Liverpool v Tottenham: Carabao Cup semi-final, second leg – live

45+3 min “It’s a shame Archie Gray is at right-back rather than Pedro Porro,” writes Rob Knap. “If Porro was on, that would mean, I think, 11 different nationalities in the Spurs team. (Actually, Archie Gray announcing he wants to play for Scotland at half-time would also do the trick.) I know this has happened before, but I don’t think it happens that often…”

45+2 min Kinsky punches nervously behind for a corner with nobody near him. Nothing comes of it so it’s all fine.

45+1 min: Spurs substitution Mathys Tel, 19, comes on for his Spurs debut. There will be seven minutes of added time because of the various injuries. Richarlison is limping heavily and getting precisely no sympathy from the home fans.

45 min Richarlison’s race is run; Mathys Tel is getting ready to replace him.

44 min: Excellent save by Kinsky! Gakpo’s deep cross is volleyed into the ground and towards goal by Salah. It kicks up really awkwardly and is fingertipped onto the top of the bar by Kinsky. That’s a fine save because he would have expected Salah to make a cleaner contact.

44 min Tottenham haven’t kept the ball well enough. Easy to say from here, obviously, but they look like a team waiting to go 2-0 down before they start to really play.

Richarlison goes down off the ball and slaps the ground angrily.

43 min “Ivan Golac won the Scottish Cup with Dundee United (the first such win in the club’s history) in his first season after replacing the legendary Jim McLean, who had lost six finals in the previous twenty years,” says Simon McMahon. “We were relegated the following season, mind, and he was sacked. So enjoy it while it lasts, Liverpool fans.”

42 min Kulusevski cuts inside from the right, just outside the area, only to slash a rising drive high and wide.

40 min Szoboszlai’s corner is headed away. Spurs are under fairly relentless pressure now.

37 min Salah’s up and under is claimed with more authority by Kinsky. Spurs just need to get to half-time and reassess because Liverpool could finish the tie in the next 10 minutes.

36 min “Ștefan Kovács took over from Rinus Michels, who’d revolutionised the game and taken Ajax to their first European Cup,” says Kári Tulinius. “Kovács added two European Cups to the Ajax trophy cabinet.”

That’s a great shout. I can feel a Knowledge question coming on.

What a fine finish that is from Cody Gakpo. Salah, fed by Bradley, cut inside from the right and flicked an insouciant ball across the area with the outside of the foot. It was missed by everyone in the middle and bounced slightly awkwardly towards Gakpo beyond the far post. He adjusted his feet in a trice and slammed it past Kinsky at the near post. He is so damn hot right now.

GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Spurs (agg: 1-1; Gakpo 34)

33 min Spurs have done pretty well so far. Liverpool have been the dominant side, of course they have, but Antonin Kinsky hasn’t had any difficult saves to make. Yet.

(NB: clip contains adult language.)

32 min Jones takes a quick corner on the left. The ball is worked back to Robertson, who curls a teasing ball towards Salah beyond the far post. The angle is very tight and he volleys over with his right foot.

30 min: Szoboszlai has a goal disallowed. It was a neat finish, clipped first-time across Kinsky from Salah’s superb angled pass, but he was a yard offside.

29 min Gakpo stands up a cross that is headed straight at Kinsky by the backpedalling Nunez. It was a really tricky chance – ten yards out, no pace on the ball and he was jumping backwards.

29 min Spurs look most vulnerable when they attack, such is Liverpool’s threat on the counter-attack. It hasn’t been an exciting game in terms of chances but it is an intriguing one. And the chances will come. No way this ends 0-0. Nope.

26 min Salah’s pass across the area takes a big deflection off Bissouma and goes a few yards wide of the far post with Kinsky scrambling a bit. Liverpool take the corner short, to the distaste of the crowd. Eventually Gakpo and Nunez both have snapshots blocked by Danso and Gray respectively.

25 min Spurs win another corner on the left. They’re not attacking much but Richarlison is fighting tooth and nail to hold the ball up every time it’s dumped in his general direction.

