Liverpool 0 West Ham 0

After recent impressive cameos Joe Allen took over the captain’s armband in the absence of Jordan Henderson and James Milner with Simon Mignolet the hero of the semi-final penalty shoot out victory over Stoke, the only remaining starter from that game.

Liverpool started well popping the ball around confidently with both Brannagan and Smith firing in dangerous crosses across the face of the goal.

Valenica should have nodded home Cresswell’s superb cross from the left after Lovren completely missed a clearing header, only managing to head the ball out.

A whipped in Teixiera corner was glanced on by Benteke and cleared off the line by Cresswell. Only moments later a sumptuous Brannagan cross was only inches away from the outstretched boot of Bentenke, although one felt the ‘Big Man’ lacked conviction.

Liverpool with so many youngsters in the side were not as had been expected, overawed or overrun with the impressive Cameron Brannagan heading the brains trusts in midfield.  The 19 year-old almost put his team ahead with a spectacular left-footed drive from 20 yards which Darren Randolph pushed away diving at full length.

West Ham then suffered an unlucky break losing James Tomkins after a collision with Allen and Kouyate in quick succession replaced by Joey O’Brien and Nikica Jelavic respectively.

West Ham finished the half positively with Obiang volleying Benteke’s clearance just past the upright with Mignolet scrambling uncomfortably across goal.

Early in the second-half Payet, subdued up to that point whipped in a free-kick into the danger zone which was flicked on by Jelavic only for Caulker to commit handball on two separate occasions.  The on-loan centre-half was fortunate to get away with the infringement being on the blind side of the referee.

Clyne, another having a solid game cut in from the left at pace before shooting powerfully over.  The full-back playing with more alacrity than of late sped through an inviting gap before passing across the edge of the area to the waiting Joe Allen.  The Welsh midfielder looking more and more like an explorer with his bearded growth fired disappointingly over.

Liverpool were enjoying their best period of the game and another fluent move ended with Bentenke cleverly finding Brad Smith on the overlap, before he pulled the ball back to Teixiera who shot straight at Randolph.

The chances were flowing and a Bentenke on his game would have sent Liverpool into the next round.

First, the Belgium internal stabbed at Stewart’s volley when left unmarked in front of the goal, only to see his effort going in the opposite direction to which he’d intended.  Then after latching on to Jordon Ibe’s superbly weighted pass, he managed to squeeze off a shot which Randolph could only fumble.  Joe Allen following up hit the ball into the keeper which found its way back to Benteke and with Teixiera standing square of him to tap the ball home, the striker inexplicably shot straight at Randolph.

That’s was a close at it got for Liverpool.

In injury time West Ham’s Antonio saw his effort hit the inside of Mignolet’s far post after the ball had seemingly gone out of play from the initial cross.  Play was eventually blown up for a foul by the player.

Man of the match:  Cameron Brannagan – Belied his experience with a technically efficient performance.  Already earmarked out as Liverpool’s set piece taker his delivery is head and shoulders above anything seen in a Red’s shirt this season.  He has an eye for a pass both short and long range and while he certainly has a cultured right foot his left leg is certainly not only for standing as he unleashed a brilliant left-footed shot heading for the corner of the net before Randolph pulled off a decent diving save.

Liverpool played well against a full-strength West Ham and were more positive against the set piece deliveries of Payet which Caulker in his first start and Lovren with the help of Benteke staving off any threat without much alarm.

Kevin Stewart certainly had his best performance in a Liverpool shirt in central areas only spoiling his performing in failing to compose himself in the final third of the field shooting wildly into the crowd on a couple of occasions.  Teixiera exhibited excellent control and touches and on another day may have come away with a goal.  He sometimes held on to the ball too long appearing a tad lightweight in the challenge, but he needs more games if we are to see his undoubted talent fulfilled.  That being said, with Liverpool constantly linked with Alex Teixiera his long-term future must be called into question, although I have to admit he is a one of my favourite players and Liverpool in the shape of Pacheco and Suso have lost too many fabulously talented players over the last few years.

