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90 min +3: Gravenberch puts the ball in the net after one-twoing with Jones down the inside-right channel. But Jones was miles offside. Up goes the flag.
GOAL! Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-3 Liverpool (Hwang 90+1)
Wirtz steers a shot towards the bottom right. Johnstone gathers, and launches long. Hwang, making his run from inside his own half, steams down the inside-left channel and into the Liverpool box, drawing Alisson and slotting into the bottom right. No clean sheet for Liverpool, but a consolation for Wolves.
90 min: The resulting corner is half cleared. Gravenberch advances down the right and rolls infield for Konate, who can’t miss from six yards. He does, though. An air shot! He’s got the good grace to have a laugh at himself over the cock-up, which at least won’t cost his team anything. There will be four additional minutes.
89 min: Two big chances in a minute for Liverpool. First up Morrison slashes wildly over from 12 yards. Then Frimpong can only win a corner despite being free down the right, and with Jones available in the middle.
88 min: Hugo Bueno is replaced by Moller Wolfe. Meanwhile Falkirk have beaten Dundee United 2-1 in the Scottish Cup quarters, causing Simon McMahon to sigh: “I mean, I kinda expected this, but it’s Falkirk, and it’s really depressing. Hate football, love whisky.”
86 min: That’s the end of Gakpo for the evening. He’s replaced by 19-year-old winger Kieran Morrison.
84 min: Nyoni steals the ball off Mane in midfield and sends Gakpo off down the middle. Gakpo plays in Frimpong, in acres to his right, though the ball’s not accurately dispatched. Frimpong is forced to sort his feet out before whacking a shot straight at Johnstone. That was a situation that should really have led to a goal. Good work from the young midfielder Nyoni, though.
82 min: That wasn’t the best challenge by Hwang. Mac Allister is able to get up and walk off, though. He was apparently being replaced anyway. Nyoni comes on in his stead.
81 min: Mac Allister is caught late by Hwang’s studs-up lunge. VAR decides there’s nothing wrong with the challenge, but that was a sore one. The midfielder stays down. As the physios come on, Liverpool replace Van Dijk with Konate.
79 min: Bellegarde twists and turns, 25 yards from goal. He manages to work just enough space and time to shoot, but can’t get any power behind an effort that goes straight down Alisson’s throat.
77 min: The away fans are making all of the noise at Molineux. Tuesday night suddenly seems a lot longer than three days ago. Do Wolves have anything by way of response?
75 min: A double change for Wolves, as Hwang and Rodrigo Gomes come on for Arokodare and Toti. “I won’t lie,” confesses Matt Turner. “Seeing Robertson cross for Salah to blast home warmed the cockles of my 2019 heart.”
GOAL! Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-3 Liverpool (Jones 74)
Jones one-twos with Gravenberch down the inside-right channel. He drifts elegantly inside, before steering a low curler around Johnstone and into the bottom left. Game over, surely.
73 min: Liverpool with some patient possession. Then Jones springs into life down the right, and …
71 min: Szoboszlai is booked for delaying the restart. “Zac Sapsford has just hit the post for Dundee United from eight yards when it seemed easier to score,” reports Simon McMahon. “Fifteen cans minutes to go.”
69 min: That’s it for Ngumoha, who has shone tonight. Salah departs too, with a wry smile. A marked improvement on recent form tonight. The erstwhile Bayer Leverkusen duo Wirtz and Frimpong replace them.
67 min: Wolves clear the corner, but Szoboszlai finds Ngumoha down the left. A drop of the shoulder, then a forensic pass into the box for Gakpo, who spoils the effect by not expecting the ball to reach him. Ngumoha is making a serious claim for this left-hand berth. Gakpo, woefully out of form this season, should be worried.
66 min: Wolves haven’t really responded to that double whammy. Molineux is a little bit quiet as a result. Liverpool swarm forward again, Gakpo chasing after a long ball down the left and back-heeling to Robertson, who crosses long looking for Salah again. Toti is forced to knock behind for another Liverpool corner.
64 min: Robertson isn’t perfect, though, and his poor touch allows Bellegarde to bomb down the inside-right channel into acres of space. He rolls forward to Arokodare, who decides to trap, turn and shoot, all in one movement, from the edge of the box. He fails at the trap part, and that is that.
62 min: Wolves make the first change of the evening, replacing Angel Gomes with Armstrong. Meanwhile here’s Peter Oh: “Mo Salah delivering the goods should at least temporarily soothe any suspicions that he’s living in the heads of Liverpool fans - as well as in Ian Copestake’s flat - rent-free.”
61 min: Ngumoha jinks down the inside-left channel and curls a shot towards the far right. Saved. He comes again, this time aiming for the bottom left. Inches wide. What a talent this young man looks to be.
59 min: The resulting free kick is punched clear by Alisson. Mane tries to lob home from the edge of the D, but Gomez is covering on the line, and the ball sails over the bar anyway. “I still recall the talk of selling Andy Robertson to Spurs,” writes Colum Fordham. “Thank goodness Liverpool decided to keep this superb left-back. Good as the new signing Kerkez is, Robertson has guaranteed quality for years. And now a scintillating shot and a brilliant assist for Mo Salah. He’s a gem. I even chose number 26 for my amateur team in his honour.”
