TACTICAL ANALYSIS: Liverpool emerged victorious on penalties after a bitty game against Xabi Alonso and Jordan Henderson's Chelsea finished level

After the high-level clash against Brighton at the weekend, attacking flair was harder to come by when Liverpool took on Chelsea at Anfield in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.

Both sides required a daftly-conceded penalty to make a mark on the scoresheet, Cody Gakpo levelling after Morgan Rogers converted from 12 yards, before a goalless second half resulted in what felt like an inevitable penalty shootout.

Ultimately settled when Wesley Fofana ballooned the decisive penalty into the Kop after Joe Gomez - of all people - had lashed in his own, Giorgi Mamardashvili played a huge role in clawing the momentum back towards Liverpool when he saved what could have been the winning penalty from Emmanuel Emegha.

Up against his childhood friend and teammate at youth level, Andoni Iraola gambled by making seven changes and fielding an unfamiliar starting XI - only for Xabi Alonso to field his strongest possible Chelsea team in the absence of Joao Pedro, Emi Martinez and Reece James through injury, along with the suspended Cole Palmer.

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Freshness for the huge Premier League clash with Arsenal at the weekend was on Iraola's mind, as was giving the younger members of Liverpool's squad valuable experience in knock-out scenarios.

"I think it's good for the young players especially, to live these experiences in cup competitions, where, if you lose, you're out," Iraola told reporters in his post-match press conference.

"We've been losing, then drawing, then they haven't been there in the penalty shoot-out but they live the feelings. They play under pressure against a very good team and I think Trey [Nyoni] has finished physically in a good place, so very well done, yes."

It's fair to say that, while it did enough, the experimental line-up produced mixed results - so what worked and what didn't for Liverpool?

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The good

Liverpool set up in a familiar way for supporters who watched Trey Nyoni against Tottenham in the previous round, and his starts against LASK and Villarreal in the Champions League.

Making his fourth start under Iraola here, the 19-year-old has already made double the number of starts he ever has in any previous season this time out, and that trend looks set to continue as the youngster further established himself as a first-team option with another composed performance.

With Nyoni dropping between the centre-backs in build-up, Ryan Gravenberch and James McConnell formed a more vertical line in possession, with the full-backs providing the width to support a compact front four of McConnell, Rio Ngumoha, Cody Gakpo and Lewis Koumas.

From his deep role - Liverpool have noticeably played with more of a single pivot when he has been on the pitch - Nyoni dictated the tempo, constantly looking to pass forward and intervening effectively when required to stop Chelsea counter-attacks.

With 86 touches, Nyoni was more involved on the ball than anyone else on the pitch, completing 19 passes more than the next closest player in former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, who received a frostier welcome in the blue of Chelsea than he did in the red and white stripes of Brentford at Anfield last season.

Only Henderson and Virgil van Dijk made more passes into the final third than Nyoni (seven). Though he only completed one of his seven attempted, it was he along with van Dijk and Ronald Araujo who attempted the most long passes for Liverpool - the Reds once again posting a higher proportion of long passes (12.7% to Chelsea's 10.0%) than their opponents.

It wasn't as uncompromisingly direct as Liverpool played against Brighton, but it is a notable difference between Iraola and Arne Slot that the Reds now frequently look to go long to escape the opposition press rather than always playing the ball out from the back dogmatically.

This has worked by and large this season when Liverpool have come out on top in the duels, but that was not the case on Wednesday (Oct 28), when Iraola's side won just 37% of their ground duels and 27% of their aerial duels in the first half.

Things improved somewhat in this respect in the second half, and Liverpool were then able to keep more of the ball, possession rising to 54% after seeing just 49% before the break.

It was by no means dominance - this was an extremely even game. The shot count at the final whistle stood at 10 for Liverpool and 11 for Chelsea; shots on target were four apiece; and Liverpool saw 20 touches in Chelsea's box to 21 at the other end for the visitors.

