Molyneux has been a ground I've wanted to visit for a while. I had missed out on our trip their a few years back when we played them in a Friendly, and being young (ish), I've never had the opportunity to see us play them in a League game.
So when they were promoted I felt quite pleased, especially as they'd beaten Sheffield United in the play off final and left Neil Warnock fuming. Of course we shouldn't have played them on Wednesday though, the original game had been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. So we left Liverpool praying the weather wouldn't mess things up again.
The Wolves fans were naturally in buoyant mood after their weekend win over United. I thought however this would work to our advantage. Every year one of the promoted teams grabs a 1-0 win over one of the big teams – in recent years we've been the victims. Watford, Bradford and Ipswich being just three recent examples. I could name more no doubt, but let's not dwell on them. I just hoped the shock win of the season had happened and we wouldn't be the victims.
The Wolves players were also given a major confidence boost, they probably felt invincible on Saturday night, and why not? So surely a side like us would go there and batter them and bring them back down to earth… Or maybe Houllier would use their result on Saturday as an excuse to send the team out with our old negative tactics?
Would he 'big up' the opposition beforehand as he often does so as to soften the blow of defeat or basque in the glory of beating a good side?
The way the side lined up suggested we'd take the game to them. Boosted by the return of our two best full backs, and for the first time Owen, Gerrard, Kewell and Hamann all started a competitive game together. Cheyrou was given another chance to shine and the manager kept faith in Biscan. On paper we had 11 players who all had international experience. Yes, even Cheyrou has played for France!
The bench however didn't offer us much of a plan B should it be needed. Made up of Jones (who I felt had been unlucky to lose his place to Dudek), Riise (The bench being the best place for him), Murphy, Le Tallec and Henchoz.
Molyneux is a decent stadium. Situated in the city centre meant it was easy enough to find, though there wasn't much time to sample the local alehouses. Shame really, as walking through town the locals seemed like such a nice bunch… In fact, you'd never have guessed they had recently been in the Nationwide league!
I'm sure Burberry have scrapped any plans they had of being a reputable fashion brand, and concentrated on ensuring every male in Cardiff, the Midlands and Sheffield are decked from head to toe in their check. To coin a phrase, "its like shit in a field".
Their nationwide-ness was emphasised once we took our seats inside the ground. We were treated with the usual repertoire of songs. Though to their credit, the Wolves fans made a lot of noise. I don't know whether it's down to wearing a Burberry cap, but I'm sure there's a correlation between them and loud supporters. (Maybe the opposite happens with Jester hats, which would explain the poor atmosphere at Anfield?).
In the last 12 months we've played Sheffield United, Birmingham and Wolves away, and at each ground the noise level was pretty impressive and at each ground the atmosphere was quite hostile and intimidating. Some of our lot may argue that the songs they sing lack any originality, but I don't think anyone can fault their commitment.
This is also considering that these clubs don't play in particularly big stadiums. Is there a link between the number of young local supporters and the atmosphere? I won't go into that one, it could get messy.
The game itself was tight. Wolves seemed keen to sit back and hit us on the break in the first half. Alex Rae and Paul Ince were excellent for them. Constantly battling and getting stuck in. Stevie Gerrard was more than equal to them however.
We were restricted to only a few half chances and Michael Oakes in the Wolves goal was rarely tested. Then just a few minutes before half time we broke forward and Cheyrou finished well after a decent move. The goal wasn't the only good thing Cheyrou did in the game either.
I don't actually remember seeing him at Stamford Bridge apart from the goal, and it was a similar story on Wednesday, but to his credit he managed to get Ince booked with a superb dive. He didn't con me, but the Ref fell for it. I hate cheating, but because it was Ince, I'll make an exception here.
That goal came at a good time, Wolves would have been delighted to go in with the game goalless. But scoring at the time we did would give us the edge and we would go into the break with our heads held high. In the second half we could take the game to Wolves and finish them off.
Sadly that wasn't to be the case. In fact the performance in the second half was depressing. This should be the season where we move on from defensive football. To me, there is no excuse for going to Wolves and being prepared to sit on a one goal lead. In fairness to Gerard Houllier, Wolves were always going to come out looking for an equaliser, but I felt we let them come at us.
I'm all for defending a 1-0 lead, but under the theory – sorry, fact – that attack is the best form of defence.
