Arne Slot began the week by saying that he found most Premier League games no longer a joy to watch.
The Liverpool boss certainly won’t have changed his mind after his side’s performance in their 2-1 defeat at bottom club Wolves.
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As Rob Edwards raced down the touchline in Jose Mourinho-esque fashion to celebrate Andre’s 94th-minute winner, Liverpool felt very different emotions. The sight of the away end at Molineux emptying before the final whistle summed it up.
Yet again this season, just when it seemed as if Liverpool were making progress, they suffered a brutal defeat.
Liverpool have nine league games left and right now, the possibility of missing out on next season’s Champions League is a genuine concern.
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The financial impact of that cannot be underestimated. Slot will know his side simply cannot afford to miss out.
On Tuesday, Liverpool failed to create enough and were punished defensively. And again, they conceded an injury-time winner.
For Slot, the concerns are only growing, even if he attempted to defend his side by saying that Wolves have hit form.
“How do I sum this up? Same old story,” said Slot after the game.
“My expectations have changed throughout the season because I expected more from us and what we are fighting for now. But it’s another setback and we didn’t help ourselves with this result, not at all.
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“That [dropping points] is a concern because it is not the first time we have dropped points against teams that are in these positions.
“But we are not the first team to drop points here, last week it was [Aston] Villa, the week before Arsenal. So they are having a good momentum.”
For a team historically known for scoring late winners, it has been a different story for Liverpool this season.
They have lost five Premier League games thanks to injury-time goals – the most ever by any team in a single campaign.
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“I think it is down to ourselves,” said captain Virgil van Dijk after the game. “It was slow, we were predictable, sloppy in possession and wrong decision-making. We didn’t concede chances but if you perform like that, then a result like this can be a result of that and that’s a fact. It was disappointing.”
‘Any time you beat them, you have to enjoy the moment’
Wolves have won their past two Premier League games, having managed just one victory in 32 before that [Getty Images]
Molineux has seen as many Premier League wins in the past five days as it had in the previous 10 months. But through its history, it can’t have seen many more dramatic than this.
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Make no mistake, Wolves were well worth the three points here. At 1-1, they pushed for a winner and got their reward, albeit with a slice of luck with the deflection off Joe Gomez.
“This is Liverpool Football Club – never mind this position you’re in, any time you beat them, you’ve got to enjoy the moment,” said Edwards.
“They’re an amazing football club with an amazing manager and loads of great players. So it was a big, big night for us.”
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The Wolves head coach joked afterwards that he had injured himself when sprinting down the touchline after his team’s late winner.
“What we’re trying to do is improve,” he added. “We’re trying to build some momentum. We know the position we’re in. I know I’ve lost myself in that moment there. People might think we’re bottom of the league but you saw the energy around this place. You have to enjoy it. We’re trying to turn things around.
“There is a belief that we are going in the right direction. Whatever happens until the end of that 38th game, we’ll just keep fighting.”
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With victories against Aston Villa and Liverpool in their past two Premier League games, Wolves are the first bottom-placed side to beat two teams in the top five in a single season since West Brom in 2017-18, and the first to ever do so in consecutive matches.
While Liverpool are fighting for Champions League football, Wolves are fighting against the impossible and sit 11 points from safety with eight games remaining.
This result, in all likelihood, will ultimately have no impact on their future in the Premier League, but Rodrigo Gomes, the scorer of their first goal on Tuesday, is keeping the faith.
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“We know we are in a tough position,” he told BBC Sport. “It’s very difficult but we need to keep believing. If it is possible, we need to keep believing.
“Now we need to work, game by game and not think ‘if we win this game or this game, we avoid relegation’. Game by game, working like this every week then maybe – we will see.”
As one Wolves fan told BBC Sport on his way out of Molineux: “It’s crazy how we are where we are in the table.”
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For a side and fanbase who have endured plenty this season, this was a night they will not forget in a hurry.
And they get the opportunity to try to do it all again when Liverpool return on Friday in the FA Cup.
