Saints followed their usual pattern of dominating a game before throwing it away, bu this time they had penalties to save them.

After taking a 1-0 lead courtesy of Danny Ings on the stroke of half time Saints coped well in the second half and looked to be heading for the next round of the League Cup till they again gave away a late goal, this time ex Saint Theo Walcott being played through to equalise in the 85th minute.

The game went to penalties and Saints were in the driving seat after Ings, Davis and Hojbjerg all scored with Richarlison blazing over to make it 3-2, but there was to be drama, Matt Targett had the opportunity to make it 4-3 and put pressure on Theo Walcott, but his penalty was tame and Steklenberg saved.

But Angus Gunn would deny Walcott and that left Cedric to take the 5th and hopefully final penalty for Saints and he dispatched it with aplomb to put Saints through.

Hopefully this is a result that Saints can build on at the weekend, with the question being whether any of the three stand in central defenders have done enough to make Mark Hughes change his thinking in the centre of defence or indeed whether he opts for a back three against Chelsea. Of course it should also be remembered this was also a changed Everton side, but you can only play what is in front of you.

Whatever the answer a win in a cup tie is a win whether its by penalties or not, it has to be a boost in that it has stopped a run of defeats and will give us some confidence, of course we still conceded a late goal and questions still remain, but we march into the next round with our first win at Everton in over 20 years.

Man of the match is perhaps Angus Gunn who made a couple of sharp saves during the game and then saved Everton's fifth penalty to leave Cedric with the honours of winning the tie.

Photo: Action Images

IanRC added 22:33 - Oct 2 The BBC Liverpool commentators were very complimentary about Taggart defensively and attack wise and Gabbiadini's hold up play. Hope you were paying attention Hughes.
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Esoteric added 04:01 - Oct 3 @IanRC wow Gabi doesn't score as per usual but holds the ball up well while playing a second string team. Yeah sounds like a starter to me. I mean he's got an Italian flamboyant name he must be mustard. All the matches he's played in and been anonymous must be an anomaly. His cool name and invisible presence must mean at least 20 goals a season. Those goals he scored when he first came weren't down to the fact he was an unknown and was shown too much respect or just that even crap anonymous strikers score a few in a row at sometime over the space of [X] amount of years. No, it's all in the name. Let's put you in charge of new buys. And remember the golden rule. The cooler the name the better the player, especially if they are Italian.

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SaintNick added 09:55 - Oct 3 I like Gabbiadini I think his lack of goals is down as much to the way we play not suiting him than his ability, but I do find it ironic that those who slag off Shane Long and demand Gabbiadini, use Long's poor goalscoring record as evdence he should not be in the team. Funnily enough since October last year they have scored exactly the same number of goals each 2
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LordDZLucan added 09:58 - Oct 3 Now I have to admit I didn't see the game and only heard bits on the radio. But I much prefer the make up of the side last night to the one Hughes has been putting out of late for the following reasons: 1. 3 centre backs rather than 2 gives us added height to defend set pieces, something that we've had a problem with this season. 2. 3 centre backs allows Cedric to play as a wing back rather than as a full back, a position that suits him much better 3. The centre backs chosen last night have more pace and better footballing brains than Hoedt and Vestergaard 4. Matt Targett is too good a player to rot on the bench so its good to see him start 5. Gabbiadini needs to play so that we can work out how to use him to best effect I wouldn't be surprised to see that team start again on Sunday with possibly one chnage to bring Bertrand in as one of the centre backs - don't forget he played there under Koeman.

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SanMarco added 10:28 - Oct 3 Gabbi has spent a lot less time on the pitch than Long and those two goals (late equalizer at Burnley and the Swansea one) were pretty vital! I would prefer him to have a run in the team if possible. I have no idea what we should do for Sunday defensively. Free headers for Giroud and allowing Hazard loads of space will be the two biggest no nos. Have we got any players to prevent that?

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Jesus_02 added 11:54 - Oct 3 Its vertualy pointless in playing Gabbi with the midfielders that we have. Tadic was the last compatable player IMO. Gabbi should not have to be the one holding the ball up, he should be the one on the end of the resultin passes. In short we need to replace Lallana ;)
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bstokesaint added 12:12 - Oct 3 So disappointing we threw away yet another lead. It’s not good when you know it’s going to happen, but just don’t know what minute! On the bright side we witnessed some miracles. Saints’ players scoring penalties and Stelkenberg making a save. Remarkable evening really.
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saintmark1976 added 19:46 - Oct 3 Esoteric, sorry but your post suggests to me that you need some sort of help and nine others appear to be of the same opinion.
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