Our 3️⃣ points as Liverpool plunged into crisis by Wolves | OneFootball

Liverpool’s wait for a first Premier League win of 2023 went on as Wolves moved out of the drop zone with a deserved 3-0 hammering of the struggling Reds.

This is what we made of it.

Full-blown crisis

If there were any doubts before given Liverpool’s disastrous recent form, there isn’t anymore.

It is crisis mode time at Anfield.

“We better change. I have no words for it really,” a shellshocked Jürgen Klopp said afterwards. “I’m sorry.”

These results can happen occasionally to the best of them and you need only look at what happened across Stanley Park earlier on Saturday as proof of that – with Everton picking up a first win since October against league leaders Arsenal.

But in 2023, the Reds have already been beaten 3-1 by Brentford (and that scoreline flattered them in the extreme), 3-0 by Brighton and now another 3-0 loss against Wolves.

That is a Wolves side who began the weekend in the relegation zone too and were full value for this win, taking advantage of Liverpool’s fragility at the back and wastefulness in attack.

The investment needed in January wasn’t made and the ones they did make haven’t hit the ground running as so many recent arrivals have, with Cody Gakpo looking unsure of himself at the moment.

But despite those failings, these results should not be happening with such worrying regularity.

A win worth waiting for

Prior to this one, Wolves last defeated Liverpool in the league in 2010 and since then, lost 11 on the spin against the Reds.

But they brought an end to that miserable run in style, putting the visitors under pressure from the opening whistle, making them continually uncomfortable by turning to face their own goal and bullying them in the physical battle.

Lopetegui’s change to a 4-4-2 and everything went as planned for him, right down to debutant Craig Dawson (one of two along with Pablo Sarabia) doubling their lead in the early going.

Rúben Neves had plenty of options and willing runners every time he received the ball and capped off his own excellent outing at the heart of the action by timing a penalty box run perfectly to finish off Adama Traoré’s pass.

With this kind of performance and some exciting players to return to the fold from injury in addition to new arrivals, any relegation fears can be allayed under Lopetegui.

They’re now two points clear but they’re only going in one direction.

Slow starters

Once again, Liverpool’s sluggish start to a game has proven very costly.

No team has conceded more in the opening five minutes of games and that unwanted trend continued when Joël Matip put through his own goal from Hwang Hee-chan’s cross.

Their minds didn’t seem to have left the Molineux dressing room quite yet when this one got underway and they were quickly punished for it.

It is one of many pressing issues Klopp has to resolve and he admitted afterwards that it is taking priority.

“The start of the game was horrible. It was our worst 12 minutes in a while,” he admitted. “There’s no excuse for that start. I can’t explain it. It is the opposite of what we want to do.”

He now has nine days to find a fix ahead of hosting Everton in a mouthwatering Merseyside derby.