Liverpool blend golden past with bright future in cathartic FA Cup win over Wolves | OneFootball

Twice in four days, Molineux has had first-hand evidence of Mohamed Salah’s decline. But twice, too, proof that even in his dotage Salah remains motivated by goals; that, when ageing legs can get him into the position, he can find the net. Liverpool have had a mixed week in Wolverhampton, but Salah, who has scored in a Premier League defeat and now an FA Cup win, has had a productive one.

The inconvenient reality may be that he was otherwise ineffective, but his 254th Liverpool goal took them a step closer to Wembley. For a player whose lone FA Cup final was curtailed by injury, there may be unfinished business in this competition.

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Mohamed Salah's hunger for goals remains undiminished (Peter Byrne/PA Wire)

And yet, if Liverpool were propelled into the quarter-finals by a veteran left-footer who may be in the last months of his time at Anfield, it was not Salah but Andy Robertson, just as their outstanding winger of the night was not the 33-year-old but the boy barely half his age: Rio Ngumoha.

Robertson has reacted better to his demotion this season than Salah did in the autumn. An Anfield great has been limited to five league starts. Unleashed in the FA Cup, he illustrated why he ranked among the finest attacking left-backs of his generation, delivering a goal and an assist in two minutes.

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Mohamed Salah (centre) grabbed Liverpool’s second (PA Wire)

When Liverpool required someone to unlock Wolves’ dogged defence, Robertson obliged. “If you talk about a goal and an assist, the first player you think about is probably not a full back,” said Arne Slot. Robertson got both within two minutes. “He loves the club,” added his manager. “In the one-and-a-half years I am here, he has given everything to the club.”

He formed part of a left-sided duo who could be characterised as the past and the future. He and Ngumoha combined in the build-up to Salah’s goal. The teenager was terrific, a blur of stepovers, in the biggest start of his fledgling career. It indicated that he will grace bigger occasions than this.

And Arne Slot could sense his changes worked. He brought four players into the starting 11. While Ngumoha starred, two others struck. Curtis Jones, who had scored in the fourth round against Brighton, curled in a shot from 20 yards for Liverpool’s third goal. Like Robertson, he finished with a goal and an assist.

For the team, there was a cathartic element to victory in the rematch with the Premier League’s bottom club. “We know we let ourselves down on Tuesday,” said Robertson. A first-half shot count of 11-0 in their favour showed intent, though it was goalless at the break. But Robertson’s subsequent intervention meant that, this time, Liverpool need not rue an injury-time goal at Molineux, though Hee-chan Hwang cost them a clean sheet and got Wolves goalkeeper Sam Johnstone a rare assist on a counter-attack.

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Rio Ngumoha dazzled at times for Liverpool (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

They began without £300m of attack-minded summer signings, with Alexander Isak still injured, Hugo Ekitike remaining unused on the bench and Florian Wirtz making his comeback as a substitute. If they were looking for individual inspiration, it came from an £8m bargain.

Robertson arrowed in a drive from 20 yards after Jones laid the ball off for him. The Scot had known little about his only other goal of the season, against Atletico Madrid in September, but this was the sweetest of strikes. “I couldn’t have hit it much better,” he said.

The quality in his left foot was apparent, too, with a deep, low cross that Salah swept in at the far post. He was adjudged offside, to his evident frustration, and could be pleased that VAR is a factor from the fifth round of the competition. “Mo is hardly ever offside, that is one of the most special things about him, so when the linesman raised his flag I was straight away questioning him,” said Slot.

Replays showed Salah was behind the ball when Robertson centred. After two goals in 15 Liverpool games, he has two in two. The Egyptian had been utterly unimpressive up to that point but, as on Tuesday, something stirred in him when the opportunity opened up and he finished off Wolves. “The most frustrating thing for me was the timing of the second goal. That was the killer,” lamented Wolves manager Rob Edwards.

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Hee-chan Hwang grabbed a late consolation for Wolves (Martin Rickett/PA Wire)

Jones then made victory so comfortable that Slot could do that rarest of things and substitute Virgil van Dijk. His replacement, Ibrahima Konate, somehow missed a chance to add a fourth goal. There might, too, have been one for Ngumoha, who had a shot parried after tricking his way past Jackson Tchatchoua, while another went just wide after a driving run. His willingness to run at defenders nevertheless added another dimension. Unsurprisingly, he looked fearless. He had in a midweek cameo, too. “In my opinion, he did better than three days ago because he kept the ball more,” said Slot. “It is up to him to bring this every time.”

He argued his side had delivered a second similar performance at Molineux. “Almost all things were the same from three days ago except we scored more,” he said. His opposite number disagreed. “Their intensity tonight was better,” Edwards said. “They showed a really elite level.”

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Arne Slot's Liverpool are into the last eight (AFP via Getty Images)

Which Liverpool may need if they reach Wembley. This is their best chance of a trophy this season, and it may be both Salah and Robertson’s last year on Merseyside. For each, there might be a silver lining.