ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Wolverhampton 0 Liverpool 0:MANY MORE performances like this and Liverpool supporters could be forgiven for hoping Juventus step up their interest in Rafael Benitez. This was a dismal display that left Liverpool resembling a patient that had suffered a relapse after a brief period of recovery.
The momentum that had accompanied a run of 10 points from a possible 12 was lost on a night when Liverpool were grateful to be up against the Premier League’s most impotent forward line.
Wolves huffed and puffed but with only one striker in their starting XI and a lack of goals throughout the side, it was perhaps not surprising the home team were unable to capitalise on Liverpool’s lack of cohesion and general state of disarray. It was particularly alarming to see Steven Gerrard so subdued and the England international must have wished he had picked another occasion to return to the side. He had not been born when Liverpool last won here, in 1979, and that statistic was never under threat last night.
It was the 33rd minute before either side came close to scoring during a soporific half in which Mick McCarthy’s histrionics, when the Wolves manager gave Ronald Zubar, his own right-back, a ferocious rollicking, provided the most entertaining moment.
McCarthy was furious Zubar had brought a promising move to a premature end when he elected to kick the ball out of play after Maxi Rodriguez, who was making his full Liverpool debut, collapsed to the floor in a heap under a robust but arguably fair challenge from Karl Henry. The Wolves manager gestured wildly at Zubar and his ire will no doubt have been stoked further when the Liverpool winger made a swift recovery.
At least McCarthy could take comfort from the fact Liverpool’s football had done nothing to unnerve him. Benitez’s side looked bereft of ideas in an opening 45 minutes in which Gerrard, returning to the side 13 days after he damaged his hamstring against Reading, was a peripheral figure. There was no real pattern to Liverpool’s play and on the few occasions the ball was moved with purpose, a rat-a-tat of passes invariably culminated in no end product.
Wolves were hardly creating many openings themselves but at least Matt Jarvis provided some pace and penetration on the left flank. The winger had the beating of Jamie Carragher and twice left the right-back in his wake before the interval, delivering a deep cross that came to nothing early on before sliding another centre to the near post later in the half that Kevin Doyle stabbed wide.
The second chance, in the 42nd minute, saw Jarvis step inside Carragher onto his right foot before flighting a deep cross towards the far upright that Kevin Foley, looking every inch a defender playing in midfield, headed tamely at Pepe Reina. At the opposite end, Marcus Hahnemann did not have a serious save to make until three minutes after the restart, when he clawed Albert Riera’s left-foot volley from the edge of the area to safety.
Wolves started the second half in a much more positive mood, no doubt fuelled by McCarthy’s half-time team-talk, when it was easy to imagine the Yorkshireman muttering words to the effect of “they’re there for the taking”. Doyle threatened twice, firstly with a vicious shot from the edge of the area that fizzed over the crossbar and seconds later with a header that was too close to Reina.
Benitez’s side responded by summoning David Ngog from the substitutes’ bench, the young forward replacing the disappointing Riera. Liverpool remained vapid, however, and it was a measure of their growing frustration when Martin Skrtel clattered into Christophe Berra near the touchline, the central defender collecting a yellow card in the process.
Liverpool did manage to rouse in the closing stages but the Wolves goal was hardly subjected to an onslaught. Gerrard drilled wide in the closing seconds and the door was closed on another late chance when he took Dirk Kuyt’s diagonal ball down on his chest before Henry timed his intervention perfectly. It was that sort of night for the Liverpool captain and his team-mates who seem to be making habit of taking one step forward and two back this season.
Guardian Service
WOLVERHAMPTON:Hahnemann, Zubar, Craddock, Berra, Ward, Foley, Henry, Mancienne, Jarvis (Guedioura 88), Milijas (Jones 73), Doyle. Subs not used:Hennessey, Stearman, Vokes, Iwelumo, Mujangi Bia.
LIVERPOOL:Reina, Carragher, Skrtel, Kyrgiakos, Insua, Maxi, Mascherano, Lucas, Riera (Ngog 67), Gerrard, Kuyt. Subs not used:Cavalieri, Aquilani, Babel, Degen, Darby, Pacheco. Booked: Skrtel.
Referee: Peter Walton(Northamptonshire)
