FA Cup

Glance at the front pages on any given day and it’s easy to surmise that the world is in a state of flux.

And yet some things never change.

As sure as spring follows winter, Wolves’ cup woes and Andre Marriner’s terrible officiating are something we can sadly all depend upon.  

And while Liverpool can count themselves fortunate to have made it to a replay, they needed no such luck tonight. 

This was undoubtedly our poorest showing since Lopetegui’s arrival, with Kelleher barely tested all evening. 

As was the case in last week’s League Cup exit, the manager made plenty of changes and it was thus unsurprising to see us make a disjointed start to proceedings. 

This was compounded by Elliott’s early strike, which Sa will surely be having nightmares about tonight. Why was he so far off his line?

Unsurprisingly, the goal seemed to rock our confidence, so credit ought to go to the players for not capitulating. 

The ability to stay in games has been a welcome characteristic of Lopetegui’s tenure thus far, and served us in good stead in the second half. 

Several tactical reshuffles and the introduction of Semedo, Cunha and Nunes gave us a stronger foothold on the game, with the visitors seemingly happy to play-act and waste time. 

It was frustrating (but not surprising) to see us fail to make this count, and the watching Sarabia will be under no illusions as to what he’s been brought in to do. Just a modicum of his goalscoring record at Sporting will serve us right. 

Ultimately, an already flat cup tie ended with a whimper and eyes will now solely be focused on the league. And perhaps, with our Premier League future far from being secure, that’s no bad thing. 

Rotten performances such as this can also help to temper expectations, with tonight providing a reminder that there is still plenty of deadwood in this squad. 

If Lopetegui can deliver on the early promise of his reign and keep us up, then he will hopefully be allowed to undertake the serious rebuilding job that is required. 

Until that has been done, dreams of a return to Wembley will have to continue to be consigned. 

Well, we were cheated.

I can’t draw any other conclusion having seen both their second goal and what should have been our third.

Salah is offside – plain and simple. There’s no first and second phase in that incident. Toti tries to head the ball because Salah runs in behind him from an offside position.

And then, as if by magic, no angle to prove Nunes was offside when it looked spurious at best on the scant footage that was offered.

Wolves should have won and on the overall balance of play would have been worthy winners.

The Guedes goal was a howler from Alisson but the high pressing had created openings before and after that moment.

Liverpool were on the ropes for the remainder of the first half and it took a horrible Nathan Collins shank to invite them back into the contest. The cross and finish were exceptional but it’s disastrous from our perspective.

After they went ahead with their first gift from the officials it did look like we might be edged out but there was a steady conveyor belt of breaks to offer hope.

The excellent Ait-Nouri was at the heart of things and looks reborn under Lopetegui and we can only hope his injury isn’t serious. Liverpool had no answer for his pace and trickery.

Hwang and Cunha kept the good feeling going by conjuring an equaliser and despite the game moving end to end, it was refreshingly Wolves that looked to be carrying the greater threat in attack.

That superiority should have paid off with Toti’s winner but instead we have to be content with a replay.

Hopefully that game will offer similar levels of encouragement, the same drama but significantly less bungling from those trusted to officiate.

I won’t hold my breath.