Liverpool show fighting spirit again as they secure comeback win at Wolves

Reds manager Jurgen Klopp admits they 'had to change everything' in second half to seal 3-1 victory

Andrew Robertson, right, celebrates with Mohamed Salah after scoring Liverpool's second goal in their 3-1 Premier League win over Wolves at Molineux on September 16, 2023. AP

Andrew Robertson scores for Liverpool. Getty

Wolves attacker Hwang Hee-chan celebrates with teammates after his early goal. AP

Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister is given a yellow card for pulling back Matheus Cunha of Wolves. AFP

Hwang Hee-chan scores for Wolves. Reuters

Harvey Elliott celebrates after scoring Liverpool's third goal. Getty

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp. AP

Liverpool's Cody Gakpo celebrates after making it 1-1. Getty

Wolves winger Pedro Neto jumps for a header. AP

Liverpool attacker Mohamed Salah. Reuters

Wolves attacker Hwang Hee-chan celebrates after scoring. AFP

Wolves' Matheus Cunha misses a great chance to make it 2-0 in first half. AFP

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah supllies the pass for Cody Gakpo's goal. Getty

Liverpool recovered from a woeful first-half performance as they fought back from a goal down to beat Wolves 3-1 at Molineux on Saturday.

Jurgen Klopp's side were well off the pace in the opening half as Wolves dominated from start to finish with Hwang Hee-Chan firing home at the far post ion the seventh minute after some excellent wing play by Pedro Neto.

They should have gone two-goals up when the excellent Neto skinned Joe Gomez down the left before picking out Matheus Cunha, only for the Brazilian to mistime his jump with the goal at his mercy and the chance went begging.

It would prove a costly miss as Klopp brought on Luis Diaz for the out-of-touch Alexis Mac Allister at half time, then Harvey Elliott and Darwin Nunez 11 minutes after the restart.

The impact of all three was crucial to the turnaround as Cody Gakpo brought Liverpool level in the 55th minute when he tapped home Mohamed Salah's brilliant low cross.

Nunez went close to putting Liverpool in front but Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa spread himself well to smither the shot.

Liverpool continued to dominate bue it was not until five minutes from time that the Merseysiders took the lead.

Salah was again involved as he rolled the ball to Andrew Robertson – captain in the absence of the suspended Virgil van Dijk – who side-footed home.

Substitute Harvey Elliott sealed the win in injury-time but was denied the goal when his shot – after Salah again turned provider – took a big deflection off Hugo Bueno to go down as an own goal by the Wolves defender.

The win came hot on the heels of Liverpool's late victory at Newcastle United last month when two late Nunez goals earned the Reds – down to 10 men after Van Dijk's red card – an unlikely 2-1 win.

They also fell one goal behind at home to Bourmeouth before running out 3-1 winners.

“We have to play better than we did in the first-half,” admitted Klopp after the match. “We did in the second which was the best moment to react. In the first half we had some problems physically, we weren't sharp, we weren't right.

“We tried to find out who's ready [after the international break] and it was not a perfect choice. The best news was it was over and I thought we cannot play worse. That's why we changed pretty much everything in the second-half, tactically and physically.

“Second-half we controlled it completely and it was a really good game then. We deserved to win in the end that's clear. We scored the equaliser, kept controlling, kept trying and won the game which was massive for us.”

The win took Liverpool temporarily top of the table ahead of Manchester City's game against West Ham United later on Saturday.

As for Wolves, it was a frustrating day as they fell to a fourth defeat in five games.

“We had some good opportunities, created some great chances,” said manager Gary O'Neil. “They were big chances as well. You know with the players they have, and to bring on, you may rue those chances.

“Then we conceded from a situation we created ourselves. For us to compete with Liverpool we have to compete above our level. We did that for 45 minutes and then maybe threw the odd punch in the second half. The second goal for Liverpool came out of nowhere.

“I didn't think our goalkeeper made too many saves. It looks like a comfortable win for Liverpool but it wasn't comfortable for most of the afternoon. Liverpool is not the measure of where we are at and now we have to go again next week.”