiccup becomes a crisis, and a brilliantly committed and organised Wolves side have a fabulously deserved victory.

2.23pm GMT

90+4 mins: Eight seconds to play, and Origi gives away a free kick. It’s all over now, surely.

2.22pm GMT

90+4 mins: Liverpool have one more minute to rescue the game. Sadly for them, Bodvarsson has the ball. And wins a corner!

2.21pm GMT

90+3 mins: Liverpool take an age over the free-kick, which they don’t really have, and then Coutinho blasts it into the wall.

2.20pm GMT

90+2 mins: One down, three to play. Moreno wins a free kick, 25 yards out.

2.19pm GMT

90+1 mins: There’ll be four minutes of stoppage time.

2.19pm GMT

89 mins: Bodvarsson launches a solo breakaway that nearly ends with a solo goal, but after carrying the ball to the right byline and then cutting inside, his goalbound shot hits Lucas’s leg.

2.17pm GMT

87 mins: Another corner, and a save! The ball ping-pongs around the box until it lands at the feet of Origi, in a similar position to when he scored Liverpool’s first, but this time Burgoyne flings out a leg to deflect the shot away!

2.15pm GMT

From the corner, the ball’s headed goalwards, half-cleared by Doherty, headed back from near post to far by Sturridge, and knocked in by Origi!

2.14pm GMT

85 mins: Liverpool have a corner, and two goals to score in five minutes. It’s do or die time, surely.

2.12pm GMT

83 mins: Wijnaldum gives Burgoyne another exceptionally easy save to make. “So much for the magic of the cup,” writes James Reeve. “I thought there might be an upset at Anfield today. Ah well.”

2.11pm GMT

81 mins: Into the 81st minute, and Liverpool still haven’t created a chance. And as I type that, Wolves make another! The ball’s flicked on, and Bodvarsson spins and diverts goalwards. Karius saves, which is just as well, as Bodvarsson was well offside and the linesman appeared to have missed it.

2.07pm GMT

78 mins: Liverpool make a mess of a corner and Wolves suddenly break, four men against one. Somehow, though, they find the one.

2.06pm GMT

76 mins: Today’s final change sees Weimann, scorer of the second, withdrawn after putting a shift in, and Mason come on.

2.04pm GMT

75 mins: Burgoyne has another save to make, though it isn’t really any harder than the first. This time it’s Sturridge with the long-range shot down the middle.

2.03pm GMT

74 mins: Liverpool’s final change sees Can replace Ejaria.

2.02pm GMT

72 mins: Woodburn, found by Origi, spins inside the penalty area and goes down with a defender nearby. The referee is unimpressed, and it looks like Evans’ hung out and then withdrew a leg, and by the time Woodburn fell over there was nothing for him to make contact with.

2.00pm GMT

71 mins: A second Wolves substitution, Bodvarsson replacing Dicko.

1.59pm GMT

70 mins: Wijnaldum sends a raking crossfield pass too far in front of Woodburn and out for a goal kick, Coutinho having done much the same a couple of minutes back.

1.56pm GMT

67 mins: Wolves have got substitutes too, and are bringing off Costa and bringing on Ronan. Costa has shown flashes of brilliance, but is perhaps still feeling that first-half leg-scraping, and has done little this half.

1.55pm GMT

66 mins: This is totally one-way traffic, but Liverpool are yet to convert pressure into actual chances.

1.53pm GMT

64 mins: Daniel Sturridge is coming on, and Firmino is going off.

1.51pm GMT

61 mins: Ooooh! Coutinho tries to play Moreno through, but the pass seems a bit too strong, making Burgoyne favourite to reach it first. But he doesn’t, and Moreno is so surprised by this turn of events that he miscontrols it straight off the pitch.

1.49pm GMT

60 mins: A shot! And Burgoyne makes a save! It was pretty much straight down the middle from Coutinho, and not hit very hard, and from quite a way out. But still, it’s a start.

1.46pm GMT

57 mins: The last few minutes have been a shot-blockathon, with Origi, Ejaria and Firmino all having efforts repelled. Burgoyne still hasn’t had a save to make.

1.43pm GMT

54 mins: Liverpool create their best chance of the game, Firmino receiving the ball in the penalty area with space to turn and aim. For some reason, though, he then tries to pull back to an entirely ficticious team-mate rather than actually shooting, and the chance is gone.

1.40pm GMT

51 mins: Liverpool give the ball away in midfield, win it back again and give it away again, all in the space of about two seconds, and Wijnaldum gets booked for stopping Costa from taking full advantage.

1.37pm GMT

48 mins: The free-kick is flicked on by Firmino but hits Klavan in the chest and rebounds behind for a goal kick.