Henchoz had come on for the shaky Biscan at half time, and with a back four of Finnan, Hyypia, Henchoz and Carragher I felt confident that we could go forward and get a second with a safe backline to rely on. Instead Michael was left up front on his own. Emile adopted his position on the right side of the half way line, just in front of the dug out.
The most frustrating thing was seeing high ball after high ball being hit up towards Owen. He doesn't stand a chance against defenders twice the size of him. And even if he did win the ball, there was nobody up with him.
We rarely broke forward in the second half. Gerrard forced Oakes into a good save from long range and Murphy later on missed two good chances, but we never made Wolves' defence really have to work.
Heskey managed to put in his attacking contribution around the 70 minute mark, then he disappeared again. Although he did rescue us with some good defensive headed clearances, but when was the last time you saw Crespo, Van Cheatelrooy or Henry back in their own box? And even when Emile broke forward, there was no support.
Wolves, roared on by the standing masses behind Michael Oakes' goal kept going forward, and were almost rewarded with a goal. But the unmarked Steffen Iversen fluffed his lines and let us off the hook. Jerzy Dudek then almost gifted Wolves a goal after making a real mess of a cross.
The way we sat back it seemed inevitable that we would concede. I just do not see how a side can sit back on a one goal lead at a place like Wolves. The game at Chelsea should have been a one off. I have no objection with us going to good sides and keeping it tight, but its always going to be a risk.
More often than not, a side with these tactics will get away with it, but there will be times when it doesn't work. A side looking to get to even fourth place, shouldn't have to rely on a bit of luck and hard work to get there. So when Kenny Miller fired home with only minutes left on the clock, I didn't feel any emotion. I was expecting it to happen.
You know things are bad when you aren't surprised to have dropped points against relegation fodder. Houllier said the players lost their cool, maybe he's right. Maybe he also forced them into having to defend? The incident with Ince threatened to wake up the away following, but sadly we didn't get to see anything more than handbags. Shame, I would have loved to have seen Ince and Gerrard have a scrap.
What do you mean theres no place for fighting on the pitch? Fuck off! There’s always a place for a bit of passion. While I'm at it, Irwin deserved a smack as well. Persisitent fouling on Owen and Kewell was getting very annoying, what was worse was that he moaned to the ref after he gave a freekick when Iriwn chopped Kewell in half (well, almost).
But the travelling Kop had been left disappointed again. One point out of two away games where we should have got six. Perhaps the current mood was summed up by the extremely quiet away following. It's hard to motivate yourself to have a good singsong when the football is about as inspiring as a Steve McClaren team talk.
Even when the away fans were allowed to stand up. I was very surprised to see the stewards do nothing to stop us standing up, though their leniency was welcomed. The Wolves faithful behind the goal to our left (Their Kop if you like) were also allowed to stand for the full 90. I wonder if their local council have threatened them with closing part of their ground as punishment for persistent standing? Where's the consistency?
Before the game, I was more concerned at how we would approach the game. Up until we scored I was quite pleased. But it was really disappointing to see us sit back in the second half. We really should have moved on by now.
Sadly I think we're in for more of the same between now and the end of the season. Our next away game is at Bolton, so it was also worrying to hear on the way home, that they'd torn apart Aston Villa at the Reebok…
The journey home also gave us the chance to have a listen (and a laugh) at 606. There was the usual number of whingeing Liverpool supporters, most of them had good reason to whinge, but one call was quite concerning.
Someone apparently believes a protest against Gerard Houllier should be staged on Saturday and for the game against the mongrels. I'm not happy with him in charge, and I wouldn't shed a tear if he left tomorrow, but the thought of there being a protest at Anfield really saddens me.
I always thought we were better than this kind of thing. People have a right to have their say, and maybe Gerard needs to see first hand what the fans think of our current plight. He clearly doesn't care about the supporters who voice their opinion in the papers and on the radio, what would he think if he saw his supporters voicing their displeasure at a game?
I'm sure though, the board know how we feel. A protest or a demo is one thing, but if it were to happen against the Blueshite it would only benefit them and the vultures in the media. It would be embarrassing and just what the whole country wants to see.
Houllier came out after the game and said we could have won 4-2. He's right we could have, but we didn't. Shoulda woulda coulda, ifs and buts. It's all getting a bit boring Gerard, and I don't just mean your endless list of excuses.
Time for a change.
