Kop scream for Dalglish

AS Liverpool prepare to say farewell to their annus horribilis, there was scant evidence from their 36th and final Premier League game of a miserable year that things are likely to improve anytime soon.

A home game against the Premier League’s worst team presented Roy Hodgson and his players an opportunity to sign off the calendar year with a convincing victory to offer their followers a glimmer of hope to take into 2011.

And what did they deliver? A performance which leaves their fans dreading the coming months after a truly dreadful 1-0 defeat.

Wolves should have been there for the taking. They had arrived at Anfield on the back of their worst result of the season and had not won away from home nine months. They did last night thanks to Stephen Ward’s goal, and deservedly so.

Liverpool were as poor and unimaginative as the scoreline suggests on another bitterly disappointing night when fans turned on Hodgson.

The Liverpool manager was taunted after replacing David Ngog with Ryan Babel in the second-half while the Kop chanted the name of Kenny Dalglish.

The end of 2010 cannot come soon enough at Anfield. Since Fernando Torres scored a last minute winner at Aston Villa to ensure Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool started the calendar year in seventh spot, there has been little for fans to cheer.

Starting 2010 12 points adrift of leaders Chelsea, Benitez’s side fell further behind the pacesetters before eventually finishing another trophy-less campaign 23 points behind Carlo Ancelotti’s champions.

Yet even a change of manager has failed to halt the slump in fortunes, Liverpool suffering costly defeats to Blackpool, Stoke and Newcastle in the first few months of Hodgson’s reign.

There have been a further eight defeats on the Premier League stage throughout 2010 with the Merseyside club taking just 52 points out of a possible 108. No wonder this has been a year to forget.

Wolves did not look like a team that had lost six of their previous eight league games. The latest one of those, against fellow strugglers Wigan on St Stephen’s Day, had significantly increased the pressure on the former Republic of Ireland manager.

Yet he went into this game insisting that he was not worried about his job prospects despite his side languishing four points adrift of safety at the bottom of the table.

This was a night when Wolves clawed back some much-needed pride as they frustrated the hosts for long spells before delivering their sucker punch.

Richard Stearman was in the right place to make a vital eighth minute clearances and deny Raul Meireles after the Portuguese midfielder had seen his initial attempt saved by keeper Wayne Hennessey.

That, along with Ngog’s 32nd minute attempt from 20 yards, was as good as it got for Hodgson’s subdued men in the first half.

The game was littered with blocked attempts and mis-placed passes, the story of Liverpool’s season so far, and there were times when you could have heard a pin drop. The famous Anfield roar? It was more a night of whispers inside the famous old stadium.

Even the return of Steven Gerrard failed to inspire his team-mates.

Gerrard had missed the last six matches with a hamstring problem and he was afforded a hero’s reception when he stepped out for the first time in six weeks.

But not even he could help his side on this occasion. So poor were the hosts that the biggest cheer was reserved for the appearance of legendary goalscorer Ian Rush who presented an award on the pitch at half time.

The early stages of the second half suggested Hodgson had tore into his players at half-time, Glen Johnson teeing up Ngog in the 50th minute only for the Frenchman to fire wide from close range.

But six minutes later Wolves were ahead, Dubliner Ward producing a terrific finish after good work from Sylvan Ebanks-Blake following a poor headed clearance by Sotirios Kyrgiakos. Suddenly, the mood inside Anfield turned from one of frustration to one of anger and bemusement. “Hodgson for England” taunted the Kop towards the Liverpool manager after Ngog was replaced by Ryan Babel in the 62nd minute before chanting the name of Dalglish. These are dark days indeed at Anfield.

LIVERPOOL (4-4-2): Reina 6, Johnson 6, Skrtel 5, Kyrgiakos 4, Konchesky 3 (Aurelio 73, 4), Kuyt 5, Lucas 5, Gerrard 5, Meireles 6 (Cole 72, 4), Ngog 6 (Babel 62, 4), Torres 4. Substitutes not used: Jones, Agger, Rodriguez, Poulsen.

WOLVES (4-4-1-1): Hennessey 7; Zubar 7, Stearman 8, Berra 8, Elokobi; Jarvis 7 (Edwards 88, 5), Milijas 7, Foley 7, Hunt 7; Ward 7 (Fletcher 77, 6); Ebanks-Blake 8.

Substitutes not used: Hahnemann, Jones, Bent, Bia, Batth.

Referee: P Walton