The corner is cleared and Liverpool break ominously until the ball hits Szoboszlai on the back, allowing Spurs to counter the counter. Sarr’s pass is cut out.

24 min Just thought of another all-time-great debut season when taking over from an iconic manager: Fabio Capello with AC Milan in 1991-92. Again, though, he’d been at the club for years.

23 min Liverpool have had 74 per cent of the possession. Spurs are not playing with a high line tonight.

22 min Szoboszlai and Gravenberch have shots blocked by Davies and Danso respectively. Both were really well struck, Szoboszlai’s after an elegant slalom into the area from the left.

21 min Bradley’s dangerous cross looks set to reach Robertson until Gray backpedals to head behind for a corner. The corner doesn’t beat the near post.

21 min “Is there another manager who has made such a strong impression, not just with potential but with actual performance and hopefully trophies when the season ends, like Arne Slot?” writes Krishnamoorthy V. “Many (including self) expected him to be in awe of filling Klopp’s shoes and faltering. But he has been quietly lethal.”

It’s one of the all-time great debut seasons – not just what he’s achieved but the lightness of touch with which he has done it. As a neutral, I love him. The season isn’t over so we need to reserve a bit of judgement, but there are very few examples of somebody replacing an iconic manager so seamlessly. Joe Fagan is one but he had the huge advantage of being an insider.

18 min Nothing comes of the corner and Liverpool pick up where they left off.

17 min Richarlison breaks forward with no support and is fouled from behind by Gravenberch. Spurs need moments like that, if nothing else to give their defence a breather.

The free-kick is too far out for a shot. Son flips it in and it deflects behind for Spurs’ first corner.

16 min “I’ll see Niall Mullen and raise him: I couldn’t give a feck about the League Cup,” says Tim Woods, who didn’t actually say ‘feck’. “I want Liverpool to win the title. And at this point, I’ll cry a little bit if we don’t.”

15 min Davies’s treatment is complete but he has to go off for 30 seconds, which allows him to change his shirt. Bentancur drops into the defence while he’s away.

14 min The corner is headed up in the air, spilled badly by Kinsky and booted clear by Danso. That slithered through his hands like a bar of soap.

Kinsky caught Ben Davies while jumping for the ball. Davies had a small cut down his forehead and will need treatment.

12 min So far so good for the new signing Kevin Danso. His centre-back partner Ben Davies has been the busier; as I type he comes across to challenge Bradley and concede a corner.

10 min Davies makes an important interception on the edge of the area after Gray loses the ball in a dangerous area. Liverpool are on top.

9 min Nunez needs a bit of treatment after being caught by the knee of Richarlison. I think he’ll be able to run it off.

7 min Szoboszlai goes down in the area after a challenge from behind from Son. It looked like a lean rather than a shove and there’s no suggestion VAR will get involved. Liverpool look sharp, though, particularly in wide areas.

6 min Gakpo is fouled on the left wing by Kulusevski roughly 40 yards from goal. Spurs won’t mind a stop-start, er, start to the game.

Liverpool take the free-kick short and work it across the field. Eventually Salah’s deflected shot is comfortably saved to his left by Kinsky.

4 min Richarlison eventually gets to his feet and deliberately bumps into Van Dijk. The referee calls the two players over and reminds them of their age.

3 min Richarlison goes down holding his face after a tussle with Van Dijk. In fairness Van Dijk did wave his elbow in Richarlison’s neck/chin. So while Richarlison probably made it a meal of it by rolling over multiple times, he had every reason to go down.

2 min “I know that all neutrals love Liverpool and will be desperate for us to go through,” says Niall Mullen. “But as an entitled fan of the Reds, I still feel we are owed a non-Covid league title and I have already seen great, good, and mediocre Liverpool teams win this competition. So, I was trying to figure out the best way to go out tonight. Perhaps a comprehensive 1-0 win with a hugely superior xG and then we lose on penalties? Also wouldn’t a Spurs-Newcastle final be something? Two starving coyotes going at it over a juicy looking piece of roadkill.”

Ouch. That last sentence is the most savage twist since Psycho.

1 min Spurs kick off from left to right as we watch.

