An impressive display from Wolves saw them brush aside a poor Liverpool side with ease, as the pressure continues to mount on Jurgen Klopp and his players.
Having suffered painful defeats, twice to Brighton and also Brentford on the road, Liverpool’s alarmingly bad form continued with yet another heavy loss on the road.
Major questions will continue to be asked until Klopp and his cohort can finally address this slump.
For Wolves, the victory gives them a crucial three points as they moved out of the drop zone, and returned to winning ways following a 3-0 defeat to Manchester City last time out.
First-half
The hosts began brightly as Hwang Hee-chan, slipped a nice ball through to new boy Pablo Sarabia, but the former PSG man dragged his effort wide.
But he made amends, as the Spaniard played a fancy one-two with Rúben Neves, before pinging a beautiful ball forward to Hee-chan.
The South Korean attempted to play the ball across goal, except defender Joel Matip stuck out a leg and the ball trickled onto the post and over the line past a scrambling Alisson.
It didn’t take goal-line technology to confirm the goal, and it epitomised Liverpool’s season as they again made the worst possible start.
And it got worse for the visitors, as they went 2-0 down within the first 12 minutes.
Matheus Cunha collected the ball from a Neves free-kick, before whipping in an inviting ball from the edge of the penalty sea.
The cross played havoc with the Liverpool defence as a poor header away from Joe Gomez and another error from Cody Gakpo, saw Craig Dawson slam the ball home on his debut, as he wheeled away in celebration.
Liverpool continued to look lost of all confidence and inspiration, but at last fashioned a chance as Thiago Alcântara found striker Darwin Núñez, with a delicate through ball.
But the Uruguayan’s effort was saved by the impressive José Sá.
Another chance came for the Reds, this time for Mohamed Salah, as Matip drove forward, before teeing up Naby Keïta, who laid the ball off his teammate, but the Egyptian curled his effort over the bar.
Wolves then turned defence into attack as full-back Rayan Aït-Nouri, swung a fine bouncing ball forward, which evaded Matip, as he was easily shrugged off the ball by Matheus Nunes.
And the reported Liverpool transfer target, grabbed the ball but his low drive was kept out by Alisson, as the shot-stopper continued to keep his team in the contest.
Klopp’s men headed into the interval behind by two goals, and needing a miracle and a huge turnaround if they were going to get anything out of this match.
Second-half
It actually looked like the boss had given some stern words to his players at half-time, as they attacked the Wolves box was purpose at the restart.
Gakpo, Andy Robertson and Núñez combined, as the 23-year-old zipped the ball across the penalty box, finding Keïta, but his low drive was blocked on the line by a wall of Wolves players.
Another opportunity came and went for the Reds, as Keïta volleyed the ball into the path of Salah, but he hoofed his shot well over the bar, as the once prolific striker continues to look out of form and lacking in confidence.
Dutchman Gakpo then laid another chance on a plate for Salah, but he dinked his effort wide, much to the frustration on his face.
Trent Alexander-Arnold then played a wonderful ball forward to Núñez, who chested the ball down but fired tamely straight at José Sá, who stood tall with a great save.
Wolves veteran João Moutinho then stole the ball in the middle of the park from youngster Stefan Bajčetić, before playing in Adama Traore, and the pacy frontman skipped away, before crossing to captain Rúben Neves, who slotted in to make it 3-0.
Game, Set and Match on the counter attack to Wolves and Liverpool were thoroughly put to the sword once again.
As the full-time whistle sounded, Klopp and his players, looking lost beyond all belief, must be wondering what they have to do to get their season back on track.
‘Absolutely horrible start’ – Klopp
After the game, the Kop boss gave his take on his side’s below par display.
“It was very frustrating and very disappointing. The start of the game was absolutely horrible, and the opposite of what we wanted to do,” he said.
“The first 12 minutes, 2-0 down, is absolutely never helpful, but especially in our situation. It is absolutely not allowed to happen.
“Then we started extremely well in the second half. The first 25/30 minutes was brilliant, a super away game without scoring, and then they scored the third goal from a counter-attack.
“We caused that misery in the first 12 minutes. It’s really tough to swallow,” said the German.
One reporter asked whether the team is making a consistent habit of starting games slowly, to which Klopp seemed to agree.
“That’s true, and we had this for the first part of the season, and now not so much anymore, but today was the pinnacle of our problems.
“You can criticise and judge us, you can say whatever you want and you are probably right – I have nothing to say against that because those 12 minutes were the worst for a while,” he said.
Another question came about why the poor form since the turn of the year.
“It’s really difficult to summarise. The team is not full of confidence, you can see that.
“But for defending, being compact, being active. Do you need a lot of confidence for that? I’m not so sure.
Analysis
Klopp has begun to go in harder on his players, and we’ve seen it not just with the post-match rhetoric, but also with his team selection, by dropping various big names.
Now the Merseyside derby a week on Monday becomes a crunch match.
Lose that, and the pressure on the Kop legend begins to increase exponentially.
Win, and it will certainly release some of the tension around the club.
Either way, let’s hope the outcome isn’t a false dawn but a chance to reignite their season.