Liverpool secure Carabao Cup semi-final spot with win over Southampton

The match took place under challenging conditions with heavy rain on the south coast, setting the stage for a hard-fought battle.

The scoring opened in the 24th minute when Darwin Nunez capitalized on a fortunate bounce from a long ball by Jarell Quansah, which took a deflection and allowed Nunez to slot the ball past a slipping Alex McCarthy. Liverpool doubled their lead just after the half-hour mark, again with the help of a deflection. This time, good interplay between Cody Gakpo and Wataru Endo set up Harvey Elliott, whose shot benefitted from a slight touch by Ryan Manning, leaving McCarthy with no chance.

Southampton, under the stewardship of new caretaker manager Simon Rusk, struggled to adapt to the conditions and the pressure from Liverpool. Despite a spirited performance and a notable save by McCarthy from Alexis Mac Allister, they couldn't overturn the deficit.

The second half saw the introduction of Federico Chiesa for Liverpool, replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold. Chiesa, who has had limited game time this season, showed glimpses of his potential. His play included a clever through ball to Diogo Jota and a nutmeg followed by a shot that was unfortunately blocked. However, his performance was a mixed bag, with some misplaced passes and poor touches, which can be attributed to a lack of match sharpness.

Despite Chiesa's cameo, it was clear that Liverpool's depth and quality shone through, especially in a competition where rotation is key. With this victory, Liverpool continue their pursuit of adding another EFL Cup to their cabinet, having won the competition a record 10 times.

The match also highlighted Southampton's defensive frailties, having conceded 36 goals in the Premier League this season, as they now look to regroup and tackle their ongoing challenges in the league. Meanwhile, Liverpool fans and analysts will continue to debate Chiesa's role and potential within the squad, as his performance against Southampton was neither definitive proof of his brilliance nor his inadequacy.

Arne Slot is not placing a timescale on when Liverpool will see the best of Federico Chiesa and says the Italy international simply has to focus on getting up to 100% once more after his first appearance since September.

Slot said he was pleased with what he saw from the £12m signing from Juventus and accepted that Chiesa was unable to find his top speed having barely played competitively since the European Championships with Italy over the summer.

"What I saw is what you can expect," Slot said. "If a player is out for five or six months, you cannot expect (perfect form). I saw ups and downs. I saw some really good moments and I saw some moments where I felt like: 'OK, you can do better than this'.

"For me, that's completely normal if a player has been out for so long. He plays his first game in five, six months probably. I already said before that that makes it also so difficult for me because normally in the pre-season a player gets three, four or five games especially, and then he's only out for four or five weeks.

"Now he's out for so long. To get him back to his best level is not easy, but it was good to see that he showed some quality already today. But it's the same for him, like for the youngsters, it's not enough to play at this level. You have to compete with Mo Salah, Cody Gakpo, Lucho Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota. But it's good to see that he's back and he also had a few good moments in the game."

Slot added: "Harvey Elliott already had a good impact in the game during the weekend against Fulham. So it was good to see that he's able to play 90 for him today and even score a goal. I started him off on the right.

"I felt he almost got a bit bored so he didn't touch the ball a lot. So we changed this after 15 to 20 minutes of playing him in the midfield. We know he's a better midfielder than he is a winger, but we had to do it like this.

"So that was pleasing to see. If I have to give someone a big compliment it should be Wata Endo. Because in a different position, playing such a good game in these circumstances, that shows you what a quality player he is, but mainly what kind of mentality and personality he has. So it was good to see them both, but I think it was not only them but you highlighted them.

"This club is known for this (young players). I heard the fans singing for Trent a song about the Scousers. I don't know exactly what they sing, but it probably has to do with him coming from the academy as well.

"We have already a few starters from our academy. To see these players that train with us on a daily basis, we know their quality and it's nice to see that they show on Premier League level that they can easily play at this level.

"The thing for them is it's not about easily playing at this level. You have to compete with Mo Salah, Virgil (van Dijk) and all these kind of players. It's not enough to be good enough to play at this level, you have to be good enough to play for Liverpool. That is probably even the next step they have to make, but they've shown today that these players are capable of playing at Premier League level."

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