Wolves leave Liverpool sore but their woes go beyond one cruel moment

For the second time in four days, Rob Edwards set off down the touchline in manic celebration. Wolves , as their fans had chorused, are bound for the Championship, but on the way they are bloodying the noses of those with ambitions of Champions League qualification. First Aston Villa and now Liverpool have fallen at Molineux .

A night when the champions could have gone third instead ended with the greater possibility this season will end in failure. There was a familiarity to the finale. Liverpool have only lost three times in 22 games but all three have come with a goal in added time, whether to Bournemouth, Manchester City or now Wolves. Liverpool could call it cruel, when the decider needed a deflection, when they had hit the woodwork twice, but another late show calls into question their game management.

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They paid a price for a sluggish start. Even as they picked up the pace, even as Mohamed Salah ended a Premier League goal drought that had extended over four months, even though Wolves did not attempt a shot of any kind until their opening goal, Liverpool arguably did too little over the course of a match that was three-quarters forgettable fare, one quarter outstanding entertainment.

Or it was for Wolves, anyway. They began compact and organised, four central midfielders and three centre-backs forming a solid block. They ended more attacking, Edwards making influential substitutes.

Two combined for the breakthrough with a second goal in as many games for the man who finished off Aston Villa. Rodrigo Gomes had only been on the pitch for eight minutes when he struck. A fellow substitute, Tolu Arokodare, was too strong for Virgil van Dijk, turning him and supplying on the on-rushing Gomes to dink a shot over Alisson.

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After Salah levelled, as Liverpool committed men forward in the search for a winner, so did Wolves. After Alisson’s poor kick, Andre’s shot looped up off Joe Gomez and left the goalkeeper helpless. Wolves, the team with a Gomes quartet, got the decisive touch from a Gomez.

And Liverpool are left to consider the prospect their struggles against their inferiors will cost them a top-five finish. They have lost to Nottingham Forest and Wolves this season, drawn with Burnley and Leeds. Some 12 points have escaped their grasped in those games.

When it seemed they had salvaged something at Molineux, it was when Salah briefly turned back time. There are times, even when their powers are waning, when the greats can summon a little of their old selves. For Mohamed Salah, this had seemed a night that offered proof of decline. His touch had betrayed him, his legs seemed incapable of generating enough speed, his goal drought looked certain to continue.

Then, instead of the failings of the ageing Salah, there was a flash of the old Salah. The drive to dart into space, the finish that was almost improvised, flicked with the outside of his left foot. Jose Sa got his left hand to it, but the ball nestled in the net. Salah’s 253rd Liverpool goal was his first in the Premier League since November.

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Perhaps, though, it summed up the current Salah that it did not prevent defeat. Liverpool had struck the woodwork twice, in distinctly different fashion. A couple of minutes before Salah struck, Rio Ngumoha’s low shot was brilliantly turned on to the post by Sa. Just after half-time, a combination of Curtis Jones’ shoulder and Cody Gakpo’s boot turned the ball on the bar after Hugo Ekitike had flicked on Salah’s corner. After three goals from set-pieces against West Ham on Saturday, Liverpool ought to have had another.

But they mustered too little in open play. This was a game that was crying out for Ngumoha long before his introduction, though, at 64 minutes, it was the earliest he had come on in the Premier League. Ekitike offered some speedy solo runs but Liverpool had precious little else in attack, with Salah and Gakpo labouring. Jones had been brought on in an enforced substitution because Ryan Gravenberch seemed a foul away from a red card. It was a second consecutive away game when the entire team began poorly. They lacked inspiration and impetus. As at Forest, they displayed more urgency after the break.

But not much creativity. Liverpool missed Florian Wirtz . It is harder to say they missed Alexander Isak as they have never really had him; or not the Isak they thought they were buying, anyway. For a moment, they got the old Salah back. Even that was not enough, though, and after one win all season, Wolves have two in a week. This has been a hugely impressive turnaround from Edwards, but it leaves Liverpool imperilled.