Brad Smith’s composed performance against the speedy and powerful threat of Victor Moses and his ability coming forward must make him a live threat to usurp the cavalier Alberto Moreno.

The result means an extra game in February in an already crowded fixture list, but as Reds fan Francoise said on our WhatsApp LFC group, it provides the youngsters with another game to make their pitch for a regular first team place.

Teams:

Liverpool: 22 Mignolet, 2 Cyne, 19 Caulker, 6 Lovren, 44 Smith, 32 Brannagan (Jerome Sinclair – 86 mins), 36 Stewart, 24 Allen, 33 Ibe (Oluwaseyi Ojo – 80 mins), 9 Bentenke, 53 Joao Carlos Teixiera (Jose Enriques - 90 mins)

Subs: 3 Jose Enrique, 26 Tiago Illori, 48 Jerome Sinclair, 52 Danny Ward, 54 Oluwaseyi Ojo, 56 Connor Randall, 60 Pedro Chirivella

West Ham: Darren Randolph, 5 James Tomkins (Joey O’Brien – 35 mins), 2 Winston Reid, 21 Angelo Ogbonna, 3 Aaron Cresswell, 8 Cheikhou Kouyate (Nikica Jelavic – 37 mins), 4 Alex Song, 14 Pedro Obiang, 20 Victor Moses (Michail Antonio – 70 mins), 11 Enner Valencia, 27 Dimitri Payer

Subs: 17 Joey O’Brien, 19 James Collins, 26 Nikica Jelavic, 30 Michail Antonio, 35 Reece Oxford, 35 Josh Cullen,  46 Samuel Howes

Referee: Martin Atkinson

Attendance: 44,006

Mignolet and Allen take the plaudits to get Liverpool to Wembley final via dramatic penalty shootout 6-5

Blog by dedlfc (David Douglas)

Liverpool 0 Stoke City 1: (Arnautovic 45 mins)

Pre-match thoughts : Liverpool can punch their ticket for a Anfield South final with a win or a draw over Stoke City tonight. It's no exaggeration to say that this is the biggest match of the season so far (but hopefully not the biggest match at the end of the season). Jon "Scouse Cafu" Flanagan comes in for an injured Nathaniel Clyne. Let's hope the local hero remembers how to shut down his flank, because Stoke will be looking to lump in crosses to former Liverpool big man Peter Crouch. Klopp has a huge smile on his face while the Kop sings "You'll Never Walk Alone." Give 'em hell boys! 

A couple of early (and ill-fated) attempts to play quick counter-attacking long passes. It seems to be a strategy to test a Shawcross-less backline, or just some nervy early misplaced passes from the midfield. Very odd for a Liverpool side to willingly concede possession and try to hit on the counter.

Flanagan passes his first test against Arnautovic, dispossessing the attacker before getting fouled.

Very touching moment at the 12th minute, as Anfield honors Owen McVeigh, the boy who recently passed away after a battle with cancer, with a banner, applause, and a rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone." 

Emre Can attempts to unleash an ill-advised shot from outside the box, but fails and instead he carries the ball about 60 yards and out of play for a goal kick. Passing is also an option to you can select! Emre.

Moreno commits another stupid foul in a dangerous-ish area (and they're all dangerous for Liverpool at this point).

HUGE chance for Stoke. Walters is set through on a long ball and beats both Toure and Sakho. Thankfully he failed to test Mignolet and put the shot wide of target. Worringly Toure looks so off the pace if we are not careful we will be conceding more regularly in this game. Also of concern is the gap between Moreno who continues to bomb forward and Sakho which is has a high possibility of being exposed.

Both sides have settled into the match, and it has become a bit of a boring second leg so far. There has been a lot of sloppiness on both sides, and not a lot of flow.

