After stretching our nerves to breaking point, Liverpool eventually advanced to the Capital
One Cup final via a 6-5 penalty shootout win against Stoke. Despite taking a 1-0 lead into the
Anfield leg, the hosts were unable to make light work of the tie – normal time ended 1-0 to
Stoke, sending the game into extra time and then penalties. Joe Allen scored the decisive
spot kick to give Liverpool a deserved trip to Wembley to face either Everton or Manchester
City.
Source: liverpoolfc.com
Liverpool started brightly – they employed a very high press, and Stoke looked rocked early
on. It was only a lack of composure in advanced positions that prevented Liverpool from
extending their aggregate lead in the first ten minutes: Firmino, Lallana and Milner were all
guilty of misjudging would-be incisive passes in the final third. In fairness, however, there
were impressive elements to their game; Milner looked much improved going forward, and
Lallana played in an uncharacteristically direct, threatening fashion. This was epitomised by
a determined sprint past his man down the left wing – it was certainly a refreshing change
from the series of pointless Cruyff turns we had been accustomed to until recently. Firmino
struggled to get involved at any point in the game, although this was not entirely his fault.
Milner and Lallana regularly drifted out into conventional wide positions, but they would
have been better off functioning more like inside forwards in order to facilitate better link-
up play with the Brazilian; he was once again playing at false 9, which involves regularly
dropping back into the midfield. Despite this, it was Liverpool who dominated the very early
exchanges.
The visitors, however, quickly got back into the game. They managed to maintain a good
spell of possession, and this settled the game down a lot. Indeed it went flat for a lot of the
first half – energy was provided by Moreno, who was frankly running around like a madman
for much of the game, but on the whole things were fairly sedate. Peter Crouch was
unsurprisingly winning the majority of his headers against Sakho and Toure, but his
knockdowns weren’t finding anyone. Any attacks from Stoke that did not involve long balls
up to the big forward were broken up well by Lucas, who was defensively stronger than
usual for much of the game. However, it was partially his error that lead to Stoke’s goal on
the stroke of half-time: he failed to track Arnautovic’s run from deep, and the Austrian was
able to burst into the box and slot the ball home. He was clearly offside, and the goal was
scored in a minute that there was no real justification for adding, but it was always likely
that Liverpool would be punished if they let their tempo drop.
Rather than inspiring Liverpool on to a better performance, the goal only served to
encourage Stoke. The second half was a much better spectacle, but for the wrong reasons:
Stoke were on the front foot, and were only kept out by a series of last-ditch blocks and
challenges. Sakho, who in truth had a fairly average first half, was immense: on two or three
occasions he slid in magnificently to prevent what looked like certain goals. Flanagan also
deserves a mention: it was far from a perfect performance at right-back, but considering
how long he has been out for he did an excellent job. Goal aside, he largely kept Arnautovic
very quiet – after the game, Jurgen Klopp singled him out as Man of the Match. Although in
an ideal scenario we would not have been put under such pressure, it was good to see our
defence managing to hold on: it was a much more resolute display than that of Norwich at
the very least.
This success in preventing Stoke from scoring a telling second sent the game to extra time.
The away goals rule meant that a goal for Stoke would all but sink Liverpool, as they would
need to reply with two goals of their own; they held firm, however, and the tie went to
penalties. It was very hard to call – Liverpool boast an extremely impressive overall record in
shootouts, but Stoke had already won two of their previous games in the competition –
including one against Chelsea – via penalties. Sure enough, the quality of spot kicks was fairly
high: a Mignolet save against Crouch and a narrow miss from Can meant that both sides
failed to convert the second penalty, but the other eight were all slotted away well. At 4-4
after five penalties each, it went to sudden death – again there was no mistake from either
side, making the score 5-5. At this point, however, the situation changed. Marc Muinesa’s
penalty was not particularly bad, but Mignolet made a brilliant save to deny him. This meant
that the task of sending us to Wembley fell to Joe Allen. Much maligned, he has recently
managed to develop something of a cult hero status: his ‘no-look pass’, late equaliser
against Arsenal and vague resemblance to Pirlo have all endeared him to the Anfield
faithful. This reputation will only have been enhanced by his extremely cool penalty: he sent
it high into the top right, and sent the crowd into raptures.
Of course nobody is under the illusion that the Capital One Cup is the most prestigious piece
of silverware, but it would still be excellent to win it. Aside from the fact that it secures at
least some form of European football next season, it also provides a morale boost: winning a
trophy can never be a bad thing. We also remain in the Europa League and FA Cup –
although there is a long way to go in both competitions, the fact we still have the potential
to win three pieces of silverware is an encouraging one. For once, Liverpool are justified in
citing ‘a season of transition’ as an excuse: things were never going to immediately click into
place with a new manager, so if we did manage to win a cup this season I think it would be a
great achievement. An improved performance will be required in the final to claim victory,
but there were enough positives in this game to show that we are capable of playing to a
much higher standard. Roll on Wembley!
James Martin
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