Preston 0-2 Liverpool: Divock Origi sends Liverpool through to Carabao Cup quarter finals
This was unrecognisable from Sunday’s demolition of Manchester United, and with good reason given the stars of Old Trafford were resting at home.
It would not have made easy viewing for Mo Salah and Co, however, and job done is just about as kind as you can be to Liverpool.
The leading lights are relying on their understudies to ensure safe passage to the latter stages of this competition – but it could well have been lights out after a ragged performance that even Jurgen Klopp did not attempt to dress up.
A superb strike from Divock Origi helped book Liverpool’s place in the Carabao Cup quarters
The Belgian striker executed a sensational piece of improvisation at Deepdale on Wednesday
Preston North End keeper Declan Rudd was helpless to stop Origi’s strike from hitting the net
It needed two moments of illumination from Takumi Minamino and Divock Origi to win it – and they were fine goals – but it is just as well that’s all Liverpool required, for they showed little else.
Indeed, Klopp said he would wait until the eve of their quarter-final tie before deciding if the stand-ins will revert to the shadows after a nervy night here.
Yes, this victory makes it 23 matches unbeaten in all competitions, but this was not the Liverpool at which we marvelled during their 5-0 annihilation of United.
Klopp said: ‘We did not play well. We lost structure completely and were too desperate to get the ball. That can happen when the team do not play as much together. But it was all about getting through.’
On a filthy night of wind and rain, the team-sheet was just as grubby. It showed a combined 20 changes and meant that a sell-out crowd of 22,131 was perhaps a record for reserve-team football in these parts.
Maybe some had naively bought tickets in anticipation of seeing Salah, the best player in the world. But not even the best players in Preston were on display here. In fact, there was a feeling among some locals that their nine-man bench would have beaten their starting XI.
To think, Preston had never been to a League Cup quarter-final in their history. Yet their priority before kick-off was evidently this Saturday’s visit of Luton.
Is this competition really worth persevering with when a supposed first-team fixture is vandalised with such frequency?
But then, as is often the way amid a contest of wholesale change, mistakes and chaos ensue, kind of like those understudies forgetting their lines. It is, invariably, entertaining. Intriguing, even.
Takumi Minamino opened the scoring for the Reds with a neat finish in the second half
The Japan international wheels away in celebration after finding the net for the visitors
Minamino is congratulated by Neco Williams and Conor Bradley after putting Liverpool ahead
The Championship side were left to rue their missed opportunities in the first half at Deepdale
Neco Williams blocked a goal-bound effort on the line in Preston’s biggest chance of the game
For while we may well decry this as Liverpool’s second-string, a centre-back pairing of Joe Gomez and Joel Matip would not be uncommon in the Premier League.
To see them dragged around Deepdale like a pair of teenage debutants, then, would have concerned Klopp.
That Preston did not find a deserved opener before half-time owed much to finishing as wild as the weather – Sean Maguire and Brad Potts were both guilty of two glaring misses.
Klopp had seen enough of Matip and he was duly hooked at half-time. Debutant Harvey Blair did not last much longer and, for all the pre-match talk of the 18-year-old forward, he made little noise on the pitch.
The same could not be said of Tyler Morton. He was another making his first Liverpool start and made a case for more with an assured display from the centre of midfield.
Tom Barkhuizen sets his sights on goal from range but the striker blazed over the crossbar
Back up goalkeeper Adrian was given a rare run out in a much changed side at Deepdale
Jurgen Klopp also handed a senior debut to youngster Harvey Blair who started in attack
The 18-year-old sprang the pass that set Neco Williams clear for the winning goal on 63 minutes. There was still much work to be done and Williams drove into the area before dropping an inviting ball to the near post for Minamino to turn home.
‘Taku is a high quality player,’ said Klopp. ‘The only problem for him is that the other players in his position are really good, and are fit. But he is much better than he showed tonight.’
Origi then masked an otherwise ineffective outing with a wonderful moment of improvisation five minutes from time, hooking a back-heel over his head and into the empty net.
‘Divock Origi’s goal was just Divock Origi,’ added Klopp. ‘It was not a striker’s game because we did not get the ball to them.’
It is just as well for Klopp that, on the two occasions they did, they scored.
Re-live Sportsmail’s live coverage of Preston 0-2 Liverpool brought to you by OLLIE LEWIS.