Can, who seems intent on stamping his mark on this game somehow, nearly finds the mark with a screamer from about 25 yards which just goes wide.

Goal. Stop me if you've heard this one before: Liverpool's opponent scores on their first shot on target. Bojan plays in a cross to Arnautovic who is wide open in front of goal, a yard offside, and calmly finishes it. Sure, he should have been flagged for offside, but the defending was also criminally poor with again Moreno and Toure to blame. 1-0 to Stoke, 1-1 on aggregate. This score is the only one that could bring about penalties.

Halftime: That goal to finish the half was a real punch in the gut. However, Stoke had the three best chances of the half, so you can't say a lead by the visitors is wholly undeserved. For us, it was a lacklustre first half at home which is becoming a usual occurence, with zero shots on target. It looked like we readily conceded possession to start the half, hoping to hit them on the counter, but the strategy clearly failed. Every time Liverpool had space to run into, the final pass was always left wanting. 

I don't know what's more embarrassing: our set play defending, or our set play attacking? Six of one, half-a-dozen of the other. Goals for the opposition and none for Liverpool.

Big penalty shout for Liverpool as Walters clatters Milner to the ground at the edge of the box. With that and the offside, Liverpool can feel rightly aggrieved if Stoke squeak through to the final.

Much more tempo to start the second half. Suddenly Liverpool have decided they want to get that winning goal. Might have been nice if they had decided this before conceding, but a good response nonetheless.

Sakho blocked a shot, which at this juncture, means he has more saves today than Mignolet has in what? The last three games?

Benteke on for Henderson. I'm not actually opposed to this. Firmino hasn't had the best of games, and Henderson has been pretty sloppy in midfield. And theoretically he should help on set pieces. Again, only in theory.

One positive: it looks like Lallana and Firmino are growing a pretty good on-field understanding. They've had a couple of moments that have been just a few inches away from a breakthrough tonight. Flanagan puts in the most promising cross of the night, but Liverpool's attackers are just a step slow, and Butland collects the well-played but ultimately harmless ball.

Oh man, the ball unexpectedly falls to Flanno right in front of goal, but the local fullback can't get a shot away. He is the standout performer for us tonight: very solid defensively, and adding just enough going forward as well.

Unleash the Welsh Pirlo! Allen comes on for Toure. Papa Lucas moves to centre back.

A clear handball in the box goes uncalled. If we go through, it'll be despite the referees' best efforts. Fulltime and we got what we deserved an extra 30 minutes of football in such a busy period post-Christmas and New Year.

Full time: Extra football...yay. A much better second half from us, though ultimately fruitless. To his credit, we looked much better after the introduction of Christian Benteke,

Extra time: Nice hold up play early in extra time by Benteke lays a chance on for Firmino who hits low and is comfortably saved by the impressive Butland (future LFC number one maybe?) embarrassingly at home that is our first shot on target and that is in extra time !!!

(And to be fair, we've only given up one shot on target, but we know how that usually works out). 

The defence tries their best to pull van Ginkel down in the box, but he stays on his feet and shoots off the near post and out of play. Otherwise, a pretty uneventful first 15 of extra time.

Ibe comes on for Flanagan. Great first start for Flanno, hopefully much more to come the rest of the season.

More last-ditch defending from us. Stoke haven't had a lot of chances, but the chances they've had have been dangerous. And what's that? An honest to goodness save from Mignolet! He'll need to make a couple in the penalty shootout if Liverpool are to advance tonight.

Ibe blows our best chance of the evening with a shot about 20 rows deep into the Kop. Other than Ibe, all the players are visibly tired and neither team can string together too many passes in a row.

Stoke get away with another handball at the edge of the box. Nothing further to report before the game goes to penalties.

After Extra Time: So, can Mignolet beat Butland in the shootout? Also, this was Stoke's first win at Anfield since 1959. Good timing.

