After the frustration of Saturday’s goalless draw with Fulham, this was much more enjoyable.
Liverpool are through to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup after beating Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 at Anfield, and there was plenty for Andoni Iraola to take from a night when he changed almost his entire team.
Ten changes were made from the weekend, Alexis Mac Allister being the only player retained, and that was probably the biggest question before kick off. How far would Iraola go with the rotation, and could Liverpool still put out a side capable of competing against a strong Tottenham squad?
We got our answer.
Mac Allister opened the scoring after 21 minutes, Cody Gakpo made it 2-0 early in the second half and, after Conor Gallagher pulled one back, Dominik Szoboszlai finished the evening with a magnificent long range strike in stoppage time.
It was a good result and, after the mood around Liverpool following Fulham, probably an important one too.
What I would not do is look at 3-1 and decide Liverpool controlled everything that happened.
They did not.
Tottenham had more possession, more shots, more touches in Liverpool’s box and considerably more expected goals. Liverpool won because they defended some difficult moments, took their opportunities brilliantly and produced the individual quality that was missing against Fulham.
Sometimes that is football.
Rotation Worked Because Liverpool Still Had a Structure
I expected wholesale changes for this one and Iraola effectively delivered them.
The interesting part was the balance.
Liverpool did not simply throw a collection of young players onto the pitch and hope enthusiasm would carry them through. There was enough experience around them to provide a platform, with Mac Allister in midfield, Gakpo in attack and senior players behind them.
Lewis Koumas was particularly impressive and was subsequently voted Liverpool’s Player of the Match.
That felt significant.
