So Liverpool advance to the fourth round, where they’ll meet West Ham United at Anfield. A chance for the Hammers to avenge their defeat in the 2006 final, and an opportunity for Liverpool to avenge the double West Ham have done over them this season. Liverpool’s young team were impressive on the whole tonight, against an Exeter team who should be given massive credit for their defensive organisation and solidity, but most of all their moxie. The Premier League side scored three fine goals, but once again Christian Benteke’s form is a cause for concern: Klopp’s aforementioned unspoken plan to kick-start his Anfield career needs a little more work. On the flip side, the Scouse Cafu is back. So it’s swings and roundabouts. Meanwhile hopefully Exeter will gain confidence from two impressive showings against Premier League opposition, and enjoy a burst up the League Two table. Nighty night.
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FULL TIME: Liverpool 3-0 Exeter City
The free kick’s whipped into the Liverpool box. Ilori heads clear. Liverpool break, four on one. Chirivella sends Benteke free down the inside left, and you don’t need me to tell you what happens next. Not for the first time this season, he panics when one on one with the keeper. A heavy touch as he tries to round him, and the chance is gone. That pretty much sums up his performance tonight, which was 89 minutes of nonsense admittedly embellished by a fine assist.
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90 min +1: Holmes slips a pass down the left for Nichols, who crosses deep. Davies takes a snapshot from the right-hand edge of the box, but Enrique blocks. From a throw on the right, Smith bundles Wheeler over near the corner flag. A chance for a memorable consolation.
90 min: There will be two added minutes.
89 min: It’s shooting practice for Liverpool now. Benteke has a look from 20 yards, his curler towards the top right clawed away by Olejnik. Then Teixeira has a go from wide left, but it’s deflected, taking all the sting from the shot.
87 min: Fine play by Benteke, who slides a pass wide right to release Ojo into acres. But he metaphorically yawns and scratches his arse, and doesn’t bother heading into the box in anticipation for the cross. He must be very frustrating to play with.
85 min: A brilliant sliderule pass down the Exeter right by Holmes finds Wheeler in space. His low ball nearly finds Nichols in the centre, but Ilori has read the danger well, and steps in to clear. That was nearly a very pretty consolation goal for Exeter, as smooth a move as we’ve seen all night.
84 min: Stewart releases Benteke into the Exeter area down the right. It’s a fine ball, some redemption for a young man who will have better nights, but Benteke has mistimed his run. Offside.
GOAL! Liverpool 3-0 Exeter City (Teixeira 82)
Nichols goes on a run down the Exeter right, and fires a dangerous low ball into the Liverpool area. It somehow threads its way along a route that circumvents all the men Exeter have thrown forward, allowing Ilori to clear. Benteke romps down the middle of the park, drawing four players to the right. He then curls a pass left to Teixeira in the left-hand side of the box. Teixeira opens his body and slams a shot past Olejnik. A fine finish, and that is so much better from Benteke. Much, if not all, is forgiven.
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80 min: Chirivella comes on for Ibe. His first contribution is an attempted sidefooter from the edge of the box. It’s heading towards the bottom right. Benteke - who is also having a stinker but has less excuse than Stewart - gets in the way.
78 min: Stewart has been poor tonight. Everyone’s allowed a stinker. He plays yet another loose ball in the midfield, allowing Holmes to make good down the middle of the park. Fortunately for Stewart, Holmes loses control and a potentially dangerous move breaks down.
76 min: Exeter look visibly deflated, falling two behind after playing so well defensively for so long. Ojo has another sniff around the right-hand portion of the Exeter box, but can’t work position to shoot this time round. He lays off for Teixeira, who thinks about a shot from 25 yards, but opts to flick the ball wide for Brannagan. The move peters out.