Penalty Shootout

I assume that Stoke have won the toss for the ends to take the penalties as the penalty shootout takes place at the Anfield Road end with the Stoke away fans roaring to the left of the goal. 

Walters steps up and belts the first penalty home to the left of Mignolet 0-1

Lallana first up for us goes straight and high giving Butland no chance 1-1

Next up is ex LFC player Crouch who hits low to Mignolet’s right which he saves!!!

Can with the chance to give us a vital advantage then hits the post!!! Still 1-1 after 2 penalties each

Whelan then stutters and then puts it to the right giving Mignolet no chance 1-2 good penalty!

Big Benteke then produces an even more exaggerated stutter but coolly slots home to the right. 2-2

Afellay goes high to Mignolet’s right, he gets a hand to it but not strong enough 2-3

Firmino then sends Butland the wrong way for 3-3

Shaqiri hits low to Mignolet’s right to make it 3-4 to Stoke – the pressure is now on Milner knowing if he misses Stoke will go through.

Milner steps up and………calmly puts it away – cool as a cucumber!!! 4-4 now it is down to sudden death!!! Who will blink first???

Van Ginkel sticks the next penalty into the corner 4-5

Will Lucas be able to handle the vital penalty?? No doubt about it as he smashes home then roars at the Stoke fans 5-5

A decent penalty from Muniesa but Mignolet dives right into the left corner and tips it round the post. Joe Allen to win it for Liverpool??

The in-form Joe Allen steps up and puts us through 6-5 to our first Wembley final since 2012 and our 12^th appearance in the final which we have won 8 times.

Man of the Match – Jon Flanagan

What a welcome return for our full back didn’t put a foot wrong and kept going upto extra time which is some effort for his first full outing for 20 months. Nearly capped it off with a goal but it just wasn’t to be the Roy of the Rovers fairytale ending.

Special mentions

Sakho – led the troops at the back for most of the game by himself as his defensive partner Kolo Toure was so badly off the pace – we may as well just have played with one centre back as Sakho covered both positions throughout and headed away most attacks despite the pressure put on by Stoke especially from our old boy Peter Crouch – at least two vital last ditch blocks saved us from getting shots on goal. He is still not on his A game but he needs a better centre half to play alongside as Toure as not able to complement his game or provide cover when Sakho is under pressure.

Mignolet – Made the vital saves to get us through to the final.

Joe Allen – scored the all-important winning penalty and again just gets on with the job and is now providing vital contributions to our season.

Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Mignolet, Flanagan (Ibe - 105), Toure(Allen 85), Sakho, Moreno, Lucas, Can: Henderson (Benteke 59), Lallana, Milner, Firmino

Subs not used: Ward (GK), Lovren, Ibe, Smith, Teixeira

Stoke City (4-2-3-1): Butland, Johnson, Muniesa, Wollschied, Pieters, Whelan, Affelay, Walters, Bojan (Adam 71) (Van Ginkel 98), Arnautovic (Shaqiri 77), Crouch

Subs not used: Haugaard (GK), Bardsley, Joselu, Wilson

Attendance: 43,091

Referee: Jon Moss

After Pens: There wasn't much between the two sides tonight, other than a couple of favorable decisions on both ends of the pitch. We didn't quite deserve to win, but they didn't necessarily deserve to lose either. Somehow after all that, Wee Joe gets the winner after 7 penalties a piece!

We were again poor but we are off to Wembley and now we are there lets now go and bloody win the thing !!!

Manager’s thoughts

Klopp said an obscured view rather than superstition was to blame as Joe Allen stepped up to strike the winning penalty over Stoke City. The German coach even asking for clarification on how many saves Simon Mignolet made.

“Was it two? Great,” said Klopp. “Usually I want to see them but people in the front row said they could not see because I am so tall. So I sat the front seat and could not see it. I had an ACL injury so I was not going to sit on the pitch. It felt good to be watching the crowd instead. I didn’t see one shot so I will have to watch them all.

