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Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
After the Reds overturn the first leg deficit and cruise into the Carabao Cup final, we take a look at some of the winners and losers on the night.
It was always going to be a tough task for a porous Tottenham side, hanging onto an illicitly earned one-goal advantage for a full 90 minutes against maybe the best team in the world right now, at Anfield nonetheless, and in the end it proved too overwhelming an assignment, as Spurs were comprehensively outplayed and dismantled by a rampant and confident Liverpool.
The fans had to wait a little while for the 1-0 deficit to be equalised, true, but by the time Cody Gakpo fired home another outside the boot Mo Salah cross on the half hour, the Reds had already taken eight shots to the visitors’ zero, and the evening’s end result already felt inevitable.
A goal up at the break and looking utterly dominant, Liverpool turned the screw immediately in the second half, and after Darwin Núñez latched onto Salah’s through ball and was felled by a nervous-looking Antonin Kinsky, the Egyptian strode up and immaculately buried his penalty, sending his team into an aggregate lead.
The visitors subsequently had a spell of three or four minutes where they appeared to be trying to turn the tide, but a sweeping transition 15 minutes from time saw Dominik Szoboszlai convert on a first-time through ball from Conor Bradley, before captain Virgil van Dijk took the score from comprehensive to humbling with a towering header off a lovely Alexis Mac Allister corner delivery five minutes later.
The Reds will take on Newcastle in the final on March 16th in Arne Slot’s first trip to Wembley, and while there is a league lead to fortify and a Champions League quarter final to qualify for in the meantime, the manager and his charges will undoubtedly be looking forward to an early chance at silverware.
Winners
Cody Gak-whoa: 21 goals and assists is Cody Gakpo’s tally for the season now in the early stages of February, and while a third of those have come in what might be termed lesser competitions — ie the domestic cups — there seems to be little doubt that the 25-year old has come of age this campaign.
A combination of wide outlet, ball progression hub, and back post tap-in threat, the former PSV man complements the other parts of the Reds’ attack better than perhaps any of the other left wing options available to Slot, and has made the spot his own after starting the season behind Luis Diaz in the pecking order.
What the future holds for the Liverpool front line is up in the air, with a sizeable contingent of its current members potentially plying their trade elsewhere next year for a number of reasons, but Cody Gakpo feels like he’s established himself and is here to stay.
Mo Mo Mo: While we are happy for Cody’s 21 goal involvements and the very good season it constitutes he’s having, Mohamed Salah scored and assisted again tonight, for the tenth time this season, taking his total tally to 44. While it’s not in any way flying under the radar that Salah is having a good year, the Egyptian is currently averaging a goal or assist every 65 minutes, and this writer feels like it is perhaps not appropriately appreciated just how incredible a stat line that is for a man who plays every single minute of football available.
Also, just a ridiculous penalty. Put any number of goalkeepers in the net, they’re not getting close to that one. Obscene.
His contract situation is still not sorted, but we really, really should try not to let that take away from the joy of watching Salah in full flight at the moment. It truly is something to behold.
Losers
Ange Mate: Lovely fella, Ange Postecoglu, football romantic, hates pressers, probably not gonna stay in the job much longer now. Spurs are gonna have a hell of a time finishing in the top half of the Premier League table, and while there are a lot of extenuating circumstances — their implausible injury load, the fact that all of their non-Liverpool losses are by a single goal, them still being among the favourites to go deep in the Europa League — it feels like the external pressure is mounting, and Daniel Levy is not averse to making a sacrifice when the pressure is on.
What Happens Next
The Reds travel to the southwest to take on Championship bottom dwellers Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday, before the postponed Merseyside derby against a re-Moyesified Everton takes place next Wednesday, as Liverpool look to continue fortifying their lead at the top of the Premier League table.
