Minamino shines as Liverpool’s squad depth proves valuable against Norwich

Liverpool advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time during manager Jurgen Klopp’s tenure and he can thank some of the more fringe members of the first-team squad for their contributions to the 2-1 victory over Norwich City.

The Reds were just off the back of an energy-sapping 120 minutes of football against Chelsea in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final along with a test of their mental strength with a penalty shootout.

Klopp knew it would not be possible to lean on a lot of those players again with the risk of an injury at a very high level. Sadio Mane, Luis Diaz, Andy Robertson and Joel Matip made the bench for this one with only the former pair getting a small amount of minutes towards the end of the game.

Mohamed Salah, Virgil Van Dijk, Fabinho, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Naby Keita were left out of the squad altogether as the quintet enjoyed some much-needed rest ahead of another big game with West Ham United coming up.

These changes afforded opportunities to players who perhaps have not played as often as they would have liked recently such as Joe Gomez, Divock Origi and Takumi Minamino.

It was the Japanese international that certainly had the biggest impact on the evening’s proceedings. Minamino has been somewhat of a gem for Klopp in the cups this season and added another couple of goals to his tally. It is now nine goals for the campaign, seven of which have come in the cup competitions.

His opener was the product of some good play on the left-hand side between Curtis Jones and Kostas Tsimikas. The Greek full-back found Origi who engineered some space and passed to Minamino who kept his cool to finish past Norwich goalkeeper Tim Krul.

The former Salzburg attacker’s second goal was possibly his finest in a red shirt. A corner from the left flicked off the head of Ben Gibson and Minamino had peeled off to the back post to find some space. A good first touch created the opportunity to cut across the ball with his right foot and smash a shot in off the post, leaving Krul with no chance.

Minamino, who found himself loaned out to Southampton last season, was buzzing around the field, starting out on the right of a front three and was a constant menace to the Canaries’ defence. He linked up particularly well with substitute Harvey Elliott in the second half, allowing the young talent space to pick out some dangerous crosses.

Previously Liverpool have struggled in the absence of their famous front three of Salah, Mane and Roberto Firmino but Minamino now looks physically stronger and more in tune with his manager’s demands, giving Klopp another option in attack.

The days of despair when any of the famed trio get injured are no longer what they were.

Curtis Jones was another player that looked lively on his return to the team, although unfortunately it was a return limited to 45 minutes due to injury. The young midfielder would have been disappointed to miss out on the Wembley matchday squad in it’s entirety and he played like he had a point to prove here.

Jones started on the left of a central midfield trio along with Jordan Henderson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and began well. The 21-year-old looked confident as he attempted back heels and showed determination in snapping into tackles and winning the ball back in central areas.

But if it wasn’t for the Norwich crossbar, Jones would have opened the scoring in very similar fashion to his winning goal in a Merseyside Derby FA Cup third round tie two years ago. Liverpool’s number 17 curled a brilliant effort from outside the area only to see the ball land agonisingly on top of the woodwork.

Jones also showed a level of maturity in the first half as the ball was dropping out of the sky following a cross that looked prime for a shot on his left foot, only to instead take a touch and find a pass that led to a better goalscoring opportunity.

As mentioned Jones played his part in the opening goal, freeing Tsimikas into space so he could cross and will have been very happy with his opening half of the game.

The injury was probably the only blight on an otherwise good night for Liverpool and there is no word yet on the extent of it.

Joe Gomez is another player who has not played regularly this season and the defender played well for the most part only to make a bit of an error for Lukas Rupp’s goal.

Tsimikas was his usual enthusiastic and dangerous self down the left while James Milner once again showed his versatility by producing an excellent performance at right-back.

Milner is a coach’s dream and will go down as probably one of the most reliable and important players in the Klopp era.

The pursuit of an unprecedented quadruple took another step forward and Liverpool now find themselves awaiting their opponents in the last eight.

With fresh legs, confidence and even more momentum, Klopp’s men will be counting down the hours until they get back on the pitch against West Ham on Saturday.

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