GOAL! Liverpool 2-0 Exeter City (Ojo 74)
So having said all that - and this report should probably get an official assist - Liverpool finally get their second. And what a goal this is! Ojo picks up possession and eases into the Exeter area on the right. Woodman shuffles back, and back again. Bad decision: he’s given Ojo time and space to open his body up and flick-curl a delicious shot into the top left. That one was planted into the corner from the time it left his boot. A marvellous strike.
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73 min: The tension around Anfield is palpable. Exeter’s fans are enjoying themselves, but everyone else in the stadium must be contemplating the very real possibility of an Exeter goal. For all Liverpool’s territorial domination, they’ve only got one goal to show for it. And you know how these things often pan out.
71 min: Ibe dribbles in from the left. He cuts the ball back to Teixeira on the left-hand edge of the D. He shoots, but Brown spreads himself to block marvellously. The ball breaks to Ojo on the right of the box. He drops a shoulder to come inside, and sends a weak dribbler towards the bottom right. Olejnik gathers.
69 min: A poor Stewart pass in the middle of the park sends Davies and Nichols off on the rampage down the right. Stewart tries to repair the damage himself, but only succeeds in clattering Holmes. A free kick out on the right. It’s thrown into a packed box, but once again Benteke batters a header clear. Perhaps they should convert him into a defender, the old Kenny Burns switcheroo. Steven Caulker gets a go up front every now and then, after all.
67 min: More of the sterile Liverpool domination. A lot of passing in the middle of the park. Smith tries to get things going with a burst down the left, but his cutback from the byline isn’t anywhere near Benteke or Brannagan, lurking in the six-yard box.
65 min: It’s a good end-to-end affair, this. Ibe cuts in from the right, exchanges passes with Brannagan, and tries to curl a low one into the bottom left. Not quite. Nichols launces another sortie down the Exeter right, and very nearly gets past Ilori. Again, not quite. Meanwhile the goalscorer Allen is replaced by Ojo.
64 min: Wheeler comes on for Oakley. This is Exeter’s “finishing XI” now, all right.
62 min: Another Exeter attack, Hoskins crossing from the left, Holmes guiding a weak header from the penalty spot straight at Mignolet. A fine chance there. Liverpool want to watch themselves here. They break upfield through Smith down the left. His low cross should be met by Benteke on the edge of the area, but Benteke inexplicably dummies. There’s nobody in red near him! This is an absurd performance from a player who cost over £30m.
60 min: To be fair to Benteke, he’s just made a major contribution here. Nichols wins a corner off Smith’s chest as he tries to flick the ball into the Liverpool box from the right. The corner’s sent into a packed mixer, and you know how Liverpool minds whirl in the middle of that. Benteke crashes a header clear, and the danger is over.
59 min: Brannagan flicks a ball down the centre to release Benteke on goal. The striker hesitates, allowing Brown to brush him off the ball and Olejnik to come out and smother. He’s a confidence vacuum.
58 min: Exeter can’t get hold of the ball at all. Some nice metronomic passing. But Klopp will be wishing for some crashing, driving heavy beats. Liverpool are going nowhere. “I’ve always been fond of Joe Allen,” begins Matt Dony. “He’s a tidy player, keeps things ticking over nicely, and grew up a couple of towns over from me. But then I watch Xabi Alonso play. Even now, at 34, all those years after he left, watching him leaves me with a dull ache deep inside. Sigh.”
56 min: Brown clatters into the back of Benteke, just outside the Exeter area on the left. A free kick, which Benteke is ostentatiously waved away from. Brannagan chips the set piece into the box in the direction of the big striker, but it’s easily headed clear by Moore-Taylor. “Samson was most definitely Torres,” suggests James Cox. “He was rubbish after he had a haircut.”
54 min: From a corner on the right, Ibe cuts into the box and unleashes a screamer towards the top right. The ball bounds off the underside of the bar, 99% of the ball over the line. But that’s not enough, a brilliant decision to wave play on. Neither Benteke nor Allen can convert the bouncing rebound, and Exeter clear. That’s a brilliant effort, and so unlucky. You can’t get closer to scoring than that.
