Wolves make much-changed Liverpool pay as Reds knocked out of FA Cup

Wolves have made Liverpool pay for naming a weakened side in their FA Cup third round clash at Molineux.

Nuno Espiritio Santo was rewarded for naming a strong side as Wolves ran out 2-1 winners to hand the Reds their second defeat in as many games.

The warning signs were there for Liverpool even before kick off, having not made it past the fourth round in each of the previous two seasons, which included a defeat to tonight’s opponents at Anfield two years ago.

AS IT HAPPENED: Wolves 2 Liverpool 1

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However, Jurgen Klopp opted to keep his powder dry, making nine changes and handing debuts to Rafa Camacho and Curtis Jones. Dejan Lovren and James Milner were the only survivors from Liverpool’s loss to Manchester City on Thursday.

Lovren then dealt Klopp a huge blow, only lasting five minutes before being forced off with an apparent hamstring injury as 16-year-old Ki-Jana Hoever replaced the Croatian and became Liverpool’s youngest ever FA Cup player.

Ki-Jana Hoever became Liverpool’s youngest ever FA Cup player when he played 85 minutes against WolvesLiverpool were desperately poor in the first half, having almost two-thirds possession but playing with no drive, no pace, and no intensity. Their only chance in a drab 45 minutes was Xherdan Sahqiri’s scuffed effort which flew well wide.

It was Wolves who opened the scoring with the only shot on target of the first half.

Diogo Jota pounced on James Milner’s mistake on the halfway line and his pass to Raul Jimenez took out last man Fabinho.

The Wolves striker ran half the length of the pitch unchallenged and Jimenez coolly slotted past Simon Mignolet to score with the only shot on target in the first half.

Liverpool improved marginally in the second half and equalised through the hitherto anonymous Divock Origi when a loose ball fell to him on the edge of the area. The winger was given time to move the ball to his left foot and fire a powerful shot beyond John Ruddy in goal.

However, Wolves would not be denied and they were back in front less than five minutes later.

Ruben Neves is renowned for his long-range goals and as he received the ball 30 yards out and the crowd urging him to shoot, he obliged, and sent a low, fizzing effort just inside Simon Mignolet’s right-hand post.

Klopp had finally seen enough and sent out the big guns, as Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino played out the final half hour.

Shaqiri was then millimetres away from sending the match to a replay when Ruddy somehow got his fingertips to the midfielder’s wicked freekick and touched the ball onto the inside of the post.

But if Klopp was hoping his changes would lead to a Liverpool response he would have been disappointed.

The Reds certainly improved with Salah and Firmino’s impact, however it was too little and too late as Wolves saw out the match with relative comfort and booked a spot in the fourth round.