Southampton vs Liverpool: Six things you mave have missed as Reds reach EFL Cup semi-final

Liverpool progressed into the EFL Cup semi-finals after beating Southampton 2-1 at St Mary's. Here are six things you might have missed.

Despite fielding a team with eight changes, leaving plenty of their stars at home, Liverpool managed to successfully notch their 20th win of the campaign, after having dropped points in four other matches this season.

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Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott were the scorers, who each netted their goals in the first half. Southampton eventually managed to get back into the game through a goal from Cameron Archer, but their efforts were not enough to send the tie to a penalty shootout.

Liverpool will now be entered into a draw with three other teams, and chosen at random to play a fellow Premier League team in a two-legged semi-final. If the Reds can get past that stage then they will have a chance to play at Wembley to defend the trophy they won last season.

Here's what you might have missed.

Slot experiments with Endo hybrid role

Wataru Endo has been largely sidelined so far this season, with Arne Slot preferring Ryan Gravenberch at the helm of Liverpool's midfield.

However, when Andy Robertson got sent off against Fulham last weekend, the Dutch manager had to experiment to fill the hole left in the defence. His solution was to play Joe Gomez at left-back and to bring Gravenberch into a hybrid centre-back role, where he could drift from midfield into defence when he was required.

In doing so, it meant that Liverpool didn't have to put one of their academy defenders in the hot zone and the Reds were able to keep an element of control in their game, as Gravenberch's presence in midfield didn't have to be sacrificed.

While Tyler Morton was tasked with playing the No6 role and with Endo playing as a centre-back alongside Jarell Quansah, Endo was given similar freedom to that which Gravenberch was given - even though the team played with all 11 men in the game this time.

No VAR in the EFL Cup

Around 25 minutes into the game, Liverpool's attacking play had been largely blunted by Southampton's defence. Darwin Nunez had a few stray efforts, but nothing on target.

However, after Trent Alexander-Arnold managed to recover from a defensive error, he ran through the midfield, picked out Nunez in a clever long-ball over the Saints' defence, to find Nunez - in what looked like an offside position - take the ball and score in the bottom right corner of the goal for Liverpool's opener.

Now, it is not uncommon for Nunez to be found in offside, but this time he scored and it counted. There isn't a clear angle to fully understand whether he was in line or not, but unlike in the Premier League, VAR is not in operation in the EFL Cup until the semi-final phase, meaning that the offside call is at the discretion of the linesman.

At first look, Nunez was deemed to be onside, so the goal counts and it cannot be checked because the technology isn't available, even though this year's quarter-final stage was dominated by Premier League teams.

Darwin Nunez has been learning English

In starting the game poorly, Nunez was the subject of a swarm of chants from the crowd, calling him a "**** Andy Carroll", recognising that he was having a disappointing showing in front of goal and that his hair is similar to that of the former Red.

However, almost five minutes later, Nunez scored Liverpool's equaliser, and in celebrating, he put a finger to his ear in response to the noise from the crowd.

Since his move to Liverpool in 2022 from Benfica, it has been difficult for the Uruguayan to communicate with some of his teammates, because of a language barrier - he doesn't speak English and he understands little of the language.

However, after delivering Liverpool's opener, it appears that Nunez has been working on his linguistics and he is more than happy to give a little bit back to the crowd when he makes up for his mistakes.

Harvey Elliott's prolific run continues

Elliott had barely featured for Liverpool this campaign after getting injured during the England U21s training camp in September.

However, shortly after Nunez scored the Reds opener, the 21-year-old took his opportunity and made it 2-0 to Liverpool on his first start of the season.

As per Michael Reed, he has 11 goal involvements (three goals and eight assists) in his last 13 starts for Liverpool across all competitions.

If Arne Slot can manage his fitness, then Liverpool will have yet another dimension to add to their attack this season, assisting Mohamed Salah's workload on the right wing from time to time.

Morton played by Slot at right-back

While Tyler Morton started the game at the centre of midfield, playing his preferred No6 role, he would not remain there the entire game.

Alexander-Arnold was played at right-back to start the game, but his lack of an understudy in Conor Bradley had meant that Arne Slot had to get inventive if Liverpool's star full-back playmaker was to receive any rest during the game.

At half-time, Trent was taken off and Federico Chiesa was given his first start since his last appearance in September which was also in the EFL Cup when the Reds beat West Ham 5-1.

In order to cover Alexander-Arnold, Morton was given the keys at right-back, with Joe Gomez moving back to centre-back alongside Quansah, allowing Endo to return to his favoured position in defensive midfield.

Kostas Tsimikas returns from injury

After Robertson received a straight red card against Fulham last weekend, Arne Slot was faced with an immediate problem - who plays at left-back?

Tsimikas had been sidelined with an ankle injury since November 9 and he was yet to return to full fitness to start against Southampton.

In the end, Slot got creative and solved his centre-back problem with Endo taking the role of Gomez as he filled in at right back for the opening half of the game.

At half-time, Tsimikas was brought onto the pitch to return some element of traditional balance in Liverpool's defence, and fans will be able to breathe a sigh of relief now that the Reds have at least one fully fit fullback available on either flank for the upcoming games in this busy festive period.

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