52 min: Ibe skitters at pace into the Exeter area down the right, but absurdly runs the ball out of play at full pace. He was in some sort of zone there. But Liverpool are beginning to press Exeter back.
51 min: The biggest cheer of the evening, the goal included, as Randall is replaced by Flanagan, back after that long, long injury lay-off.
50 min: Benteke nearly gets on the end fo Randall’s deep cross from the right, but it’s just a corner. Pinball in the Exeter area, Allan, Stewart and Brannagan all with the ball at their feet, but all unable to dig it out for a shot. Eventually Ibe gets involved, loitering by the right-hand post. He’s offside.
48 min: Randall goes on a power burst down the right. He breaks into the area and is brushed by Woodman. If Randall opted to go down, he’d have given the referee a decision there, as he was seriously knocked off balance. But he stays honest. He can’t keep the move going, though, despite stopping the ball from going out of play.
46 min: New Finishing Exeter are immediately on the front foot. Nichols makes a nuisance of himself on the edge of the box, forcing Stewart into a poor clearing header and allowing the substitute’s near-namesake Nicholls to cut in from the right and lash a wild shot high and left of goal. But that’s much better already from the visitors, who didn’t warm Mignolet’s hands in the first half.
And we're off again!
Two changes for Exeter: Butterfield and Morrison off, Hoskins and leading scorer Nichols on. Liverpool get the ball rolling again, and will attack the Kop in the second half, their favoured state of affairs. “Have you considered that Joe Allen might be a latter day Samson?” asks Siobhan. “He’s a new man since he grew the hair and the beard.”
Half-time entertainment: The second half between Leicester and Spurs should be kicking off soon. How about that? Like a pint of plain, Bryan Graham’s your only man.
HALF TIME: Liverpool 1-0 Exeter City
Not much of a lead for all that dominance. Will Paul Tisdale’s “finishing XI” make the Premier League side pay? It could be a nervous second half for the hosts if they don’t up their game.
45 min: Benteke dribbles towards the Exeter box at pace, down the inside-left channel. He tries to carefully curl a low shot towards the bottom right, but it’s too ponderous and easily blocked by Moore-Taylor.
44 min: Liverpool continue to pass it around quite a lot, but they’re going nowhere. In that sense, this is just like watching the first team go about their business. No cutting edge. Exeter are holding their shape very well indeed.
42 min: Not much going on right now, apart from the continued fretting of Dundee United’s Simon McMahon (12 mins), who just won’t let it go. “Just dug out the programme from the European Cup semi-final 1st leg at Tannadice. Dundee United 2 Roma 0. 11th April 1984. There’s a prophetic piece inside by Mel Henderson, Public Relations Officer at Ipswich Town, who had played the Italians the previous season, entitled ‘What Awaits United in Rome’. On a lighter note, there’s also an advert for Paul Sturrock’s Video Library and Showroom ‘with approx. 700 titles in both Beta and VHS formats’.”
40 min: The corner is easily cleared, but Liverpool are quickly coming back at Exeter, Ibe sending a screamer goalward from the right-hand edge of the D. It’s deflected for another corner, which leads to another Ibe shot. The young winger cuts in from the right, drops a shoulder, and sends a rising diagonal pearler inches wide and high of the top-left corner. A couple of very decent efforts there.
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38 min: Ibe makes good down the right, reaches the byline, and pulls back for Allen, ten yards out and level with the right-hand post. His first-time shot is blocked by Butterfield, for a corner on the right. Before that’s taken, here’s Lewis Madison: “Either news reports of a bid from Swansea for his services have put the wind up Joe Allen, forcing him to play for his Liverpool future, or he’s doing a Fernando Torres - suddenly becoming good again to earn a big money move. My cash would be on the former.”
36 min: Benteke turns on the jets to power past Ribeiro down the right. He reaches the byline but hesitates, allowing Ribeiro to get back into position, then runs the ball out of play for a goal kick. “What a waste of money!” trill the Liverpool Exeter fans.
