By: Shane Brennan.
Liverpool entertained Cardiff City in the 4th round of The FA Cup on Sunday afternoon. The Reds went into the game with a strong line up as they looked to earn the right to play Norwich City in the 5th round.
It was The Championship outfit who started the better however, with Marlon Pack producing the first shot in anger which had Caoimhin Kelleher diving down to his left hand side. Liverpool then followed that up by creating a tremendous chance of their own, when Naby Keita played in Diogo Jota who turned, twisted and swivelled inside the Cardiff area which left him with only Dillon Phillips in the Cardiff goal to beat, but un characteristically his shot went straight at The Blue Birds stopper to preserve Parity.
For the rest of the first half Cardiff defended resolutely without Liverpool really clicking into gear at all. Cardiff were determined to let Liverpool know they were in a game, when just past the quarter of an hour mark, Mark Harris flew in on Jordan Henderson whilst in the process winning the ball, but Henderson was left shaken by the incident, but he was fit and able to continue.
Cardiff then had a penalty claim when the aforementioned Harris ran into the Liverpool area, Ibrahima Konate got a little too close for comfort, giving Cardiff’s main man on the day a shove, but thankfully the VAR team saw nothing doing, and the game continued.
Liverpool created a rare opportunity towards the end of the first half when Diogo Jota and Takumi Minamino combined to set up Curtis Jones, but sadly he could not keep his shot low and this attempt summed up The Reds Fortunes in the first half, as the game was dead locked at the break.
At the start of the second half Cardiff’s Harris raced through on goal which left Kelleher in no man’s land who in turn made a decision to fly in on the Cardiff man with a high foot, but somehow the Irishman was not made to pay for his rush of blood to the head and a yellow card was given.
In the 53rd minute Liverpool were to make the break through when Trent Alexander-Arnold whipped a ball of pin point precision into the area on front of The Kop with Jota making no mistake to set Liverpool on their way.
Then it was perhaps time for the loudest cheers of the day when new signing Luis Diaz entered the Anfield pitch for the first time and Harvey Elliott made an emotional return to action for the first time since suffering an injury against Leeds United in September.
Shortly afterwards Liverpool doubled their lead, thanks to a mistake from Perry NG, Diaz seized possession , Jota missed the attempted pass, but in any case the ball fell for Minamino who had a simple finish to leave The Reds in a commanding position.
With just over a half an hour to go Liverpool really did put the icing on the cake when substitute Andy Robertson crossed a ball right onto Harvey Elliott’s foot who didn’t need to be asked twice, as he volleyed the ball with venom into the back of Cardiff’s net to put Liverpool home and dry.
There was time for a Cardiff consolation as a fine worked move between Isaak Davies and Rubin Col will resulted in Col will smashing the ball past Kelleher to give Cardiff their moment.
It was to be Liverpool in the end going through to the 5th round of The FA Cup after a fine afternoons work at Anfield.
By: Shane Brennan.
