In the end, the Fourth Round FA Cup tie between Cardiff City and Liverpool at Anfield this lunchtime turned out in an acceptable manner for both sides I’d guess. Liverpool progressed as they would have taken for granted beforehand, while City came out of their daunting test with honour intact and some encouraging displays by the youngsters who were given a chance to show what they could do.
Again, both sides would look at the 3-1 scoreline and be satisfied I suppose. The home side were a couple of goals better than us over the ninety minutes I’d say, while a City team with two youngsters in the back three, another one at wing back and another in central midfield offered the potential for it to get very messy for Steve Morison’s outfit, but that never happened – indeed, City got to half time with the game still goalless.
Actually, City could point to two incidents while it was still 0-0 which could have made things very interesting if the rulings had gone in their favour. The first occurred about midway through the first half when the lively Mark Harris got goal side of centre back Ibrahima Konate and went down under the defender’s challenge in the penalty area.
With VAR in operation for this game, there was still the chance that Andy Madley’s decision not to point to the spot could be overturned, but it didn’t happen and my feeling was that the officials probably got their decision right.
In saying that, I not sure I’m right in thinking that, because it fell into the “I’ve seen them given” category for me, but I’m just about on the side of the not a penalty view.
However, I think City we’re hard done by early in the second half when goalkeeper Caionhim Kelleher came flying out some forty yards to take out Harris as he moved on to a Will Vaulks pass. Madley deemed the foul worthy of a yellow card, but VAR reviewed the decision on two counts – first, was it a denial of a clear scoring opportunity and, second, was it reckless and serious foul play – if the answer in either case was yes, then Kelleher would have been red carded.
Again, I think VAR was right when it came to the first count – Harris’ touch had taken him into a wider position and it looked like Kanote could get around to cover. When it comes to the second one though, there is no way that Kelleher was in control of his attempt to win the ball and, as such, it was a reckless challenge – for me, the goalkeeper should have been sent off.
Even if that had happened though, would having an extra man have made a sufficient dent in the 80/20 advantage Liverpool had when it came to possession? I’m not convinced it would have done because City we’re never able to escape the clutches of Liverpool’s traditional aggressive pressing game which has a habit of finding out players with faulty techniques and limited passing ranges.
City lined up with Dillon Phillips in goal, a back three of Ollie Denham, Aden Flint and Mark McGuiness flanked by Perry Ng and Joel Bagan who were meant to be wing backs, but the reality was that they were part of a back five most of the time. In the midfield, it was Marlon Pack, Will Vaulks and Eli King who made his first start for the club having only featured for the final ten minutes of Mick McCarthy’s last game against Middlesbrough, with Harris and James Collins up front.
The encouraging thing was that, by and large, the youngsters coped well with Liverpool’s pressing – Denham, after being turned by a piece of lovely skill by Diego Jota whose fourth minute shot was excellently kept out by Phillips, settled to become, possibly, our best player, while Bagan was calm and effective in the position he looks set to have a long run in now following Alfie Doughty’s season ending injury at Barnsley (if, as I suspect it might be following his ACL injury in the same game, Sean Morrison has played his last game for the club, then I’d like to thank him for his sterling service these past eight years and a half years and for one of the great City moments of the past decade with his second goal at Hull in 2018).
King found the going tough at times, but there were some nice passes from him and it will be great experience for him, while Harris occasionally troubled top class defenders – throw in the contributions of Rubin Colwill and Isaak Davies when they came on and it must be said that our youngsters acquitted themselves well (it was good to see Jai Sememyo given a debut as well when he came on to replace Ng for the last minute or so).
Unfortunately, in a microcosm of our season, it was the more experienced players who tended to struggle with the challenge of playing one of Europe’s top teams. To be fair, I thought Pack did pretty well, Flint, apart from one or two moments like his first half air shot in his own penalty area defended resolutely and you could not fault the endeavour of the likes of Vaulks and Collins, but it is a fact that it was those two who gave away needless free kicks in dangerous positions in a first half where, that early Jota chance apart, Liverpool struggled to open up our massed defence sat very deep.
When Vaulks, who had shot not too far wide to round off our best move of the first half, gave away another cheap free kick, and picked up a yellow card, he and his team were punished five minutes after the break. Trent Alexander-Arnold had been some way off target with his efforts from the free kicks I mentioned earlier, but, this time, he elected to cross and Jota showed the aerial ability which is so good for someone of his size as he guided a header from about fifteen yards well wide of Phillips. It was a fine ball in and a great header, but, nevertheless, it did come from a dead ball and, in terms of height at least, that was one phase of the game where you would have thought we could have competed with Liverpool as equals.
That was the end of the game as a true contest really, Liverpool took control and, having made the breakthrough, it seemed that there would be further home goals. Unfortunately, when the second one arrived, it was another to be added to the list of horrendous goals we’ve let in this season.
Maybe it’s the near ten years of largely headless chicken football City have played, but the one quality I like to see most in a City footballer these days is composure. Denham and Bagan showed composure which contrasted nicely with the panic stricken stuff we saw in Bristol City’s first goal in particular a fortnight ago. Parry Ng is a composed player as well and he showed it today in what was largely another good performance, but when you’re too composed and your team pays for it, there really is nowhere to hide.
Ng was a little unlucky in that it was one of those balls which looks like rolling out of play but resolutely refuses to do so, but he really should have put it out for a corner or throw in, instead Liverpool’s new signing Luis Diaz (who says he wanted to sign for us in 2019!) was able to gain possession on the bye line and roll a pass back for Takimo Minamimo to score easily.
The third goal followed eight minutes later and provided the story of the game really as sub Harvey Elliot, making his first appearance since dislocating his ankle after it looked like he was establishing himself in Liverpool’s first team, instantly controlled and classily swept in a fierce shot from around the penalty spot that was in the net almost before Phillips moved – albeit, Elliot was helped by an unfortunate slip by McGuinness on a pitch made a little tricky by heavy rain that had begun during the game.
There was a chance after this that the game could become the massacre that some City fans feared, but, in fact, the final goal of the tie shortly afterwards in the eightieth minute came from City and it provided the scorer with a lifetime memory as he put the ball in the Liverpool net in front of City’s travelling army of six thousand fans.
It was a goal with its origins and execution in the club’s Academy as Colwill gained possession ten yards inside City’s half, fed Davies who provided the pacy impetus City struggle for when he’s not on the pitch before finding Colwill who took a perfect touch before beating Kelleher comprehensively from the edge of the penalty area.
So, it’s all Championship football from now on for City starting on Wednesday with a visit from Peterborough – a game where the reality is that a home win would make relegation a remote possibility.