Nevertheless, Liverpool did edge the big chances four to two - albeit two of them came in the same passage of play when Levi Colwill denied both Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola from close range - and Nyoni's quick passing through the lines, often immediately after winning the ball back, was key to keeping the Reds on the front foot.

The No. 42 made more interceptions (four) than anyone else, and no Liverpool player made more tackles than his two - one of them a perfectly-timed slide tackle followed by a turn that left former Reds target Moises Caicedo on the deck, with only his misdirected final ball letting down a delightful moment for the youngster.

Fellow youngster Rio Ngumoha, who despite being a year Nyoni's junior is already a fully-fledged first-team player, was once again exceptional. Only Gomez contested more duels for Liverpool than Rio (11), while the 18-year-old also succeeded with all four of his attempted dribbles as he ran Josh Acheampong ragged.

Both Acheampong and Romeo Lavia, another one-time Liverpool target, received yellow cards for their indiscretions after being skinned by Rio, and the England international will have been disappointed by Kostas Tsimikas' wasteful cross after one of his mazy dribbles led to space opening up at 0-0.

Though Tsimikas was frustrating, especially in the first half, his combinations with Rio were pleasing. As it has been when the No. 73 has started in front of Milos Kerkez, Rio increasingly uses his full-back well after perhaps being guilty of holding onto the ball for too long during his breakout season last year under Slot.

The draw was certainly not for the want of trying from Rio's perspective, and nor was it for Araujo, the latest darling of the Kop. No player won more aerial duels than 'Ronnie' (five), or took more shots for Liverpool (three), and - surprisingly - the Uruguayan accumulated more non-penalty expected goals (xG: 0.50) than any other Liverpool player.

That was largely thanks to a devilishly whipped, left-footed cross from Gomez, who put in a solid shift against the visitors' standout player in Rogers.

Though he lost out in eight of them, Gomez contested more duels than anyone else on the pitch (15), also sprinting back after his cross to put in a goal-preventing block when he threw himself in front of Rogers' shot.

With Araujo in such good form at right-back, and Jeremy Jacquet unflinching in his hold over the second centre-back position alongside van Dijk, this won't necessarily lead to more starts for Liverpool's longest-serving player - but, along with his rifled penalty when wearing the captain's armband, this was our regular reminder that Gomez is an invaluable squad option.

The bad

Despite the positives, this was far from a fluent performance from front to back, which was to be expected after seven changes. The front three/four, for example (while none of them had individually dreadful performances), is unlikely to be seen again in this particular guise.

McConnell, through no fault of his own, is limited as a No. 10. The 22-year-old didn't misplace any of his 11 passes but, with only 19 touches to his name, he wasn't involved enough to impact the game by registering either a shot or a chance created.

Out of possession, his effort was admirable - getting stuck in with two tackles and a clearance - but McConnell was second to the ball all too often, winning just two of his six duels and picking up a rash booking for deliberate handball after his wild slide tackle had failed to stop a counter-attack in the first half.

Further minutes in this competition for the academy graduate - who made a huge impact in a deeper role when 'Klopp's Kids' beat Chelsea in the final two years ago - may be more difficult to come by with Liverpool now through to the quarter-finals.

With Koumas in the XI, it was a surprise to see Gakpo line up as the central striker, with Rio on the left and the Welshman on the right. It's fair to say this didn't work seamlessly.

Shunted out wide, Koumas struggled to get into the game, too. The Reds quickly realised they were getting more joy playing through Rio on the left, and Koumas made just 12 touches in his 59 minutes on the pitch before he and McConnell were replaced by Barcola and Wirtz.

His usual effort wasn't lacking, and he should have registered at least a chance created when he beat Malo Gusto and played through to Gakpo (who, bafflingly, ran past the ball for the second time in this match), but he was never able to reach the byline or manoeuvre his way into the box.