34 min: An incredibly poor square ball by Stewart, across the face of the Liverpool defence, and Nicholls scampers into space down the Exeter right. He’s tugged back by Smith, who becomes the second Liverpool player who should be in the book but isn’t. The referee was very lenient there. A chance for Exeter to load the box, though. Which they do, so it’s a shame that Woodman’s free kick from deep on the right is a clumpish nonsense, sailing out of play to the left of goal, harmlessly so.
32 min: Allen is in the mood for this tonight. He chases after a long high ball down the inside-left channel, but winning headers isn’t the forte of the Welsh Xavi Pirlo, and Moore-Taylor wins the duel.
30 min: Butterfield channels his inner Beckenbauer, trying to progressively play out of defence. It doesn’t quite work. Allen very nearly takes a loose ball under control as it breaks back towards the Exeter box, but once again Olejnik is on his toes, and smothers just in time.
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29 min: Teixeira rolls a ball down the left for Smith to gallop onto. And gallop he does, with some purpose, reaching the edge of the area, then unselfishly rolling the ball inside for Brannagan, whose 20-yard shot only just flies over the crossbar.
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28 min: Davies looks to break down the middle of the park. He’s cynically tugged by Allen, who is very fortunate to escape a booking. Exeter were launching a rare attack there, with Liverpool slightly light at the back, and have every right to feel radged off.
25 min: Benteke batters the ball straight into the Exeter wall. That’s not great. The ball rebounds to the striker, who momentarily thinks about having a second crack but instead slides the ball right to Brannagan. Good decision, for the young midfielder sends a low diagonal shot whistling towards the bottom left. Olejnik tips round the post. Very close to the second. The corner is wasted.
24 min: Davies slides in late on Allen as Liverpool triangulate in the pretty style across the face of the Exeter area. This is a free kick in a central position, 25 yards from goal. Benteke fancies this. He takes the ball and stands over the free kick with purpose...
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23 min: Ibe jigs down the right and stands one up to the far post. Benteke goes up well to challenge for a ball he’s never going to get, and earns a corner off Brown. From the set piece, sent long, Benteke flashes a header into the side netting from a tight angle. Closer, and a little better.
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20 min: This is becoming difficult to watch. An increasingly desperate Benteke bustles 20 yards from goal down the middle, then tries a low power shot. He only succeeds in mishitting, the ball corkscrewing harmlessly miles wide right of the post. The one positive thing to say about Benteke right now: he’s not hiding. Hey, small acorns.
19 min: It gets worse. Teixeira is sent into the Exeter box down the left by Allen. Teixeira floats a gorgeous cross to the far post, the ball gently falling towards the head of Benteke, six yards out. He’s got to score, but batters his header over the bar.
17 min: Now Benteke fails to execute a simple two-yard pass to Teixeira, who is standing right next to him. Goodness me, but there’s a chap who really needs a goal tonight. When the confidence goes, the simple things become very difficult indeed.
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15 min: Nothing’s going right for poor old Benteke right now. He breaks into the Exeter box and fools Brown with a lovely little nutmeg, but he’s not fleet of foot enough to nip round the player to latch onto his own ball, and Olejnik is again on hand to mop up.
14 min: Allen, in a central position 30 yards from goal, turns and flicks a pass down the inside-left channel in an attempt to release Teixeira. Not quite. The pass is a bit too strong, and Olejnik is out quickly to claim.
12 min: Exeter still can’t retain possession. It’s a passing exercise for Liverpool right now, attack versus defence. “Did you have to mention Roma?” writes our resident Dundee United fanboy Simon McMahon. “Talk about kicking a man when he’s down.”
GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Exeter City (Allen 10)
This is a beautifully simple goal. Benteke and Smith exchange crisp, short passes on the left-hand edge of the Exeter box. Smith cuts in from the wing, Benteke slides a pass down the channel, then Smith, from the byline, cuts back for Allen, who slams home from six yards.
