By Football Talk.
Wolves 0 – 0 Liverpool
Match Report:
Liverpool fell further behind in the chase for 4th spot after drawing 0-0 in their Premier League clash with Wolves at Molineux on Tuesday night. The Reds were looking to close the gap on Manchester City and Tottenham, but with Spurs beating Fulham 2-0, Liverpool are now 3 points off that all important Champions League place.
Rafa Benitez selected an attacking line-up with captain Steven Gerrard and new loan signing Maxi Rodriguez supporting Dirk Kuyt in attack. It looked like this positive approach would pay off as Liverpool started the match brightly with Riera heading wide from a Gerrard corner and Kuyt having a long range effort blocked. But this proved to be a brief spell as Wolves came into the game and were creating chances of their own. The lively Doyle met a Jarvis cross at the front post but only managed to poke wide from 6 yards when he should really have tested the keeper. Jarvis was causing Liverpool problems and his cross was met by Foley who headed straight at Reina.
Half time and it remained 0-0 after a very scrappy first half with little quality on show. Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard was particularly quiet and looked like he was lacking match sharpness. Liverpool started the second half on the front foot and Riera tested Marcus Hahnemann from the edge of the box but the Wolves stopper was equal to it. As in the first half, Liverpool’s dominance was short lived and Wolves grew in confidence. Kevin Doyle had another chance to put Wolves ahead but he fired wide after finding space in the box.
Dirk Kuyt just missed the far post with a curling effort from the edge of the area as the game opened up. Doyle then missed his third chance of the game after evading Skrtel he only managed to drill his shot wide of the post. With 10 minutes remaining Liverpool pushed forward in search of the winner they desperately needed. But even skipper Steven Gerrard couldn’t find a way past the heroic Wolves defense and they held out for a rare clean sheet.
Mick McCarthy will be pleased with a valuable point against one of the Premier League’s big boys but Reds boss Rafa Benitez will against be disappointed by the lack of firepower Liverpool showed. As Champions League contenders Liverpool are expected to beat relegation candidates home and away, but this year they don’t seem to have the goals in them without Fernando Torres and a fully fit Steven Gerrard. With only a few days to go in the January transfer window, Liverpool fans will be hoping Rafa has something up his sleeve. Or they might just miss out on that all important 4th place.
What do you think, will Liverpool still get that 4th spot? Or do results like this show they are short of what it takes?
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