5 talking points from Liverpool 2-1 Bournemouth

Liverpool beat Bournemouth 2-1 in the Carabao Cup on Thursday to push into the quarter-finals. It was a notable game with a surprisingly strong side - so here are the main talking points.

Klopp goes strong

Jurgen Klopp named a surprisingly strong Liverpool XI against Bournemouth - Mohamed Salah's inclusion the most notable. But Dominik Szoboszlai and Kostas Tsimikas also started despite playing plenty of football lately.

It suggests Liverpool fully intend to compete in the Carabao Cup this season and why not? The Reds have a real chance of winning it, while they're also rotating in the UEFA Europa League. Few players are starting every game, with plenty of rest to go around.

Salah and Tsimikas are the question marks, though. The Egyptian will feature at AFCON early next year and Liverpool might want to prepare for that by going easy on him over the first half of the campaign. Tsimikas is a different problem - he's the only senior left-back. Starting him risks burnout or injury and we're not sure it's necessary.

A new test for Quansah

The young defender has had a fair number of appearances this season but here was something different. The weather was horrendous on the south coast, offering Liverpool's backline a new challenge.

The Reds play with their defenders quite isolated compared to Bournemouth's more compact shape. The unpredictable ball - both in the air and on the turf - consistently threatened to catch them out. The centre-backs handled it well, which is notable for Jarell Quansah.

He wasn't worried at all. No player completed more passes in the first half, while he was confident enough to dribble it out on occasion. This was a solid test of his composure and we think he passed it near-flawlessly.

Szoboszlai from the right

Liverpool's front-three shape wasn't entirely clear on the team sheet. As it turned out, Mohamed Salah was central and Cody Gakpo left, leaving Dominik Szoboszlai on the right hand side.

It's a role he knows well but not one we've seen too often at Liverpool thus far. He primarily featured there for RB Leipzig last season, scoring six and assisting eight from that flank.

We thought he did well there, too. It certainly limits his ability to cut in and shoot on his preferred right but Szoboszlai is so comfortable going either way that it led to plenty of nice link-ups with Salah and the overlapping Joe Gomez.

Liverpool do lack cover for Salah on the right compared to the left. Maybe this is something we see a little more of over the course of the season. On this evidence, we probably should.

Endo is still learning

This has been a difficult start for Wataru Endo at Liverpool and he struggled against Bournemouth here. The Japan international had some really positive moments that show the ability is there, but he was also dribbled past three times inside an hour.

That was as many as the rest of Liverpool's starting XI combined and not ideal for your defensive midfielder. Of course, he needs games if he's to adapt faster and so we can put this one down as another learning experience.

Nunez is simply on fire

Darwin stepped off the bench to score the winner here - and what a winner it was. But regardless of how special the goal was, the real story is that the Uruguayan just keeps scoring.

He's now averaging a goal every 55 minutes this season across all competitions. It's simply incredible stuff and Nunez seems to have completely clicked into this Liverpool side.

More than that, the team have clicked with him. Trent Alexander-Arnold knew full well that he could launch a first-time ball towards the striker and something would happen. And that's the key - Nunez gets himself into positions where he can make things happen and this season, he's capitalising constantly.