On the prospect of an all-Merseyside final, Klopp told reporters, "I heard about it being the biggest thing but only if you beat them."

"I have no chance and I cannot have any influence. We will watch the game tomorrow and Man City being a goal down it is possible.

"We take what it is. For sure it is the north of England final and if everything comes together in a good way it is a derby at Wembley.

"That will be great for the whole city. This city will have deserved it because it is a great place for football and how Blues and Reds live together in a normal life is how football should be.

I just totally love our manager – really hope we can win the trophy just to see him celebrate savour the victory at Wembley !!!

Norwich 4 Liverpool 5: Liverpool win out in spectacular feast of goals

After impressing in the midweek FA Cup victory over Exeter Jordon Ibe came in for Adam Lallana the only change from the last weekends Premier League loss at home to Man United.  Adam Bogdan after warming the bench in midweek was back among the also rans.

Klopp’s choice of Firmino as the ‘False 9’ again ahead of Benteke suggest the manager’s protestations about Benteke playing a large part of Liverpool’s future, were what they seemed designed to breath life into a dead man walking for the time being.

Norwich started well looking a yard quicker with Liverpool lacking cohesiveness and pace around the field.  A couple of cut backs were fortunate to arrive at the feet of Liverpool defenders in the first ten minutes.

In our first foray forward Ibe’s searing pace left newcomer Pinto lagging behind with his cutback just behind Milner.  Firmino almost pounced on a long ball lobbing over after pressurising Bassong.

Liverpool took the lead with a lovely move from the left with Moreno’s disguised pass inside to Milner, who in turn found Firmino running off the last man to shoot albeit scuffed left-footed past Rudd.

Milner could and should have made in two after being sent through by Firmino with Norwich playing a high line only to hesitate at the critical before seeing his attempted shot blocked off.

Yet again, the fallibility from corners reared its ugly ahead with Liverpool conceding once again failing to get clear their lines from the first phase and paying the price as the ball return inside the box was brilliant back heeled by Mbokani.

Norwich deservedly took the lead with ex-Evertonian Naismith rubbing salt into the wounds.  Instigating the move Naismith waltzed into the area unchallenged on the end of a one-two with Emre Can and Henderson standing still, before smashing the ball into the far corner off the inside off the post with the suspect Mignolet nowhere near the angled drive.

Liverpool from one up switched off and the languid nature of their play allowed Norwich back into the game with even the usually power packed Emre Can lacking urgency.  There seems to be a dichotomy in Liverpool’s play match to match in sometimes adopted a pressing game and others sitting back and watching the game drift by.

The sharpness, inventiveness and explosion shown by Ojo and Teixiera against Exeter was missing, but the key factor in this first half was the inability to defend dead ball situations.  The embarrassing nature in which Naismith sauntered into the area to score was testament to how limp Liverpool had been during the first-half.

Liverpool at the start of the second-half as with the first lacked quality all over pitch.
Moreno pathetically gave away a needless penalty with two reckless challenges which Hoolahan coolly chipped home. Pure unadulterated negligence.

Liverpool’s full-back’s are a dichotomy.  Moreno pours forward giving an attacking option but has defensive weaknesses and Clyne is excellent defender who offers very little quality in offence.

Henderson breaking into the centre of the area found himself all alone brilliantly sweeping home a cross from the right from Clyne which eventually found its man to provide Liverpool a lifeline.

Liverpool wouldn’t have to wait long for the equaliser.  Lallana on for Jordon Ibe running down the left crossed superbly on the run into the stride path of Firmino to expertly lift over Declan Rudd to gain parity.

Klopp’s men reverted back to type pressing higher up to inject more urgency with the scent of a win in their nostrils.

Unbelievably, Martin turning blind, saw his back pass intercepted by Milner who fastened on to the ball before shifting it on to his right foot approaching the keeper to slot home.

