Liverpool were made to work hard to keep hold of their lead against Southampton at St. Mary’s Stadium, ultimately winning 2-1 to send them through to the semi finals of the Carabao Cup.
The hosts were as meek as ever throughout much of the first half, and when Darwin Núñez and Harvey Elliott scored within the first 35 minutes, there were fears of a cricket score.
But the second half was a different story; a snapshot from Cameron Archer got Southampton back into the game, and from then on they were a thorn in Liverpool’s side – but they didn’t do quite enough to force that elusive equaliser.
As it happened
It might not be mid-2010s-Manchester-City-esque dominance we’re seeing, but there rarely seems a season Liverpool aren’t favourites to win the Carabao Cup. In a set of quarter finals containing exclusively Premier League sides, they couldn’t have asked for a better draw than a now Russel Martin-less Southampton, rooted to the foot of the league table with five measly points. The old adage is that there are no easy games. But, let’s face it: this was always likely to be pretty straightforward for Liverpool. And it was. For a while.
They came into the game with a heavily rotated side. Tyler Morton and Treymaurice Nyoni made up the midfield pivot, Elliott came in for a rested Mohamed Salah and the backline featured Joe Gomez at left back along with a more than unfamiliar central partnership of Wataru Endo and Jarell Quansah. If Southampton were ever going to beat the best team in England, today was the day.
It’s just a shame, then, that they rarely looked like doing that. It wasn’t down to a lack of trying, rather the fact that they seem ill-equipped to deal with teams of this calibre; they kept only 31% of the ball and far too much of the game was spent at the feet of Liverpool in the midfield third.
Throughout the first hour, the visitors never really left second gear. The first goal came in the 24th minute, after one long ball courtesy of Trent Alexander-Arnold bamboozled a static and remarkably high defensive line, before gifting a striker even as erratic as Núñez a foregone conclusion, as he slotted home under no pressure whatsoever.
Embed from Getty ImagesFrom Liverpool’s point of view, it couldn’t have been easier. From Southampton’s, it was another chapter in this season’s catalogue of errors; Jan Bednarek actually got a touch on the initial pass, sending it flying into the air and leaving Alex McCarthy undecided as to whether he should stay on his line or come to meet the ball. In the end, he simply slipped over. If anything could possibly sum up their last four months, it was that moment.
One would become two not long after. This time, Cody Gakpo found Elliott making his way into the area. Not a single Southampton defender tracked his run, and by trying to recover and make amends, Ryan Manning’s desperate lunge resulted in the flick on the ball that diverted the eventual shot past his goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
Liverpool were dawdling to what was looking like the most routine of victories. But cometh the hour, cometh the surprise; cometh Cameron Archer.
He’d been working on scraps all night, but a bit of good fortune – in the form of a ball forward smashed into the face of Wataru Endo and then directly into his path – gave the striker the chance he’d been craving. He latched on to the diverted pass, cut onto his right foot and whipped a strike into the far top corner from just inside the area.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt was a bolt from the blue, a chance and a goal out of absolutely nothing, and a reminder to Liverpool that you don’t win silverware in second gear.
Proceedings might’ve been drawn level only two minutes after that goal, too, with Archer tapping substitute Yukinari Sugawara’s teasing cross goalwards from very close range and forcing Caoimhin Kelleher into an excellent save. The Saints, seemingly from beyond the grave, were alive and kicking.
From then on, they were much more spirited; they didn’t create boatloads more chances, but they did force Liverpool to work. That doesn’t win you football games on its own, it was certainly a step in the right direction, particularly following their hopelessly meek display against Spurs only days before.
The late drama came in the form of Mateus Fernandes breaking through on goal in the 93rd minute. Quansah tried to slow him down, throwing an arm across his body to do so. The Brazilian went down under pressure and St. Mary’s appealed in unison. Referee Simon Hooper decided there was no foul, though – and that meant a lucky escape for The Reds. If it had been given, it would’ve meant a certain red card. But it wasn’t, so instead, it meant Southampton’s time had run out.
So, ultimately, Southampton lost this game of football, as everyone predicted they would. But they did so having spent the last half-hour going toe to toe with the mighty Liverpool, albeit rotated a rotated version. Interim boss Simon Rusk likely won’t be the man to take them forwards long term, but in this match, he showed this team can contend in a game of football – and that’s better than nothing.
It’s Liverpool who march on, though. They’re champions of two of the last three editions of this competition, and there’s no obvious reason they shouldn’t be favourites to win it once more this time around. Still alive in four competitions, the Arne Slot machine looks like it will keep powering on and on.
The lineups
SOU: McCarthy; Manning, Wood-Gordon, Bednarek, Harwood-Bellis, Bree; Fernandes, Aribo, Downes, Dibling; Archer
LIV: Kelleher; Gomez, Endo, Quansah, Alexander-Arnold; Morton, Nyoni, Gakpo, Mac Allister, Elliott; Núñez
FEATURED IMAGE: Rob Atherton