Turkish Delight

Sahin who was born in Germany but plays for Turkey celebrates his brace...

Liverpool took on Steve Clarke's West Brom at The Hawthorns on Wednesday night and despite things not immediately going to plan the Reds very youthful side eventually managed to calmly and confidently win the game and take their side through to the next round of the Capital One Cup.

Brendan Rodgers made eleven changes to the team that lined up in front of Manchester United and the majority of that eleven were academy products. After the success of Raheem Sterling in the first team and the glimmer of Suso during the Manchester United game it is clear the boss is not afraid to put his faith in the younger lads.

Carragher was easily the most experienced for Liverpool but Downing and Henderson also added some support for the rest of the side.

It didn't take long for the first goal of the game to crop up, unfortunately for Liverpool it was a goal that could of been prevented. Brad Jones commanded his area and was ready to catch, it looked like he did but the next second he'd lost it. Gabriel Tamas wasn't going to give up his chance to put his side ahead and he slipped the ball into the back of the net with ease.

It was a poor mistake from Jones but we all know that he's usually better than that, sometimes mistakes happen and as we found out, he wasn't the only one having a bit of a mare.

Just over ten minutes later and it was Ben Foster's turn to come undone. Nuri Sahin who looked like he'd been playing for us for years was very much in the mood on Wednesday night, every chance he was given he'd have a pop or try to play someone in. Assisted by Andre Wisdom, Sahin took a low shot from outside the area and Ben Foster looking like he had his near post covered could only look in despair as the effort went past him and into the net.

In terms of shots both sides were pretty level, by 90 minutes Liverpool had 9 on target compared to West Brom's 8. But whilst the Baggies were still looking comfortable in the first half, things began to change in the second.

Yesil and Pacheco could see that Foster was having an off day and immediately after the second half whistle were applying maximum pressure on the West Brom goal. Yesil was denied by Ben Foster after a stinging shot but it still looked like the Reds would be able to find that winning goal.

At 80 minutes Brendan Rodgers made a sub replacing the impressive Pacheco with Suso. Suso has already impressed the Liverpool ranks who know of him from the academy but he also had neutrals raising their eyebrows this weekend against Manchester United.

The youngster took no time at all to prove his worth when he kick started a move that resulted in a Liverpool goal. A pass to Assaidi after he created enough space allowed Suso to sit back and watch as his team mate put a lovely ball across the goal mouth for Nuri Sahin. It was a tap in for the Turkish international.

Liverpool had found their winner and would make it through to the next round of the league cup. It wasn't a big wait after the final whistle to find out who their opponents were either... Guess who? Swansea.

A return to Swansea was probably written in the stars for Brendan but I think what we've all learnt from yesterday's game is that stars aren't always the best option. Those youngsters have been very impressive and the thing is with the young uns, it doesn't matter if it's a freezing cold Thursday night in Russia, they will ALWAYS give their all.