With the comedic nature of the game Liverpool were never going to see out the game without problems and that’s how it turned out.

Three minutes into injury time with Caulker coming on to bolster the fault lines, a long ball pumped up to the edge area found its way to Bassong who rifled a shot into the corner of the net.  Jurgen Klopp was still arguing with the forth official as the ball sped past Mignolet.  It was hard to fathom just where the injury time had come from…?

On the resumption Liverpool flew down the other end and after some commotion in the area the ball was headed out inside the area for Adam Lallana to hit a left foot volley into the ground and bouncing up into the corner of the net leaving Rudd at a standstill.  Wow!

In the end Klopp’s substitution of Ibe for Lalllana turned the game in Liverppol’s favour, but he’ll be tearing his hear out with the abysmal defending from set pieces which is basically gift wrapping goals for opponents.

Man of the match: Roberto Firmino – scored two goals inside the box which is all you can ask for anyone operating as a striker, even a false 9 at that.

Critical eye:  Liverpool only produced the expected quality one would expect once Adam Lallana entered the fray.  The lack of intensity is difficult to understand considering Liverpool’s best moments this season have been on the back of games when high pressing has been to the fore.

The quality of defending from set pieces and particularly corners is now at embarrassing level and teams our now targeting us knowing we have a weak underbelly.  We need leadership at the back and in midfield because we’re being found wanting time and time again.

Toure is not the answer and once again the Liverpool midfield was overrun and the lax nature in which they stood by and watched Naismith run by to give Norwich the lead was unforgivable.

Moment of the Match: The celebrations after Lallana’s winning goal which finally saw Benteke hit the mark, accidentally knocking off Jurgen’s Klopps glasses in the celebrations.

Teams:

Norwich: 13 Judd, 25 Pinto, 5 Martin, 6 Bassong, 12 Brady, 18 Dorrans, 8 Howson, 22 Redmond (Jarvis – 70 mins), 7 Naismith (Jerome – 82 mins), 14 Hoolahan (Olsson – 70 mins), 9 Mookani

Subs: 1 Ruddy, 10 Jerome, 16 Jarvis, 17 Klose, 21 Mulumbu, 23 Olsson, 32 Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe

Liverpool: 22 Mignolet, 2 Clyne, 4 Toure, 17 Sakho, 18 Moreno (Caulker – 90 mins), 14 Henderson (Benteke – 76 mins), 21 Lucas, 23 Can, 7 Milner, 11 Firmino, 33 Ibe (Lallana – 59 mins)

Subs: 9 Benteke, 19 Caulker, 20 Lallana, 24 Allen, 38 Flanagan, 52 Ward, 53 Teixiera

Referee: Lee Mason

Attendance: 27,108

Little Joe leads Ojo and co in comfortable win vs Grecians

Blog by dedlfc (David Douglas)

Liverpool 3: Allen 10', Ojo 74', Teixeira 82'
Exeter City 0: 

Pre-match news and thoughts 

Instead of naming Benteke captain this time Klopp has named Jose Enrique surprisingly as the captain. It is more or less the same line-up as the last time out. Little Joe Allen comes in to help babysit the lil' Reds. Mignolet comes in for Bogdan (whose Liverpool career seems to be up in smoke despite getting back his place on the bench mainly due to Ward being ineligible to play in this cup tie), and Ibe comes in to help Benteke on the other end of the pitch. Also fantastic to see Jon Flanagan getting picked as a sub for the first time in 20 months.  Hopefully we start well and don't have to come from behind at any point tonight. Also, goals would be nice. Like, really, really nice. 

One of those famous FA Cup Anfield nights to reminisce about with a packed Kop singing all our great songs over the years……

A few half-chances in the first ten minutes as we look to play a more direct, lump-it-in to Benteke style. 

