Liverpool face Northampton
Liverpool face Northampton Town in the 3rd round of the Carling Cup this Wednesday at Anfield. After a poor start to the season Liverpool can ill afford another poor display and will be hoping to beat Northampton convincingly.
Liverpool will be hoping for a good showing against the League Two side after their poor run of form continued under Hodgson with a 3-2 defeat against rivals Manchester United. Steven Gerrard scored the two goals against Manchester United, but it is likely
that Roy Hodgson will rest key players like Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole and a number of other first team regulars. Hodgson will most likely choose a number of fringe players as he has done in the midweek matches in the UEFA Cup. Players such
as Ryan Babel, David Ngog and Stephen Kelly will probably come into the side. Daniel Pacheco may also be given another chance after impressing in a number of games this season. Lucas who did not feature in the Manchester United game may also start and Milan
Jovanovic, Rodriguez Maxi and Sotirios Kyrgiakos could all play. Kyrgiakos has impressed in the UEFA Cup, but has not been picked in the Premier League matches this season. In fact Liverpool’s best displays have come in cup competitions with Ngog scoring goals
in all the previous rounds.
Northampton will be massive underdogs and their fans will hope that they can give a good account of themselves as they take on Liverpool’s team of stars. Northampton lost 3-1 in their League Two match away to Shrewsbury. Kevin Thornton scored a great free
kick from twenty yards to grab Northampton’s only goal and he will hope to produce something similar against Liverpool.
Northampton will play the strongest team possible and it is expected that Seb Harris will not start after he was substituted due to his poor performance after 35 minutes in the match with Shrewsbury. If Northampton are to be competitive and get a result
they will have to silence the Anfield crowd and put in the best performance of their season so far. The first twenty minutes will be crucial and it will be important that none of the Northampton players freeze on such a big stage.
Liverpool will be firm favourites to progress into the next round and with Liverpool’s poor form the Carling Cup may be taken more seriously by Hodgson than the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United. The Liverpool manager will still hope to give
some of the less experienced players a run out, but with Liverpool struggling in the league and with the club trophy-less for a few seasons the Carling Cup may take on more significance for Liverpool this season. Liverpool are already ten points behind Chelsea
and the only trophies that they can realistically win will be the UEFA Cup, the FA Cup and the Carling cup. The first test for Liverpool will be to beat Northampton as they look for an end to their drought in terms of trophies.
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