Jurgen Klopp bemoaned Liverpool’s sluggish first-half performance against Wolves but praised his side’s resilience as they battled back for a third win in five Premier League matches.
Wolves dominated the first half and deservedly opened the scoring when Hwang Hee-chan fired in at the far post after Pedro Neto’s excellent winger.
The Reds recovered strongly after the break and equalized when Cody Gakpo headed home Mohamed Salah’s cross.
Andy Robertson then celebrated his 200th Premier League appearance, putting the Reds in front for the first time in the 85th minute, before substitute Harvey Elliott’s shot was deflected into Hugo Bueno’s own net to seal victory in stoppage time.
The win lifts Klopp’s side into second place in the Premier League, two points behind leaders Manchester City. “It was like we met in the parking lot just before the game with the organization of the first half,” Klopp told TNT Sports. “The good thing is that it was so bad that we couldn’t play that bad in the second half.
“We changed the system and one player and we had a bit more natural pace up front. We controlled the game better.
– We have a good team, no doubt about that. We had an overwhelming bench today. But even with quality, you can play badly, that’s what we did in the first half.”
Liverpool offered little attacking threat in the first 45 minutes as their midfield was constantly pushed back and they went behind at the break.
Klopp brought on Luis Diaz for Alexis MacAllister’s subdued side at half-time before Elliott and Darwin Nunez 11 minutes after the restart.
The substitutes impressed as Liverpool went on target when Diaz narrowly missed Robertson’s flying cross just 90 seconds after coming on.
The Colombian was then involved in the equalizer when some good interplay on the edge of the box saw the ball finally find its way to Salah, whose cross was headed home by Gakpo. Nunez then put Liverpool ahead but his shot was blocked by goalkeeper Jose Sa and defender Max Kilman.
Wolves looked more and more at their feet, with the visitors most likely to win.
They duly did so with five minutes remaining when Robertson, captained without the suspended Virgil van Dijk, ran onto Salah’s pass and fired home from six yards.
Elliott grabbed the winner late on but was disallowed when his shot was deemed to have deflected Bueno enough to go into the Wolves defender’s own goal.
Wolves manager Gary O’Neill has reason to be optimistic despite a fourth defeat in five games this season, leaving the Black Country near the foot of the Premier League.
“To compete with Liverpool we have to compete above our level. We did that for 45 minutes and then maybe conceded the odd kick in the second half,” O’Neil told BBC Matchday.
“It looks like a nice win for Liverpool, but it wasn’t pretty for most of the afternoon.”
The home side played superbly in the first half, with midfielders Joao Gomes and Mario Lemina picking out Liverpool players and feeding debutant Jeanricner Bellegarde and Neto to launch quick counter-attacks.
Neto, in particular, was superb and opened the scoring, beating three Liverpool players and racing into the area before slotting past goalscorer Hwang.
Another dazzling play on the wing saw him nutmeg Joe Gomez and deliver an inviting cross to Matheus Cunha who skipped wide of the goal. Cunha was left to rue the miss as Wolves faded against a resurgent Liverpool in the second half as he failed to get a shot on target.
Next weekend’s trip to fellow strugglers Luton already looks set to be a pivotal encounter.
