Despite progressing to the next round of the League Cup, there wasn’t a whole lot of celebrate after Liverpool’s win over Championship side Middlesbrough on Tuesday night.
Reds boss Brendan Rodgers gave a number of his key players a break as he looked ahead to this weekend’s meeting with crosstown rivals Everton and the lack of consistency in the squad was as evident as ever. Liverpool academy player Jordan Rossiter opened the scoring with a long range strike in the 10th minute, but that wasn’t enough to see them through with Adam Reach equalizing with a header from a set piece. Suso looked to have wrapped up proceedings in extra time only to see Patrick Bamford once again pull the Teesiders level from the spot to set up an epic penalty shoot-out.
A win is a win, but there’s little doubt that Liverpool should have made things much easier on themselves — something that defender Kolo Toure thinks will happen if the Reds cut out the niggly errors that have plagued them not only in the League Cup, but throughout the past two seasons. “We will learn from our mistakes and prepare for what we know will be a tough game,” said the big Ivorian ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Everton. “We beat them 4-0 here last season and I am sure they will know we are really quick going forward. We can’t think about any other games coming up, we need to focus on Everton and give everything to this game.”
Liverpool have struggled to replicate the kind of form that saw them push eventual champions Manchester City to the final day of last season, but a win against their cross-town rivals would not only give them a leg-up in the league table, but a shot a confidence going forward. “It’s going to be a tough game against Everton but we will give our all again and we’re confident,” continued Toure. “We’ll focus on that one and try to do as well we did against them here last season.”
