Carling Cup - Tottenham win Liverpool thriller

Eurosport - Thu, 13 Nov 10:30:00 2008

Tottenham's recent revival under Harry Redknapp continued with a 4-2 win over Liverpool in an exhilarating Carling Cup fourth round tie at White Hart Lane.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Carling Cup Tottenham-Liverpool Roman Pavlyuchenko - 0

Roman Pavlyuchenko and Fraizer Campbell both netted twice as the holders booked a place in the quarter-finals in a match that was littered with defensive errors.

Damien Plessis and Sami Hyypia replied for a much-weakened Liverpool side, before Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes was carried off with a head injury.

Reds boss Rafa Benitez opted to make wholesale changes to the side that beat West Brom at the weekend with the likes of Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Robbie Keane rested, while Fernando Torres returned to the starting line-up from his hamstring tear.

But it was two less celebrated strikers who lit up the night, Campbell and Pavlyuchenko making the most of playing up front together in the absence of the rested Darren Bent and Luka Modric, both of whom started on the bench.

The pair effectively settled the match during a blistering seven-minute burst just before the half-time whistle, a period that saw the hosts net three times and Liverpool fall apart.

Pavlyuchenko opened the scoring on 38 minutes, firing a hard, low drive past Diego Cavalieri after Campbell's pull back from the by-line had found the Russian on the penalty spot.

Seconds later Jamie O'Hara could have made it two, but Cavalieri was alert enough to make a smart stop to keep out his low drive.

Campbell then proved his proficiency in front of goal, nipping in ahead of Cavalieri and Andrea Dossena to control the ball on his chest before turning and coolly slotting into an empty net.

And less than three minutes later, Campbell had his second and Spurs' third of the night, heading Aaron Lennon's cross from a standing position back across Cavalieri and into the far corner of the net.

While the strike duo's finishing was exemplary, defensive frailty played a part in all three goals: Sami Hyypia was too easily beaten by Aaron Lennon to cross for Campbell, who was left entirely unmarked, for the opener; Cavalieri and Dossena failed to communicate and took each other out for the second; and Liverpool gave away possession to start the move that led to the third.

Three-nil down at half-time was bad enough, but the truth was that it could have been much worse for the visitors had Pavlyuchenko not glanced a header wide of the mark early on or Dan Agger not denied Lennon a certain goal with a splendid sliding block on 19 minutes.

Liverpool rallied after the break and pulled a goal back on 49 minutes, Plessis heading home from a corner after Gomes once again showed how badly he lacks confidence and form.

The Brazilian came off his line to claim the ball before furiously backpeddling once he realised he was not going to get anywhere near it. The young Frenchman was allowed to head into what was effectively an unguarded net.

The goal briefly lit a flame of hope for the visitors, but Spurs soon found a way through the porous Liverpool back line to net a fourth goal.

This time the breakthrough could not be blamed on poor Liverpool defending, just a good old fashioned strong run from midfield by Didier Zokora who got to the by-line before centring for Pavlyuchenko to side foot home.

Yet more flapping from Gomes - who was later stretchered off with a head injury following a collision with Philipp Degen - saw Hyypia pull another goal back with a header from a corner on 62 minutes.

The goalkeeper's indecision, as it has done already this season, could have cost Spurs dearly; Liverpool had a big penalty shout turned down by Mike Riley when Degen upended Gareth Bale in the box with 10 minutes of normal time remaining.

Replays showed a penalty kick should have been awarded, but a tense final ending to the game, which was extended by nine minutes as a result of Gomes's injury, was avoided.

As it was, Spurs closed out the game without any further problems as Redknapp's presence at the club continues to make a difference.

Mike Hytner / Eurosport

Comment 178 - 197 of 237

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  1. To jhr881 - what a nice guy and a good sport. To Paul­ G...someone's very very bitter today...

    From Katie, on Thu 13 Nov 6:02PM

  2. gomez going off ruined the comeback. which is lukcy for­ spurs in 2 ways coz they stayed in the lead last nite­ and they mite stop conceding so many goals

    From metalforever5, on Thu 13 Nov 6:01PM

  3. Hope you arer all here when spurs come to anfield.
    ps­ BURNLEY BURNLEY(my 2nd choice team.)

    From John O, on Thu 13 Nov 5:59PM

  4. Ohhh come on!!! It is just Carling Cup, Mickey Mouse­ Cup. Benitez field the team to lose the game, so the­ he could concentrate on challenging for the premiership­ and Champions Leage. That is what all tops clubs do.

    From Roger, on Thu 13 Nov 5:57PM

  5. lololololololololololololololololololololololololololol­ olololololololololololololololololololololololololololo­ lolololololololololololololololo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From rewandjew, on Thu 13 Nov 5:30PM

  6. Paul G = @#$%

    From jingleballicks, on Thu 13 Nov 5:28PM
  7. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    I am a sexy big black beauty, I feel lonely, What I­ really need is some new friends, Feel free to chat with­ me on ****** W EALT HY FINDER Co m ***** for hot guys­ and girls to flirt with each other

    From modelmillionaireloveee, on Thu 13 Nov 5:27PM
  8. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    I am a sexy big black beauty, I feel lonely, What I­ really need is some new friends, Feel free to chat with­ me on ****** WEALTHY FINDER Co m ***** for hot guys­ and girls to flirt with each other

    From modelmillionaireloveee, on Thu 13 Nov 5:25PM
  9. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Sometimes you have to lose a battle to win the war! LFC­ foe the premiership! YNWA

    From Overseas, on Thu 13 Nov 5:14PM
  10. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    To all those moaning and slating Liverpool ... It's­ the carling Cup FFS!!!! Does it really matter if our­ second team (including a rusty Torres) goes out to­ Tottenham? Is any TOP manager's success measured on­ winning the Carling Cup?