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9 min: Liverpool respond by pushing Exeter back a little. Olejnik is forced to slap away a Teixeira left-wing cross, the ball threatening to drift under the crossbar. Ibe tries to recycle on the right, and nearly finds Benteke in the middle. Moore-Taylor does well to get a header clear.
8 min: A piss-poor ball out of defence by Enrique, and Nicholls is able to tear into a lot of space down the Exeter right. He exchanges passes with Morrison, and then tries to one-two with Oakley, but can’t quite break into the area. That looked dangerous for a second, though, and will give Exeter succour: up until that moment, they hadn’t seen very much of the ball at all.
5 min: But the ball’s recycled down the Liverpool left, allowing Smith to curl a cross into the area. After some pinball heading, the ball breaks to Benteke on the penalty spot. Benteke has his back to goal, but turns and sends a low shot towards the bottom right. Unfortunately, the effort is barely travelling, and rolls gently into Olejnik’s arms.
4 min: Allen, to the right of the Exeter D, tries to slide Benteke in. His pass doesn’t find the striker, but deflects wide right to Ibe, who wins a corner. Teixeira takes, whipping towards the near post. Ribeiro heads behind for a second corner, which is taken short and is a total waste of time.
2 min: Smith hares after a long ball down the inside-left channel, and very nearly latches onto it on the edge of the box. But Olejnick is off his line quickly to claim.
And we're off!
Exeter will be attacking the Kop in this first half, and they get the ball rolling. It’s launched down the right. Nicholls goes up and fails to win a header. A loose touch by Teixeira is deflected out. A Liverpool throw deep in their own half. An early chance for Exeter to put some pressure on this young home side, but Liverpool make ground upfield. A hectic start.
The teams are out! Liverpool are in their famous all-red get-up, while Exeter wear their second-choice black clobber with orange trim. Nice kit, vaguely reminiscent of the gear Roma sometimes wear. A cracking atmosphere at Anfield, the sweet sounds of pre-match excitement boosted by 6,000 travelling Exeter fans. We’ll be off in a minute!
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Exeter’s replacement of leading scorer Tom Nichols with the 36-year-old Morrison is a big call by Paul Tisdale. Here’s the slick Grecian boss, who sounds like a man with a plan: “It’s a set of players for a particular game. We’ve got a tough challenge tonight, and this is a team that will suit the night. I’ve got a change or two on the bench, so we have a starting XI and a finishing XI. We’ll get to half-time and reassess. Experience does help, but it’s about specific skillsets, asking the players to do something they can actually achieve rather than asking them to do something a little bit alien. Stay connected, keep the ball, enjoy it, relax and play. There will be big moments in the game: make sure you’re ready for those moments.”
Jurgen Klopp speaks! “We want to give Simon Mignolet some rhythm, and he wants to play, so he plays. It’s nothing to do with Adam Bogdan. My young players should enjoy it. It’s one of the best places in the world to play football, and not many people get to do this. Some of the players are starting here for the first time. No other club in the Premier League fields such a young team, and people might think we are crazy, but we want to go to the next round and we think we have the quality. So they should show it, and have no doubts about themselves. I don’t doubt, so it would not be too smart if they do!”
Christian Benteke does start for Liverpool, then, but the slights keep on coming: captain at Exeter, he’s been told to give the armband to the lesser-spotted Jose Enrique. And it’s a slightly stronger side than perhaps anyone expected: Simon Mignolet goes in goal, and there are starts for Joe Allen and Jordon Ibe. Good to see the Scouse Cafu back on the bench after a long injury layoff, too.