Koumas wasn't helped by playing out of position - though he has played plenty of senior football as a winger, he has typically been more effective from the left - and his lack of blistering pace showed as he struggled to ever really get around the outside of Gusto in advanced areas.

From this position, too, he was unable to lead the press in his usual fashion, making for an underwhelming hour of action. Iraola may avoid playing Koumas on the right again, but the 20-year-old can still look forward to more minutes having proven himself a good system fit when covering for Alexander Isak centrally.

As for Gakpo, it was a below-par night from the Dutchman aside from his two expertly-despatched penalties, one in the first half and the other in the shootout.

Though the 27-year-old's revival in red has by no means fizzled out yet - Gakpo becoming Liverpool's sixth all-time top scorer in the League Cup behind Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler, Sir Kenny Dalglish, Ronnie Whelan and Steve McMahon with his 11th goal from 14 games in the competition - he was an unconvincing centre-forward, his runs never quite timed right and his 71% pass completion rate disappointing in key moments.

Technically, Gakpo finished the game having created one of Liverpool's four big chances, but - ironically - this was a moment where he showed his unsuitability for the central striker position, inexplicably heading the ball back to Wirtz from Tsimikas' cross in the 80th minute when he would have perhaps been better going for goal himself.

Football being as fickle as it is, we'd doubtless be praising him for the assist if Wirtz hadn't scuffed his volleyed effort into the midriff of Colwill, but an improved performance from Gakpo could have been enough for Liverpool to win the game outright.

Equally, if he hadn't converted his penalty, the Reds would have been dumped out of this competition in normal time. Such is the nature of football, and on the balance of things there is little need for Gakpo to dwell on this performance for longer than usual.

The ugly

When Virgil van Dijk passed the ball back to Nyoni as Liverpool recycled possession in the second half, he probably didn't expect his international teammate to stop, take one look at the situation and - for some reason - decide to charge towards him and throw him to the floor.

Yet that is exactly what Emmanuel Emegha did, the two-cap Netherlands international bizarrely instigating an off-the-ball incident with the captain of his national team.

In just the same way as he had reacted earlier in the game when Gusto removed his own shoe in an attempt to goad the referee into giving a foul, van Dijk refused to rise to the bait, and the No. 4 appeared more bemused than anything else when explaining what had happened to the referee, Darren England.

England has given an average of 4.2 yellow cards per game this season, above the Premier League average, and both sides made several efforts to hoodwink him into reaching into his pocket once again without the support of VAR.

Somewhat to his credit, England - who, thanks to his all-time blunder as VAR in disallowing Luis Diaz's goal against Tottenham, will always be viewed with suspicion by Liverpool supporters - allowed the game to flow this time, but in doing so he overlooked several petulant challenges from Alonso's often-undisciplined side.

Aside from the frankly laughable shoe fiasco, Gusto's antics extended to a nasty swipe at the legs of Koumas after the 20-year-old skipped past him in the first half, a cynical challenge which the Liverpool man thankfully hurdled.

It was hardly an intimidating level of aggression on display from the visitors, but Liverpool should have risen above it better than they did in the first half - instead putting in a fair few untamed challenges of their own, not least the penalty conceded by the disappointing Gravenberch.

As the senior statesman (relatively speaking) in the Reds' midfield, Gravenberch needed to set an example for Nyoni and McConnell. Instead, his decision-making was poor, not just off the ball, but on it.

One punched pass from Nyoni into his feet invited Gravenberch to turn but, surrounded by three Chelsea players, he cheaply gave the ball away when he would have been better off holding it up and bringing a teammate into play.

Along with his missed penalty in the shootout - which, if not for Mamardashvili denying Emegha in a lovely dose of karma, would have resulted in defeat - Gravenberch looked sorry for himself in a performance where he was well below his best levels.

It appeared the Dutchman had turned a corner against Manchester City, only to be sent off in the second half. Now, he faces a battle to retain his place against Arsenal on Sunday - a game that promises an entirely different kind of ugly.