58 min: Mosquera is body-checked by Mac Allister. A garden-variety free kick. Mosquera leaps up and brandishes an imaginary card, and is lucky not to get a real one himself as a result.
57 min: Bellegarde tries a power curler towards the bottom left. Alisson is behind it all the way.
55 min: That’s one hell of a couple of minutes for Robertson. Scored one, set up another. “Never doubted Mo for a second,” quips Graeme Neill, of half-time postbag fame.
GOAL! Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Liverpool (Salah 53)
54 min: It’s close. Salah doesn’t think he’s offside. And VAR draws up the lines, spots Tchatchoua playing him on at the near stick, and it’s a quick-fire double for Liverpool!
53 min: Ngumoha slips Robertson into space down the left. Robertson fires a low ball through the six-yard box. Salah, racing in from the right, slams home from close range! But it’s not 0-2, because the flag goes up immediately for offside. However, VAR is going to take a look …
GOAL! Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 Liverpool (Robertson 51)
Salah draws four players towards him, by the right-hand side of the Wolves D. He looks to be going nowhere, but threads a ball infield to Jones, who shuttles it further across to Robertson. The left-back arrows a low diagonal drive across Johnstone and into the bottom right. What a strike!
50 min: … and this is better, Mosquera advancing down the right and looking for Santiago Bueno with a low ball to the near post. Van Dijk is caught snoozing, and is extremely fortunate that Bueno clanks wide right.
49 min: A period of seriously scrappy football, with neither side able to get their foot on the ball. No control. It’s not been a great game. But things sprang into life on Tuesday, eventually, and here’s to something happening again.
47 min: Gravenberch sends Salah scampering down the right. Salah wins a corner off Hugo Bueno and takes it himself. Arokodare clears it. The pattern of the majority of the first half almost immediately set again.
Wolves get the second half underway. No changes. “While you’re contractually obliged to remind everyone that Joe Gomez has never scored a goal in professional football, I think he’s contractually obliged to try whatever means he has to give the ball a welt any time he gets a sight on goal,” writes Amish Patel. “Can you imagine the talk at the Christmas lunch table in 10-20 years time?”
Half-time postbag. “It’s quite depressing watching Salah play for Liverpool, isn’t it? All he’s done for the past 45 minutes is stand around the far right of the pitch. No dynamism, no threat, no real desire to show he’s anywhere near the player he used to be. Instead a 17 year old on the other side of the pitch is being seen as the more productive option by his teammates” – Graeme Neill
“For those Liverpool fans wondering where the real Mo Salah has gone, I can provide an answer. He is renting out my Frankfurt gaff while I am in the UK. It might be that the chant is wrong and there really isn’t only one Mo Salah but it quite freaked me to see his name appear in my inbox” – Ian Copestake
“Liverpool are a bit like a cargo cult. They set up to look just like the real thing in the hope that real football might happen. But if you examine closely the moving parts are all made of bamboo and coconut shells” – Niall Mullen
“It’s a rare occasion when I have the opportunity to be disappointed by Wales and Liverpool at the same time. What a time to be alive, eh?” – Matt Dony (who is following the Six Nations on the MBM)
“GOAL UNITED!!! GET IN!!! IT’S ON!!!” – Simon McMahon, our self-appointed Falkirk v Dundee United correspondent (it’s 2-1 at the break in the Scottish Cup quarter-final)
HALF TIME: Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-0 Liverpool
Not a great deal of goalmouth action, one Rio Ngumoha hand-stinger apart. A reminder that this will go to extra time and penalties if required.
45 min +1: … but nothing comes of it. Arokodare heads it behind but Wolves get the goal kick, much to Van Dijk’s annoyance.
45 min: Mac Allister digs the ball out from under his feet and pings a shot of little backlift towards the bottom right. A slight deflection takes the ball wide. Salah will send in the corner …
43 min: Liverpool are seeing all of the ball. Wolves are holding their shape, though, and doing a good job of keeping the visitors at arm’s length.
41 min: Szoboszlai smacks the free kick straight into the wall. The ball breaks to Gravenberch, whose low drive is straight at Johnstone and easily swallowed.
40 min: Ngumoha slips a clever ball infield from the left touchline. Mac Allister takes up possession and is clumsily clattered by Joao Gomes. A free kick, 25 yards out, just to the left. Szoboszlai’s eyes light up.
38 min: … and now he’s unceremoniously shouldered off the pitch by Tchatchoua. Hard but fair. And it’s all good experience: the young winger has been Liverpool’s best player so far.
36 min: Ngumoha has his standing leg swept from under him by Joao Gomes, then as he falls, takes Tchatchoua’s knee in the back of his head. All of which sounds much more violent than it actually was, and it was all accidental, though you can understand Ngumoha’s irritation at not getting a free kick. A tough lesson at the school of hard knocks for the 17-year-old.
34 min: A loose ball breaks to Gomez, 25 yards out. He’s got to have a go, even though the ball is spinning like a top. He shanks it well wide left, and I’m now contractually obliged to remind you that he’s never scored a goal in professional football.
33 min: Robertson crosses dangerously from the left. The static Gakpo and Salah may as well not be there. Hugo Bueno clears.
