SOCCER ENGLISH LEAGUE CUP Tottenham 4 Liverpool 2:HARRY REDKNAPP had feared a backlash from Liverpool last night. Instead, he was treated to a rout. Tottenham Hotspur maintain their grip on this trophy and progress to the quarter-finals after a rumbustious and thrillingly entertaining victory here delivered in a style that sums up Redknapp's reign to date.
Spurs, shaky at the back but glorious going forward, remain a club who can do no wrong under new management.
They have now scored 18 times in his six matches in charge, five of which have been won. Liverpool's first-team had been beaten somewhat fortuitously in the league 11 days previously, but their reserves were dismantled here.
Tottenham may remain fragile at the back, and might have conceded a late penalty to fray nerves only for Gareth Bale's clear trip on Philipp Degen to go unpunished, but their only real concern was a head injury sustained by their goalkeeper, Heurelho Gomes, which necessitated his departure on a stretcher.
Rafael Benitez had included Fernando Torres for his first club start since early October. The Spaniard's ripped hamstring has healed in the interim yet, with their talismanic striker's rustiness painfully clear, Liverpool lacked the bite to threaten coherently while the game remained in the balance.
Not even the Spurs manager could have anticipated Liverpool's implosion in the seven minutes leading up to half-time. The visitors' fragility at the back was staggering, with Jamie Carragher watching aghast among the substitutes and Steven Gerrard presumably moved to switch off his television set back home on Merseyside.
Andrea Dossena and Philip Degen were perplexed at full-back. The goalkeeper, Diego Cavalieri, panicked as confidence drained around him and Daniel Agger and a leggy Sami Hyypia were helpless to contain those pouring at them.
The trio of goals plundered by Spurs were too simple for comfort. Fraizer Campbell, permitted a rare start, skipped to the by-line away from Hyypia with his pull-back dispatched emphatically by Roman Pavlyuchenko, ignored by Agger in the middle.
Jamie O'Hara had already been denied a second by Cavalieri's block by the time the midfielder's optimistic cross from the left had the goalkeeper and Dossena colliding, the ball taken down by Campbell who tapped into an empty net.
Liverpool had disintegrated as a defensive unit with Benitez apoplectic at the ineptitude on show as his team of strangers groped desperately in the dark. They were not permitted a respite, O'Hara and Aaron Lennon combining for the winger's cross to loop over a grounded Agger for Campbell to nod in. The last time the Merseysiders had trailed by this margin at the interval was that fateful night in Istanbul three years ago. With such vulnerability on show, there seemed little prospect of a repeat of that famous second half.
The first riposte against Milan in the Champions League final had been Gerrard's header to chip at the deficit and, some four minutes into the second period here, Damien Plessis hinted at revival by nodding beyond a hapless Gomes. Those crammed into the corner behind that goal clung to renewed hope, if only briefly.
So befuddled was this Liverpool back-line that Didier Zokora, normally a becalmed defensive shield, was permitted to burst into the area as opponents crumpled around him. His cross flicked off Hyypia and was tapped in by Pavlyuchenko.
Torres' withdrawal for Emiliano Insua suggested Benitez was waving the white flag though Hyypia, leaping between Pavlyuchenko and Gomes, promptly nodded Ryan Babel's corner down and in to reduce the deficit. Indeed, with Spurs' goalkeeper still prone to aberration there remained the possibility of a comeback. Yet Gomes was not to see out the night. Degen, attempting to convert from close range, collided with the Brazilian and appeared to knock him cold with his trailing right foot.
The 27-year-old was attended by his team-mate, Vedran Corluka, whose intervention appeared to prevent him from swallowing his tongue. Gomes was taken from the field in a stretcher, wearing an oxygen mask and with the paramedics present expressing obvious concern.
TOTTENHAM:Gomes (Cesar 74), Hutton, Dawson, Corluka, Bale, Lennon, Zokora, Huddlestone, O'Hara, Pavlyuchenko (Boateng 90), Campbell (Bent 90). Subs Not Used: Bentley, Modric, Gunter, Rocha. Booked: Pavlyuchenko, Campbell.
LIVERPOOL:Cavalieri, Dossena, Hyypia, Agger, Degen (Darby 84), Babel, Leiva Lucas, Ngog, Plessis (Alonso 66), Torres (Insua 56), El Zhar. Subs Not Used: Gulacsi, Riera, Benayoun, Carragher. Booked: Plessis, Torres, Babel, Leiva Lucas. Goals: Plessis 49, Hyypia 63.
Referee:Mike Riley (Yorkshire).
Guardian Service
