Kenny Dalglish gained his first win back in charge of Liverpool with an emphatic 3-0 victory over Wolves.
Dalglish gets his first win in style at Molineux
Kenny Dalglish gained his first win back in charge of Liverpool as they romped to an emphatic 3-0 victory over Wolves at Molineux on Saturday.
Fernando Torres grabbed a double and the excellent Raul Meireles scored to cap only the Reds' third away win of the last 13 months and give a much-needed lift to the out-of-form club.
It was a victory deserved for Dalglish's side, who passed and countered to great effect, with Torres and Meireles constantly involved and working hard to stifle Wolves in midfield.
Wolves battled hard throughout, but it was the most accomplished performance of the season from their opponents, who showed signs of the team that used to win these kind of games with consummate ease.
The match started in positive fashion by Wolves, who were looking to pressure the Reds' fragile defence by pumping some high balls into the box on a very sticky Molineux surface.
Christian Poulsen then had to make sure he was careful throughout after going into the book just four minutes in after fouling Stephen Ward.
The pressure Wolves exerted in those opening minutes appeared to die down a little however, and Liverpool managed to retain the ball better.
This ball retention led to the first chance, with Poulsen shooting low into the legs of Christophe Berra after a fine run from Lucas saw him ghost into the box to put in a low cross to the Dane.
Liverpool's defence still looked on the shaky side, with the out-of-form Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger miscontrolling the ball and misplacing headers on occasion, despite the home side not showing too much threat in the opening quarter.
Meireles and Lucas were looking dangerous, taking advantage of space between the full-backs and midfield to make runs forward to support Fernando Torres.
And Meireles was on hand to create another good opening for the visitors as he fed Torres with a wonderful 30 yard pass; the Spaniard nicking the ball past Stearman to get a curling shot away, but Wayne Hennessey read his intentions and parried the ball out of danger.
Wolves were making little headway going forward, with Nenad Milijas sending a decent looking free-kick well over the bar, but Kevin Doyle and Steven Fletcher were working hard to create an opening.
Influential
Liverpool were warming to the task more, with the influential Meireles firing wide on the half-volley from outside the area and Rodriguez being fed by Johnson to shoot low into the hands of Hennessey.
And sure enough, it was Liverpool who got the breakthrough they deserved, with Meireles making another run that was becoming a trademark of his afternoon from Poulsen's slide-rule pass to feed Torres to slot comfortably home with 36 minutes gone.
It was poor defending by Wolves, with Ronald Zubar failing to push up and playing the Portuguese midfielder correctly onside in an area the home team were struggling with.
Wolves now needed to mount a comeback, and Fletcher got in their first effort of the afternoon with almost 40 minutes on the clock with a shot from the edge of the box straight at Pepe Reina.
Milijas had a great chance to level things on the half-time mark as he found himself completely unmarked at the back post from a Hunt free-kick, but Reina managed to snuff out the danger and the Reds went in at the break a goal to the good.
The start of the second half was always going to be interesting, with Liverpool's brittle confidence always on the agenda following their collapse after half-time against Everton in the previous week.
Wolves started it looking threatening, with Matt Jarvis managing to squeeze in a cross just in front of Fletcher to allow Reina to gather.
Stunning
But Liverpool were desperate not to let that happen, and it was to get better for them as Meireles netted a stunning strike just as good as his effort against Everton four minutes into the second half.
Wolves had already been threatened as Kuyt burst through to hit the ball straight at Hennessey, but there was nothing the Welshman could have done about the midfielder's volley that sailed perfectly over him straight into the bottom left corner from some 25 yards.
But the home side began to respond, with the Reds conceding some silly free-kicks and inviting pressure on to them.
A series of corners and dangerous play from Jarvis was cranking up the heat on the visitors' backline, but as the game reached the hour mark Liverpool were still two goals to the good.
Fletcher then pounced on a sloppy touch by Skrtel on the edge of the box to fire in a curling shot, but Reina just managed to deal with the awkward strike by parrying it and pouncing on the ball afterwards.
The Reds had a chance to wrap it up with 17 minutes remaining as they broke to great effect once again for Meireles to feed substitute Jonjo Shelvey to score with his first touch, but he could only half-volley the ball wide.
Wolves substitute and Liverpool old-boy Adam Hammill then had a good opportunity as Fletcher fed him in the middle of the box, but he too fluffed his lines and missed out on a clean hit to allow Liverpool to clear.
But in the dying moments as the clock turned to 90 minutes, Liverpool kept possession with a great 30 pass move to allow Kuyt to run through and knock the ball across for Torres to grab his second by smashing into the top of an empty Wolves net.
| Wolverhampton Wanderers |
Team Statistics |
Liverpool |
| 0 |
Goals |
3 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
1 |
| 3 |
Shots on Target |
9 |
| 8 |
Shots off Target |
5 |
| 2 |
Blocked Shots |
2 |
| 5 |
Corners |
4 |
| 6 |
Fouls |
18 |
| 3 |
Offsides |
2 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
3 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 70.1 |
Passing Success |
67.7 |
| 19 |
Tackles |
21 |
| 63.2 |
Tackles Success |
76.2 |
| 59.2 |
Possession |
40.8 |
| 66 |
Territorial Advantage |
34 |
|
