24th Aug 2011
By dedlfc
By dedlfc
When the side was first announced my immediate reaction was why are we not resting Luis Suarez, my next instant reaction was King Kenny means business with this competition unlike 12 months ago when we had the embarrassment of a 3rd round exit to Northampton to deal with under Roy Hodgson.
Our Uruguayan striker played for just over an hour but his display showed total dedication to the cause and why at times this season we will need to wrap him up in cotton wool to continue getting the best out of him.
Currently there are approx 60 league places between the teams and at times the passing of the Liverpool side showed this.
Liverpool started the game very well and after 20 minutes the one thing that LFC and King Kenny didn’t want from the night happened - Meireles (who was outstanding in his cameo at the weekend at Arsenal) fell awkwardly on his collarbone and now looks to be out for 3 -4 weeks.
Big Andy came on as substitute for Meireles – his inclusion coincided with a change of tact. Whereas before Meireles got injured – we tried to keep things on the floor with Adam fine tuning his passes like Antonio Stradvari on his first violin – suddenly, long diagonal balls became the order of the day which patently was not Suarez and Adams alike.
The breakthrough finally came after 23 minutes when nice build up play with Maxi and Henderson heavily involved resulted in the ball ending up at the feet of Suarez who drilled a low drive past the Exeter keeper right in front of the LFC travelling fans who “Just can’t get enough” of Luis Suarez.
Even the change of attacking emphasis could take away from the exciting performance of Suarez who nearly completed a double in 1st half injury time when Spearing played him through on goal where he tried an audacious chip that floated over the bar.
After 55 minutes the result was put beyond reasonable doubt when Maxi this time took the chance provided for him by Suarez.
Three minutes later we were home and hosed as Carroll hit a fierce low drive into the Exeter net to make it 3-0. This being his first goal of the season should provide him with the required confidence to improve his all-round game.
At this point King Kenny took off our ever-influential number 7 Suarez to rapturous applause from both set of fans – he had provided such a lively hour long display scoring 1 and creating 2 goals to be replaced by Downing.
The biggest disappointment of an otherwise solid performance by our defence was a late concession of a consolation goal with 10 minutes left when Skrtel allowed Nardiello to turn, clumsily challenging him in the area where he fell and was awarded a penalty.
King Kenny now had his 200th win as LFC manager in all competitions and made a very competent start to our attempt to make our first visit to Wembley since the stadium was rebuilt in a competition we have won 7 times in our illustrious past.
The mindset which King Kenny sent his troops out led by Saurez said it all. That Liverpool are taking the Carling Cup seriously. While Robsinson et al made starts, the fact that enough senior bodies were in the chosen XI gives recognision that Dalglish is fully aware that while we are in a relative transitional phase and not in Europe, the Cups are a major part of the season and the further we can go in either competition, epescially as we now have squad where most most of the squad have a shot and getting into the first XI the better for the club in the long run. It was good that Carroll managed to bag a goal because he looks woefully short of confidence and he was part of a strong team performance, which is what we have been all about this season.
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