1.37pm GMT

47 mins: Liverpool have switched to a back three. And Origi escapes from Hause on the right wing and is brought down, bringing another booking for the Wolves man.

1.34pm GMT

46 mins: Peeeeep! We’re off! Again!

1.34pm GMT

The players come back out. Except for Connor Randall, who has made way for Philippe Coutinho.

1.25pm GMT

Half-time viewing: Christopher Thomond’s photographic FA Cup odyssey gets under way at Accrington:

Related: FA Cup photo essay: Accrington Stanley v Luton in the third round

1.23pm GMT

What a remarkable half of football. Wolves have defended stoically, but this Liverpool are an easy team to defend against, and in key, crowded areas both their passing and their movement has been poor.

Don't get Klopp playing his reserves with no European football. Shows a lack of knowledge of the depth in English football and respect.

1.19pm GMT

The whistle blows, with Liverpool passing the ball around midfield entirely without purpose, and boos ring out at Anfield.

1.17pm GMT

45+1 mins: We’re in stoppage time, of which there will be about two minutes.

1.16pm GMT

43 mins: The key moment in that goal was Moreno’s attempted sliding tackle on Costa, which convinced Gomez to move towards what for a moment looked like was about to be a loose ball rather than continuing to cover Weimann’s run. When the ball ended up barely leaving Costa’s toe, Gomez was an irrelevance and Weimann totally free.

1.13pm GMT

They’ve only gone and scored again! Liverpool give the ball away on the edge of the Wolves area and break fast, first through Costa and then Weimann, whose first touch takes the ball around Karius, and whose second sends it into an empty net!

1.11pm GMT

39 mins: It appears nothing’s going to happen until Coutinho and Sturridge come on, and perhaps not even then. “Don’t panic Reds, Houllier used to have major blips like this,” writes Niall Mullen. “‘Blessings in disguise’ he called them. And it all turned out fine for him at Anfield.” Yeah, kind of.

1.07pm GMT

36 mins: Liverpool have had three shots, none on target. Wolves have had four shots, one on target, and their inexperienced 20-year-old goalkeeper is having the time of his life.

1.03pm GMT

32 mins: Liverpool have a shot! It’s way wide, but Ejaria’s pass to him was a little sharp, and his control not quite perfect. Still, a shot.

1.02pm GMT

31 mins: Liverpool have had 80% of possession so far. And they have done almost precisely chuff all with it.

1.00pm GMT

29 mins: Stearman pulls back Wijnaldum’s shirt and earns the day’s first booking for his troubles.

12.59pm GMT

28 mins: Weimann takes on Gomez, gets past him, but then crosses too close to Karius.

12.57pm GMT

25 mins: Stearman pumps the ball forward for Costa to chase, but he runs out of pitch before he gets to it, and then scrapes his ankle on an advertising hoarding or something near it, and is now receiving treatment.

12.55pm GMT

24 mins: Wolves have a little attack, their first for a while, and it ends with a Coady cross deflecting off an opponent, back off him again and behind for a goal kick.

12.52pm GMT

20 mins: They’re still pushing, their latest attack ending with a poor clearance reaching Lucas, 20 yards out, and the Brazilian’s shot curling well high of goal, and also a bit wide of it.

12.50pm GMT

18 mins: Firmino very nearly makes one, spinning away from his marker inside the penalty area, but the defender gets back in time to deflect his low cross/shot behind for a corner.

12.49pm GMT

17 mins: A long spell of Liverpool pressure. They’ve totally dominated possession these last four or five minutes, but are yet to craft a chance.

12.45pm GMT

14 mins: Liverpool work the ball up to Origi, but the referee is unimpressed when he flings himself over Saville’s leg on the edge of the penalty area, and Wolves spring forward.

12.45pm GMT

13 mins: Wolves appear to be man marking everybody when Liverpool have possession. Wijnaldum certainly has an orange-shirted shadow following him wherever he goes.

12.42pm GMT

10 mins: Flipping heck! Liverpool have a corner, which is headed out to Costa, just outside his own penalty area, who spins and starts running. By the time he stops running he’s 12 yards from the Liverpool goal and still has the ball at his feet, but then he spears his shot wide, while falling down.

12.39pm GMT

8 mins: Liverpool do a bit of huffing and puffing, and one point coming within a couple of yards of the Wolves penalty area, but are yet to touch the ball actually inside it.

12.37pm GMT

5 mins: This time the ball hits the wall, rebounds to a Wolves player who scoops it into the area, where it drops at the feet of Dicko, who was a decent first touch away from a brilliant chance for a second goal. His first touch, sadly, wasn’t very good.

12.35pm GMT

5 mins: Weimann wins another free-kick, this time just outside the penalty area, near the left corner.

