Gakpo and Díaz fire Reds into the last 8 of the Carabao Cup
Brighton 2 Liverpool 3, 30th October 2024
BRIGHTON 2 (Adingra 81, Lamptey 90)
LIVERPOOL 3 (Gakpo 46 and 63, Díaz 85)
It took the Reds of Liverpool exactly 42 seconds of the second half at Brighton’s Amex Stadium last evening to break the home team’s stubborn resolve, and although it came courtesy of a thunderbolt from Cody Gakpo, the goal would never have come to pass had it not been for the quick, sharp thinking of 22 year old Tyler Morton. Following loan spells at Blackburn Rovers and Hull City, the Merseyside kid demonstrated in an hour long display the skills, endeavour and especially the desire to want the ball in tight midfield spaces that persuaded Jürgen Klopp to give the then 18 year old his debut in 2021. This kid is a footballer in the mould of 20 year old Stefan Bajčetić, currently playing regular football on loan at Red Bull Salzburg. Young of mind and body, cold of temperament, coolness with a football at their feet and their head up, always scanning for a fellow red shirt or an incisive ball between those footballing lines of midfield into attack. So it was last evening as with Brighton’s Tariq Lamptey already far in advance of the play on the right hand side, Tyler Morton’s deliberate volleyed pass into the space vacated by Lamptey set Cody Gakpo free to run at a retreating home defence before unleashing a ferocious shot past the flailing Jason Steele in the Brighton goal, and a goal best appreciated from the camera angle provided behind that very goal. Gakpo’s thunderbolt starts gun-barrel straight at first before a late curl sends the ball arrowing past a helpless Steele into the corner of his net, sheer poetry in motion, and when Gakpo capitalised on yet another mistake from Tariq Lamptey 17 minutes later (the Londoner had a mixed evening to say the least) to give the Reds a 2–0 lead, the game was surely up for a much changed Brighton who were simply being outplayed by a similarly, if stronger, much changed Reds team too.
In cold retrospect the first 45 minutes showed no signs of the five goals that would follow in the second period of play. Although very different from their Premier League starting XI’s, both teams played stylish football on the green grass of a modern day footballing home where possession and control of the ball is King. From goalkeeper to goal-line, reversed, a solid high line of defence behind the ball players in midfield quickening the tempo of the game in attack or a foot on the ball and calming presence to see the pattern settling once more, the gaps and weaknesses now to exploit. All of which played out for 20 fairly quiet minutes until the sell-out crowd took turns to entertain themselves and raise the game before them from a practice match into an engaging one with first “Liv-er-pool” tumbling constantly from the away end to be drowned out by the louder retaliatory cry of “Al-bi-on” from the home stands. We finally had a game on our hands and the Reds largely dominated the remaining 25 minutes of the first half with senior professionals Luis Díaz, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endō and stand-in captain Andy Robertson all impressing around the central hub of Tyler Morton.
From 2–0 Liverpool with 9 minutes remaining of a game seemingly long since over came first the one and only mistake of the evening from an otherwise brilliant Jarell Quansah that presented the home team with the impetus for a final, last ditch assault via Simon Adingra’s 81st minute predatory tap-in, a Luis Díaz “daisy cutter” that defeated Jason Steele for the second time last evening at his near post 4 minutes later, before 4 minutes later still, Tariq Lamptey (via a deflection from the unlucky Jarell Quansah) rounded off both a crazy and chaotic 9 minutes of football with the final goal and 5 stress free, injury time minutes later, the Reds and defending Carabao Cup holders were into the last 8 of the competition once more.
Another trip to the region of my birth and the sunny south coast of England beckons for the Reds in the Quarter-Final in late December, and rather than “Sussex by the Sea” it will be the St Mary’s Stadium and dockside home of Southampton. If, as would generally be expected, Liverpool win and progress into the Semi-Finals in early 2025, Arne Slot’s Reds will be entering a new footballing year still in every competition they entered in August, a year now ending that started so very differently for manager and players alike. December, that month of footballing madness, is a long way off, let alone the January that will surely follow it. Arne Slot will be mid-way through his first season as Reds manager as the trees of Christmas make way for the brand new shiny present of a brand new shining year.
Officially 7 months in charge of the good ship Liverpool.
Long may the honeymoon continue, starting with a defeat of last night’s defeated foe Brighton this Saturday at Anfield.
Arne’s Afterword
“If you have to come here you know it’s going to be a difficult game because of the style of play, because of the recruitment they have here over the last few years. And then to get away from here with a result, with a win, is of course very pleasing. For the long term, I really liked what I see from players that haven’t played that much this season yet, that they were able to play a similar style that we usually do and they brought quality into the game, so that makes it even harder for me to make line-ups in the upcoming weeks”.
“So, maybe in some situations the fixture list and in some situations just the quality of the players we can put on the team sheet and I think it is also our playing style that helps us. But yeah, and then it’s only been 13 or 14 games or something like this, but it’s been a very good start away from home but also at home and we need good form on Saturday as well because we came here knowing they are a good team and that’s also what they showed today. So, we need to be on top of our game for Saturday again”.
Thanks for reading. I often lament that despite my hundreds of articles here I rarely if ever make contact with genuine Liverpool fans so, if that is you, please say a hearty hello and, whilst you’re here, can I interest you in these spectacularly good self-published books on the Mighty Reds?
"A final word from The Boss" - link to Amazon
"Chasing the Impossible and a Sword of Damocles" - link to Amazon
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.