Wolverhampton Wanderers' Welsh head coach Rob Edwards gestures to fans on the pitch after the English FA Cup fifth round football match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Liverpool at the Molineux stadium in Wolverhampton, central England on March 6, 2026. Liverpool won the game 3-1. (Photo by Darren Staples / AFP via Getty Imagesplaceholder image
Wolverhampton Wanderers' Welsh head coach Rob Edwards gestures to fans on the pitch after the English FA Cup fifth round football match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Liverpool at the Molineux stadium in Wolverhampton, central England on March 6, 2026. Liverpool won the game 3-1. (Photo by Darren Staples / AFP via Getty Images | AFP via Getty Images
Liverpool earned a 3-1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup fifth round.
Rob Edwards admitted that Wolverhampton Wanderers couldn’t match Liverpool’s intensity as his side crashed out of the FA Cup.
The Reds earned revenge on Wolves with a 3-1 fifth-round victory at Molineux - having suffered a 2-1 loss in the Premier League three days earlier.
The first half was similar to the league encounter and ended goalless. But Liverpool raised their standards markedly in the second period, with Andy Robertson, Mo Salah and Curtis Jones on target to put Arne Slot’s side in the quarter-finals.
Hwang Hee-chan did net a stoppage-time consolation goal for Wolves but the Reds were deserved winners. And a magnanimous Edwards confessed that Liverpool’s ‘elite counter-pressing’ was the chief reason why they won the tie.
The Wolves head coach said in his post-match press conference: “Not a tough one to take, the better team won. They were really good and it was hard for us. I’ve got no qualms or excuses, their level was excellent and they deserved to win. We tried to stay in it and at half-time, we were relatively happy. The most frustrating thing for me was the timing of the second goal and the kick-off. That was the killer. At 1-0, we’re still in the game and at the end, we get the goal but the game was done. We needed to remain in it longer. That second one was frustrating, that’s the one harder to take.
“Their counter-pressing and intensity was better. There were moments on Tuesday when we got through them. It was hard to get through or around them tonight.
“It was really tough. When we won it back, a few people took too many touches and it allowed them to go and nail us. Sometimes, it wasn’t our fault, it was just brilliant counter-pressing from them. It was almost like they were swarming us.
“Their intensity was very, very good so a few turnovers when we could have been better a lot where I thought that’s the level. What they showed is the level, an incredibly elite level.
“It wasn’t a lack of effort or looking leggy. We missed Andre in midfield, he has been really good for us on Tuesday night and we missed that. But the energy and effort was there, we were pushing at the end but Liverpool are elite athletes and were able to bring one or two fresh bodies in, like we did, but their overall performance, they took it up a notch and we couldn’t quite live with.”
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