12.35pm GMT

3 mins: Well that’s put the wolf among the pigeons. There was a vague suspicion of offside about the goal, though it was very close, and can’t excuse the total absence of marking that followed.

12.33pm GMT

Wolves take the lead in the first minute! Weimann wins a free kick on the right flank, Costa swings in an absolute beauty, and Stearman heads beyond the far post heads back across goal and in!

12.31pm GMT

1 min: They’re off! Liverpool get the game under way.

12.30pm GMT

BT Sport’s expert summariser and co-commentator panel today is Steven Gerrard, Paul Ince and Steve McManaman. Thoroughly Liverpool-focused, then, for all that Ince also played for Wolves.

12.28pm GMT

The players are on their way out of the tunnel. Kick-off mere moments away.

12.23pm GMT

Liverpool’s win percentage this season with (71.4%) and without (33.3%) Sadio Mane is really astonishing. Senegal’s African Cup of Nations quarter-final against Cameroon kicks off at 7pm tonight, and there’ll be plenty of Indomitable Lions supporters around Merseyside, I’d have thought.

12.21pm GMT

Jurgen Klopp has a quick chat with BT Sport:

Inside Liverpool, it’s been normal business I would say. It’s not the first time we lost a game, unfortunately. We are quite used to it. Keep on going. Try to change a few things, especially in mindset. It wasn’t that bad, the last game in particular was pretty good, but we lost it. Today, new game, new opportunity, all good.

12.08pm GMT

Paul Lambert chats to BT Sport on the touchline:

He talks really very quickly, and my poor fingers couldn’t really keep up, so these are the random fragments of babble I did get down:

It’s a really difficult game. But we’ve earned the right to play here by beating Stoke. If Harry Burgoyne handles the crowd, he’s a really good goalkeeper, if he handles the crowd he’ll be fine. The plan is to play on the front foot. I’m not coming here to defend, it’s too difficult. It’s a big club, Wolves. It’s lost its way the last couple of years but if we can do alright, the crowd will be behind us.

12.04pm GMT

This has become a massive test of Liverpool’s character. Wolves, 18th in the Championship (though they’ve got that division’s 11th-best away record), are logically unlikely to offer much of a challenge, but not as logically unlikely as Plymouth were in the last round.

11.50am GMT

Here’s an alternative, strictly textual version of the teams. A pretty strong Liverpool selection, and a very strong bench:

Liverpool: Karius, Randall, Gomez, Klavan, Moreno, Ejaria, Lucas, Wijnaldum, Firmino, Origi, Woodburn. Subs: Milner, Coutinho, Sturridge, Mignolet, Can, Stewart, Wilson.
Wolverhampton: Burgoyne, Coady, Stearman, Hause, Doherty, Edwards, Evans, Helder Costa, Saville, Weimann, Dicko. Subs: White, Batth, Mason, Lonergan, Bodvarsson, Enobakhare, Ronan.
Referee: Craig Pawson.

11.41am GMT

Both teams have tweeted their line-ups, and this is them:

#LFC XI v @OfficialWolves: Karius, Randall, Gomez, Klavan, Moreno, Lucas, Ejaria, Wijnaldum, Woodburn, Firmino, Origi #LIVWOL

#LFC substitutes v @OfficialWolves: Mignolet, Milner, Stewart, Can, Wilson, Coutinho, Sturridge #LIVWOL

Today's starting line-up v @LFC in @EmiratesFACup #LIVvWOL pic.twitter.com/QTsZR99tEn

WOLVES SUBS: Lonergan, Batth, Enobakhare, Ronan, Gibbs-White, Bodvarsson, Mason.

10.46am GMT

When this game was chosen for television coverage Liverpool were enduring a slight wobble in form but this still looked likely to be a fairly routine test. A couple of weeks and successive home defeats later it looks significantly more intriguing. “We go to win,” says Wolves gaffer Paul Lambert. “We’ll go for it. We’re not going to sit back. We’ll go for it, we’ll be competitive. If we sit back it’ll be a matter of time before Liverpool score. We have to have a plan to take them out their comfort zone.”

It’s 65 years since these teams last met in the FA Cup, which seems statistically improbable. Liverpool won that game 2-1, ending a run of one victory in 11 games against Wolves. It was watched by 61,905 people, still Anfield’s all-time record. There’ll be an attendance record of sorts set today as well: Wolves will be supported by some 8,300 fans, their second-highest travelling support since 1990 (though not quite as many as cheered them on when they played MK Dons in 2014). OK, it’s not such an impressive attendance record, but still.

Related: Southampton’s job well done on Liverpool leaves Klopp needing urgent response | Andy Hunter

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