Slot laments ‘Same Old Story’ after late Wolves defeat

Liverpool manager Arne Slot expressed frustration over his side’s familiar struggles after bottom-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers secured a dramatic 2-1 victory at Molineux with a deflected stoppage-time goal that extended a troubling pattern for the Reds.

“Same old story,” Slot told reporters after the match. “Recently, we are picking up points because many times we’ve scored from set-pieces, but what did not change in the last five, six or seven games is that we struggle and find it very hard to score from the open-play chances that we do create”.

The defeat came in painful fashion when Andre’s shot deflected off Joe Gomez in the 94th minute, securing all three points for the hosts and marking a record-breaking fifth winning goal conceded by Liverpool during stoppage time this season—the most ever by a team in a single Premier League campaign.

Rodrigo Gomes broke the deadlock in the 78th minute before Mohamed Salah quickly equalised, striking to end his run of games without a goal. The Egyptian forward’s first Premier League goal in 122 days appeared to have rescued Liverpool, but Wolves had other ideas.

“We’ve had enough chances to win the game. But credit to Wolves as well, they fought from the first second until the end and got, maybe, a little bit of luck, what they deserved if you look at how much they put in throughout the whole game,” Slot acknowledged.

The loss represented a significant blow to Liverpool’s Champions League aspirations. A victory at Molineux would have elevated Liverpool level on 51 points with Manchester United and Aston Villa, who occupy third and fourth place respectively. Instead, they remain stuck in fifth position.

Slot admitted his team’s performance fell short, saying: “If we don’t want to rely on a deflected shot, we need to do better, we have to play better”.

“From open play, we struggle to score,” Slot continued. “Today, again, we had a lot of set-pieces. First half, very poor taking. A bit similar to how we played. I don’t think we played a very good first half”.

For Wolves, the victory represents their second triumph in just five days following Friday’s win over Aston Villa and marks only their third league win of the entire campaign.

The teams face each other again on Friday at Molineux in the FA Cup fifth round, with Liverpool hoping to avoid another late collapse against opponents now brimming with confidence after their unlikely double over higher-ranked opposition.