It eventually pays dividends as...maurading left wingback Smith plays a brilliant one-two with Benteke, gets to the byline and plays it back for Little Joe Allen who calmly slots it home. 1-0 to Liverpool! Excellent start (That’s two goals in three games for Allen)

 

Teixeira gets in behind the defense and whips in a great cross to a free Benteke near the 6-yard box. The big Belgian diligently puts it over the cross bar. Minutes later Benteke gets free on a corner and puts it into the side netting from a tight angle. You would expect him to bury one (or both) of these chances, especially considering the competition. It is a sign that he is not in the best of confidence after being reduced to the bench in the league games in favour of Firmino despite being the only genuine striker fit in the squad.

Smith has again been fantastic here in the first half. He's been very dangerous down the left side, and his pressing and defending has been on point too. Smith even committed a pretty cynical foul after an errant pass by clumsy Kevin Stewart which would have set an Exeter player free down the sideline. Good stuff all around and very good tactical gamesmanship from our Brad Smith.

Halftime: Klopp looked mildly annoyed as the halftime whistle approached. And fair play: for as much as we have dominated this game, Exeter are still very much in this tie. Benteke had multiple chances to effectively put this game away, but he failed to put his shots on target. So far, Liverpool are out-shooting Exeter 13-0, with 5 of those shots on target. Yet only one goal in this. We have Ibe causing all sorts of problems for the Exter left back down our right side of the pitch but without producing the complete cutting edge in terms of chances created.

The second half starts and 5 minutes into it the LFC fans produce their biggest roar of the night with one of our local lads Jon Flanagan making a well deserved return after 20 months out comes on for Conor Randall. The Scouse Cafu is BACK!!!! It is great to see him back in a red shirt but our problem is we have signed Nathan Clyne to play in his preferred right back role so he has a great fight on his hands to get into one of the defensive positions.

Ibe is denied by a stray white blade of grass, as the replay looked like his driving shot off the bar bounced just on the line. You don't get much closer to scoring than that. As has been the case of late, Ibe's attacks have often lacked creativity, but he has looked dangerous tonight with this type of progressive attacking wing play he will definitely come into contention for the league game away to Norwich.

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Benteke gets 1 on 1 with the keeper, and hits a weak shot straight at him.

Little Joe comes off for Ojo. It was another good outing for Allen, and another decisive goal as it stands.

A couple of minutes after coming on Ojo makes his mark by calmly curling a sweet left foot shot into the far corner to make it 2-0! The Exeter goalkeeper was glued to his line as the shot sailed past him. 2-0 to the Redmen, which should be enough to earn us a spot in the fourth round.

Chirivella comes on for Ibe as our last substitute of the night. Chirivella was very calm and mature beyond his years in his short spell on the pitch.

Benteke suddenly goes beast mode, rampages through Exeter's defense, and then plays in a wide-open Teixeira who calmly slots it to make it three. Game Set and Match !!!

Just before the final whistle Benteke then proceeds to be played through for another one to one he goes past the keeper but does not show enough confidence in himself and the chance goes awry.

Full time: If the first run out for the youth players was shaky, this was a very assured performance. The added experience and early goal from Allen helped settle the nerves, and we never looked back. So now we have the joy of hosting West Ham in the fourth round. I'm sure we'll beat 'em in the replay.

Very good win with the majority of the players part of our under 21 squad it was an excellent run out at Anfield for the lads – the big decisions to now be made are will we start with Ibe away to Norwich. On this form I would definitely do so.

Man of the Match – Joe Allen

Started the scoring on the night and kept the midfield ticking over while on the field – he impressed so much that he needs to also be in contention to start versus Norwich – special mentions for Ibe – who showed why he has so much potential with a couple rasping shots in the game – one in particular he was unlucky to see bounce on the line but not totally over the line but Ibe continued to frustrate with his poor crossing and not looking up for team mates in better positions – that’s what he needs to continue working on.

