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Liverpool 3-1 Tottenham: Five Things We Learned After Nyoni, Koumas, & Mamardashvili Impress
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- Liverpool 3-1 Tottenham: Five Things We Learned After Nyoni, Koumas, & Mamardashvili Impress
Liverpool Progress to the Fourth Round
Liverpool defeated Tottenham by three goals to one in their Carabao Cup third-round clash last night. That means the Reds progress to the next round, with their opponents to be decided tonight in the fourth-round draw following the conclusion of Manchester United v Brighton & Hove Albion .
Reuters/Scott Heppell
Academy Stars Shine
Trey Nyoni , James McConnell , and Lewis Koumas all made their first starts for Liverpool this season, and all three impressed.
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Nyoni and McConnell started alongside Alexis Mac Allister in midfield, with McConnell taking the most advanced role. The double pivot of Mac Allister and Nyoni brought control to Liverpool's midfield, whilst Nyoni continued to display his intelligence in timing his jumps and reading the game.
Meanwhile, McConnell helped orchestrate Andoni Iraola 's press from the No. 10 position. McConnell had been considered a deeper-lying midfielder under both Jurgen Klopp and Arne Slot, so it has been an interesting development since the start of pre-season to see him take up a more advanced No. 10 position. It is a different take on the role than that of Florian Wirtz , but one which is functional within Iraola's system.
It is telling that when Nyoni and McConnell came off for Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch in the 61st minute, the Reds lost control of the game.
Koumas, meanwhile, played up front and led the press. He simply did not stop running and was a constant nuisance for Tottenham 's defenders. He was particularly impressive with his doggedness around second balls, and he brought his teammates into play well.
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If Koumas can add goal contributions to his performances, he has a real chance of having a long-term future at the club - especially when he is already clearly a favourite of Iraola.
Mamardashvili Impresses
Giorgi Mamardashvili had perhaps his best performance yet for Liverpool against Tottenham. The giant Georgian made three crucial saves to ultimately ensure Liverpool won the game.
One save, towards the end of the match, was truly superb, reacting mid-dive to throw a hand in the way of a deflected close-range shot.
He was, however, partly at fault for Tottenham's one goal (scored by Conor Gallagher ), as his mistimed punch defending a corner allowed Gallagher to head the ball in at the back post. But his big saves throughout the match easily made up for this error, an error that was not helped by his teammates' haphazard marking.
Reuters/Scott Heppell
He was also more composed in his distribution than we are used to seeing, complemented well by Joe Gomez and Jeremy Jacquet 's own coolness on the ball.
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Gakpo Picks Up Where He Left Off
Gakpo returned to the starting XI after being unable to play since Liverpool's win over Ipswich due to a slight fitness issue. He picked up exactly where he left off and was involved in the build-up to Liverpool's first and third goals.
He scored the second with a trademark cut-inside, top-corner, finish, something that was not coming off for him last season.
It is fantastic to see him playing so well, especially after the difficult season and summer he has endured personally. Many had, quite fairly, made peace with the idea of him potentially leaving the club during the transfer window. But now, any exit for Gakpo is becoming unthinkable.
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Gomez Returns, and Jacquet Continues to Dominate
Joe Gomez returned to the pitch for the first time since he went down injured at the start of pre-season. He played the entirety of the first half and put in a solid performance, spraying a couple of impressive long passes to boot. He came off for Jeremy Jacquet at halftime.
And Jacquet continues to dominate. At this point, it has become clear that the young Frenchman is simply a very, very good player. There is not much more that can be said about him; the fact that he is in line to earn his first French national team call-up tells you all you need to know about his current form.
Frimpong Returns to the Fold as Fullbacks Improve
Jeremie Frimpong started his first game since losing his starting berth at right-back to Ronald Araujo (who played the full 90 minutes at centre-half).
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Frimpong had a solid performance, particularly defensively. He also took much better care of the ball than he has in recent matches, even if his attacking impact was limited last night.
Milos Kerkez , who started the game after only playing the second half against Fulham , was also solid defensively and played a big part in setting up Gakpo's goal.
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