“Hi Rob!” says Joe Pearson before getting down to brass tacks. “I love you, man, but you keep putting Alisson in the team when you already told us that Kelleher was replacing him.”

Ach! Force of habit. I can confirm Kelleher is in net.

“Kudos to Spurs for signing Kevin Danso,” says Peter Oh. “Apparently they gazumped Wolverhampton for his services. Personally, I wish he had opted for Molineux, because Danso’s With Wolves would have been box-“office gold.”

A reminder of the teams

Liverpool (4-3-3) Kelleher; Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Jones; Salah, Nunez, Gakpo.
Substitutes: Jaros, Endo, Diaz, Mac Allister, Chiesa, Elliott, Jota, Tsimikas, Quansah.

Spurs (4-3-3) Kinsky; Gray, Danso, Davies, Spence; Sarr, Bentancur, Bissouma; Kulusevski, Richarlison, Son.
Substitutes: Austin, Porro, Reguilon, Bergvall, Ajayi, Cassanova, Olusesi, Moore, Tel.

Referee Craig Pawson.

“Tell Phil Moseley that from my point of view, 30 miles or so from him in Durham, North Carolina, the more likely outcome here is a heroic, dramatic Spurs win tonight, followed by an abject, tail-between-legs disappointment at Wembley,” says Gregory Phillips.

“Is there a case to be made that the League Cup is more enjoyable competition than the FA Cup?” asks Michal Pac Pomarnacki. “It’s over and done with pretty much halfway through the season and unlike the FA Cup it does not take up any full weekends. Most of the games are played in the evenings/late afternoon adding to the spectacle. Maybe it’s me being a Liverpool fan, but I’ve always preferred the League Cup to the more revered FA Cup.”

As a child of the eighties I’ll always have a fondness for … actually both competitions were great in the eighties so scratch that. I guess the FA Cup will always be more prestigious but I see your point about the League Cup being more enjoyable.

“Come along Mr Mosley, don’t be too fatalistic,” says Dean Kinsella. “The whole thing with being Spursy is that one day they perform much worse than they should and the next they are marvelous (eg the City thrashing in November). Tonight could well be one of those marvellous nights. Why not?”

A pessimist is never disappointed (part 2)

“Ah, Rob, you had to go and mention the Q-word!” says Matt Dony. “I’m still expecting a sticky patch in the league, and for Arsenal to sneak through. What Slot has done, with essentially last year’s team, is astonishing. Winning just one trophy in his first season would be an achievement. Four trophies is surely too much to hope for, even in the craziest late-night, Stinking-Bishop-and-red-wine-induced reveries.

“Fighting on four fronts is ridiculous. And it has the added complication (which I’m surprised isn’t stressed more) of swapping between four different match balls. We all laugh when a manager gets in a strop over a particular ball, but the fact is they are all different and behave differently. At the pointy end of the season, where Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League games come thick and fast, constantly swapping ball must be a genuine challenge.

“Anyway. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For now, I’ll just worry about tonight. (Heavy emphasis on ‘worry’. Being a football fan really isn’t as much fun as it should be, is it?)”

Funnily enough Roy Keane made exactly the same point about the balls on Stick to Football this week.

The winners will meet Newcastle, who completed a 4-0 aggregate win over Arsenal last night, in the final.

“Good afternoon from Raleigh, North Carolina,” writes Phil Moseley. “Can’t watch the game as I don’t subscribe to Paramount Plus, so relying on you to chart our inevitable pasting by Liverpool, falling at the last or last-but-one hurdle yet again in the Levy Era.”

Team news: Danso starts

Read Jacob Steinberg’s preview

Fresh from overseeing a dogged 2-0 win against Brentford on Sunday, Postecoglou sat down and spoke for 43 minutes before a moment that could define his time in north London. The head coach considered the chance for Spurs “to make a big impact” by going to Anfield and building on their 1-0 win in the first leg. He thought about his captain, Son Heung-min, still being trophyless after nearly 10 years at the club. He seemed energised by sealing deals for the centre-back Kevin Danso and the French forward Mathys Tel at the end of a difficult transfer window.

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