Ilori & Enrique both had good games, two disappointments on the night were Kevin Stewart who gave the ball away too many times starting counter attacks for Exeter and Big Benteke who seems to be totally devoid of confidence and with the team scoring three goals and him scoring none – it has not helped his confidence at all despite setting up the third goal for Teixeira.

Liverpool (4-1-4-1): Mignolet, Randall (Flanagan 50), Tiago Ilori, Jose Enrique, Smith, Brannagan, Allen(Ojo 64), Stewart, Ibe(Chirivella 79), Benteke, Teixeira

Subs not used: Bogdan, Kent, Sinclair, Maguire

Goals: Allen 10, Ojo 75, Teixeira 81 

Exeter (4-3-3): Olejnik, Ribeiro, Brown, Moore-Taylor, Woodman, Butterfield (Hoskins 46), Nicholls, Davies, Oakley(Wheeler 63), Holmes, Morrison(Nichols 46)

Subs not used: McAllister, Hamon, Tillson, Grant 

Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire)

Att: 43,292                       

Klopp’s assessment of the Reds’ win over Exeter…
First of all, I really have to say thank-you to the crowd because I could not have imagined tonight would be so loud, in a rematch against a League Two team with the information that we would play with young players. It was a special atmosphere, it was great and it was a really enjoyable night for football. The lads enjoyed it, I could see that, and I spoke to them after the game. Everybody could see it. They worked hard, created chances and scored goals, wonderful goals. They made mistakes and reacted in the right way to mistakes. They fought against an opponent and I have to say, my first impression of League Two football – and I know their position in the table is not too good – is it seems to be a good league! They had a lot of good players in their team. In the first half, they were really experienced; it was very experienced against very young. So it was really hard work for the boys and I was pleased with the performance. A few weeks ago I could not have imagined I would enjoy a rematch in the FA Cup – now I did. Thanks FA Cup!

Klopp on Sheyi Ojo’s performance and goal…
He is very young, so there won’t be 20 interviews next week, or man-of-the-match things…leave the guys where they are. Everybody who has seen him playing has seen what big skills he has, but there are a lot of things he has to work on. I am happy to have him here. He made a goal – it wasn’t too bad! And in the last game [at Exeter] he came on and was important in getting the draw. He is in a good way – but it’s a long way [to go] for these young boys. They showed tonight what they are already able to do and they showed what they have to learn. That is always the case at this age. It’s not [about] protecting – it’s giving the lads time to develop. Tonight was a good moment and, yes, he did a few things that were impressive, but he has a lot of things to learn. The target at the end of the road has to be Liverpool FC in the Premier League and for this you have to be ready in all parts of your development. That’s where we’ll try to help the boys.

Klopp on his decision to field Mignolet, Allen, Ibe and Benteke…
It was because they were available. They didn’t play too often in the last few games, so they had no problems and so that’s the reason they played tonight. At Exeter, for example, Joe [Allen] could have played but was not available and Ibe felt his muscle and it wasn’t too serious but it wasn’t a situation to take a risk. We knew it would be a different game tonight; we played on a completely different pitch and we played differently from the first second, but against a good opponent. A really good opponent. They played football, had a playing build up, they tried everything and we had a lot of work to do, especially for 10-15 minutes in the second half when we lost a little bit of control, but then we scored the goals. We should do this more often and then we’d feel how goals change games!

Klopp on how LFC’s youngsters can make the next step in their development…
By working with them. It doesn’t mean they play because we cannot bring them in every week in the Premier League. We need to have all of our best players here at Liverpool FC – Kent was on loan, Ojo was on loan, Tiago [Ilori] was on loan, Stewart was on loan and a few more. We need to keep them here and then work with them. Football isn’t just about individual development. Yes, you have to develop individually but you have to develop as a team, you have to learn your position and you have to show you can work together with the team. You have to show you know about your job and the things you have to do. We will keep them here, work with them and I am sure the way will be shorter for them – but that’s for the future, not now