    All this @#$% about rednapp­ is killing me ... the big Spurs revival ... LMFAO ...­ they're as @#$% as they were last year ... and the­ season before ... and the season before that ... see­ where this is going?

    So they've had a few­ 'good' results ... they're still the same­ @#$% players (minus their 2 best performers from last­ year) as they were when they were losing every game at­ the start of the season ... it won't be long before­ the bubble bursts and Spurs will still be in the bottom­ half come the end of the season ... have they EVER been­ contenders for the title? Nope, and with Redknob in­ charge they NEVER will be!!!

    Sorry Spurs fans but your­ performance last night wasn't how it was described­ by the 'experts' on Sky ... they were playing a­ second rate Liverpool team who played like West Brom­ ... the way Liverpool played last night I reckon­ Stephen Hawking could have bagged a hat trick ... and­ outpaced dossena (even with a flat battery) ...

    From Paul G, on Thu 13 Nov 5:04PM

  11. jhr881 great comment. I'm a Spurs fan and it was­ great to win. It doesnt make Liverpools chances of­ winning anything else any less, or make them a lesser­ team than what they are. ALL top sides lose and to­ lesser opponents.
    These people that jump to slag off­ and call for the managers head are unbelievable.
    And­ for the record, Liverpool in my opinion are the best­ team in the top four. they dont plead silly excuses­ and throw tantrums. Good solid footballers and great­ team play. We all slip up at times.
    COYS!!!

    From jingleballicks, on Thu 13 Nov 4:49PM

  12. the problem with benitez is that he never learned from­ his past mistakes.. he thought that the team he fielded­ was good enough against spurs.. what wenger can do he­ thinks he also can do.. but have you seen the­ performance of the liverpool players that night..­ terrible utterly terrible.. the defeders can't­ defend.. and relying too much on the old msn Hyppia..­ that agger bloke well he is not liverpool material..­ making too many mistakes be it the first team or the­ second stringers... way i see it he is as absent minded­ as a ..you can fill it in.. so is arbeloa though he did­ not play last night.. ven carragher is not palying well­ for the last two seasons... makes way too many­ mistakes... and the midfielders against spurs..­ awful... really terrible they could not contribute any­ attacks for torres.. they cannot string good passes for­ torres... onlu babel on the left i say he had quite a­ good game but he was hassled by a three men marking so­ was torres...

    so in the end liverpool were lucky to­ score.. if this is the way benitez is rotating his­ palyer "at his convenience" it would be­ difficult for liverpool to win this silver... it may­ not be importnat or prestigious as the fa or bl but it­ is better to win one than nothing at all...its also­ good for your cv benitez... its good to aim high.. but­ it wouldn't hurt to aim low too... see even the­ goliath can be brought down by a minnion lok at­ chelsea.. big club they were playing their full squad­ and still they lost to a smaller team.. so next time­ benitez try to something very constructive for­ liverpool... i am sure if you ask the palyers they­ would like to play for the team last night...

    and i am­ a liverpool supporter all my life.. i want to see­ liverpool win.. no matter what cup they are playing­ in...

    From bukhardt, on Thu 13 Nov 4:48PM

  13. Legend is turning back! Bring Hotspur to top 5 back!!!

    From aa, on Thu 13 Nov 4:33PM

  14. I love the fact that some "fans" are all too­ quick to slate and slag off LFC and all those that­ follow them.

    Well,I'm a Liverpool fan and I­ congratulate Spurs on the win last night,same as I did­ when they won in the league.You'll notice no­ excuses about a "weakened" team either,as­ anyone in a Premiership team's shirt should be able­ to perform.Spurs won again fair and square,but some of­ those posting need to grow up!!

    From jhr881, on Thu 13 Nov 4:25PM

  15. who say spurs r weak take alook wat happened to­ liverpool even 1st team or last team the name they bear­ it liverpool and it will go down that spurs beat u reds­ now ur face is red from the defeat premier league here­ we come

    From aaronic, on Thu 13 Nov 4:23PM

  16. Simple thing is the result - we got thrashed -­ sickening, annoying, sad, but true. No point in @#$%­ about it.

    From not printable, on Thu 13 Nov 4:15PM

  17. Great post Roxanne D,

    We could do with some more­ people like you on the Spurs yahoo message board ( if­ you haven't visited already ) and if that is a­ picture of you in your avatar then I'm sure that­ you'll be welcome with open arms!

    As for Spurs,­ this is the resurgent Spurs that everyone is witnessing­ at the moment - Harry Redknapp deserves a knighthood­ for what he has done in such a short space of time and­ a few more decent signings will soon get us moving into­ competing for the European places in the EPL - long may­ it continue.

    COYS!!!!

    From Galway Yiddo, on Thu 13 Nov 4:13PM

  18. ash c that was an unfair comment.you can support any­ football team irrespective of whether you are english­ or polish

    From PAPA O, on Thu 13 Nov 3:48PM

  19. is the dvd out yet??

    From Hamad, on Thu 13 Nov 3:44PM

  20. hahahahaha .. liverpool is a river pool ..

    hahahahaha­ ..

    From nAzri L, on Thu 13 Nov 3:38PM
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