Exeter meanwhile make four changes from the first tie. Josh Read and David Noble miss out completely, while Jordan Tillson and Tom Nichols drop to the bench. Coming into the starting XI: Aaron Davies, Danny Butterfield, Matt Oakley and Clinton Morrison. You may recall Morrison from his Crystal Palace days, trash-talking Gerard Houllier’s Liverpool ahead of a League Cup semi at Anfield in 2001, then taking a fresh-air swipe at the ball from six yards towards the end of a 5-0 beating. He’ll be hoping for much better luck tonight.
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Tonight's teams
All-star Liverpool XI: Mignolet, Randall, Ilori, Enrique, Smith, Brannagan, Allen, Stewart, Ibe, Benteke, Teixeira.
Subs: Bogdan, Flanagan, Kent, Sinclair, Ojo, Maguire, Chirivella.
Exeter City: Olejnik, Ribeiro, Brown, Moore-Taylor, Woodman, Butterfield, Nicholls, Davies, Oakley, Holmes, Morrison.
Subs: McAllister, Hoskins, Nichols, Hamon, Wheeler, Tillson, Grant.
Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire)
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While we’re on the subject of history, meeting Exeter augurs well for Liverpool. They’ve done not too badly in the four previous seasons the clubs have met. In 1949/50 they met in the FA Cup: Liverpool went on to reach the final. In 1979/80 they met in the League Cup: Liverpool were put out in the semis by reigning European champions Nottingham Forest. In 1981/82 there was that aforementioned 11-0 aggregate League Cup rout: Liverpool went on to beat Spurs in the final. And in 2011/12, Luis Suarez, Maxi Rodriguez and Andy Carroll were the big-name goalscorers of a 3-1 League Cup win - Daniel Nardiello got Exeter’s consolation - and Liverpool went on to win the trophy that year too, seeing off Cardiff City, just, in the final.
Liverpool last hosted Exeter in October 1981. They won 5-0 in the second round of the League Cup, Ian Rush (2), Terry McDermott, Kenny Dalglish and Ronnie Whelan all on the scoresheet. Exeter could have probably done without the second leg back at St James Park, truth be told, but it had to be played, and they lost that one heavily too, 6-0. Another two goals for Ian Rush, though looking back, the eye-catching scorer for Liverpool that evening was Kevin Sheedy. The future Everton legend would score again in the next round, against Middlesbrough, but it proved to be his last start in a red shirt. Bob Paisley preferred Ronnie Whelan, and Sheedy was soon off to Everton, where he’s remembered fondly for so many reasons.
Good evening!
“That is something that does not really make sense to talk to the press about.” A wonderful line from Jurgen Klopp, there. It could be applied to absolutely anything, and he should probably start using it all the time. Though just to be clear: in this instance it concerned Klopp’s plan for turning the confidence-free Christian Benteke into the kind of striker required at Liverpool.
Mind you, we can take a wild stab in the dark regarding the plan ourselves. The plan: convince the big man to run about. Benteke has an unfortunate habit of drifting off into dreamy dreamland, a habit incompatible with Klopp’s philosophy of gegenpressing (German for Running About). He’s got to show a bit of willing. And, to this end, will probably tonight be yet again thrown in with the kids to face Exeter City.
Klopp’s decision to go with youth - understandable when faced with long fixture and injury lists - should ensure another fascinating match tonight. The original tie at Exeter’s St James Park was fantastic fun. Liverpool’s waifs and strays flirted with defeat in that one, but that was about right seeing they were facing resolute and spirited League Two opponents; an actual team. Both sides acquitted themselves well that evening, both facing their own set of unfamiliar circumstances.
Benteke plus kids - if Benteke gets a run-out - will be favourites tonight, whatever the XI. It’s how the bookies roll. But Exeter are capable of causing the Premier League club some bother. They were dynamite down both flanks in the first match, Lee Holmes in particular causing all sorts of pandemonium on the left. A few good crosses, or one or two set pieces, and, well, you know what Liverpool are like. It’s the third round of the FA Cup. It’s David versus Goliath’s children. It’s a potential shock. It’s on!
Kick off: 8pm GMT.
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