Anxious Anfield brings a different Liverpool win to reveal vital quality | OneFootball

For the second time in five days, Liverpool entered stoppage time below their best but 2-1 up. The finish was different this time, and not merely because rather than losing his temper, Arne Slot gained a seven-point lead at the Premier League summit. On paper, a home win against relegation-threatened Wolves could rank as one of the least impressive victories of their season. As Anfield was engulfed in anxiety, Slot felt it ranked among their most important.

James Tarkowski’s 98th-minute equaliser for Everton, he felt, had the potential to cause further damage, to have a knock-on effect in a huge week. “I think you saw today that after us conceding the 2-1 that maybe for the first time this season were ‘Ooh,’” he said. “Conceding in the last minute against Everton was in our heads a bit. You know that moment can have impact for the next game and the games that are coming up.” Trips to Aston Villa and Manchester City loom next, and Liverpool needed to keep out the Wolves at the door. They did.

Slot’s message to his players was instructive. “I said this win is maybe a bigger accomplishment than beating Tottenham 4-0,” he said. Not in the quality of the football, but in the mentality. Because, amid what became a rearguard action, there was a historic first. In the second half, for the first time on record at Anfield in the league, Liverpool failed to register a shot of any kind. “It’s never the game plan, not to create anything at all,” said Slot.

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Slot was able to smile after the full-time fury of Wednesday’s derby at Goodison (Getty Images)

He listed the blows that could have derailed them: seeing a third goal, and a second for Mohamed Salah, disallowed, a penalty chalked off when referee Simon Hooper reviewed the incident and realised Emmanuel Agbadou didn’t foul Diogo Jota. Both, Slot was quick to add, correct calls but swiftly followed by Matheus Cunha’s goal for Wolves. “It asks a lot from your mentality,” said Slot.

Liverpool passed a test. It led to a result that can give a feeling of normality. It was Liverpool’s 15th win in their last 17 games at Anfield, a 16th in their last 17 league matches against Wolves, a 17th consecutive outing at home in which they scored at least twice. Multiple goals seem guaranteed in the price of the ticket, along with the probability Salah will get at least one, as he duly did.

For Liverpool, it was a game of two halves, with goals and supremacy in the first. They were propelled at the start by Luis Diaz. With Cody Gakpo injured and a doubt for Wednesday’s trip to Villa Park, the Colombian got his preferred role on the left wing and his first goal of 2025. It was scarcely his most stylish strike, but his dynamism led to Salah’s second.

His drought ended in unorthodox fashion. A first goal in 11 games came off his stomach, taking the ball past Jose Sa and over the line, following a swift break that involved all of the front three but which also required a little fortune. After receiving a cross-field ball from Diaz, Salah was looking for Jota. Instead, the ball looped up off Toti Gomes and onto Diaz.

The second was doubly frustrating for Wolves: Diaz nudged Agbadou in the back as he raced on to Alexis Mac Allister’s pass. His touch was sufficiently heavy that the ball was heading out of play. Yet Jose Sa injudiciously brought him down. Salah lifted the penalty into the roof of the net for his 28th goal of the season.

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Luis Diaz scored an unorthodox goal by chesting the ball past a lunging Jose Sa (Peter Byrne/PA Wire)

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Mo Salah converted from the penalty spot to double Liverpool's lead (REUTERS)

The third member of the attacking trident, Jota, began a league game for the first time since October and had a series of efforts, with Sa required to display some agility to stop his fellow Portuguese from angling a shot in at his near post. Jota was central, too, when Hooper first awarded a spot kick and then decided otherwise. He had a busy afternoon. After Slot’s dismissal at Goodison Park, this time the manager in trouble was Vitor Pereira, booked for dissent, to Anfield’s evident enjoyment and to his own bemusement. “I don’t know,” said the Portuguese. “Maybe because I am emotional. When I am competing, I am not watching a movie on the sofa.”

Other misdemeanours threatened to come at a greater cost. Ibrahima Konate, already booked for kicking the ball away, clattered into Matheus Cunha. “The second yellow card should be shown,” said Pereira. Instead, Agbadou was cautioned for his complaints that it wasn’t. Slot decided three sendings off in a week was enough for Liverpool and replaced Konate with Jarell Quansah at half-time. “I had to take him off because you can’t play football knowing in your head you can’t make a foul against such good players as Wolves have,” said Slot.

And Quansah made a vital 88th-minute block from the Wolves substitute Marshall Munetsi. The Zimbabwean formed part of a fightback, brought on with Jean-Ricner Bellegarde at half-time, but was denied a goal on his Premier League debut when released by his fellow substitute and Alisson illustrated that he can excel in one-on-one situations. The constant threat came from the talent of Cunha; close with a free kick in the first half, the Brazilian scored with a curler in the second. “A dangerman for them,” said Virgil van Dijk.

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Cunha gave Wolves hope with an excellent finish in front of the Kop (Getty Images)

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Quansah makes an important challenge to help see out victory for Liverpool (REUTERS)

Wolves became a dangerous team after Pereira’s intervention. “Wolves woke up at half time,” said the manager. “The first half was too much respect. The second half was fantastic. This is what I want to see in my team: the personality, courage and identity. We must play the first half as we played the second half.” And, in a demanding week, Liverpool need to show the spirit of the second but with the football of the first.