Halloween horror show as Reds crash out of the cup

Liverpool's defence of their League Cup trophy came to a disappointing conclusion last night, as Brendan Rodgers' men fell to a deserved 3-1 defeat against the Northern Irishman's former employers at Anfield. Swansea City dominated the first half and secured the lead thanks to Chico's header. In the second half, they defended solidly and clinically counter-attacked to punish a poor performance from the home side.

With Sunday's Premier League fixture versus Newcastle United in mind, Rodgers began the match with a weakened side. Henderson was strangely picked at right back, while Joe Cole and Samed Yesil were handed rare starting berths and Brad Jones made his fourth consecutive appearance in goal. Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez formed part of a strong bench.

The visitors began the better and remained firmly in the ascendancy throughout the first period, creating more goalscoring chances and passing in a manner that Rodgers aspires to replicate at Anfield. After 18 minutes Ki-Sung Yeung's 20-yard shot sent Jones scrambling, before a trademark block from captain for the night Jamie Carragher was needed to deny Hernandez a clear shot at goal following neat interplay with teammate Michu.

Jonathan De Guzman then lobbed the ball onto the roof of the net, before the Swans' pressure paid off and the Welsh side claimed the lead soon after the half hour mark. Chico rose highest in the penalty area to power a header into the corner of the net.

Inevitable- Chico's opener was always coming

The inevitability of Swansea's opener was perhaps most frustrating, as it was clear from the opening stages that they had a better work rate and a greater desire to win than their below-par opponents, who never really got going during a disappointing first 45 minutes.

Nonetheless, Joe Cole could have immediately equalised for the hosts, but his header lacked power and was comfortably collected by the keeper. Yesil's shot was then blocked by Williams, but neither of the pair did enough to warrant any more action after the interval. Cole, whose days at Anfield must be numbered, looked like he hadn't been on a football pitch in years, while Yesil was horrendously immobile, lacked positional sense and posed no threat whatsoever to Swansea's defence. 

Gerrard and Suarez replaced them respectively at half time, and their arrival gave the Reds an instant boost. Unsurprisingly, they were next to try and obtain parity, as Suarez nodded off target from Shelvey's cross five minutes after the restart, before Gerrard's effort from range hit the post and Downing frustratingly failed to convert the rebound. 

Brad Jones' performance was one noticeable positive to take from the evening. The Aussie keeper wasn't culpable for conceding any of the goals and, on 66 minutes, made a tremendous treble save to prevent the away side doubling their advantage during a goalmouth scramble. Moreover, he tipped Michu's goal-bound effort over the bar before Williams headed inches wide from the resulting corner.  

A goalmouth scramble at the other end of the pitch not only failed to yield a leveller for the Reds, but also saw Swansea devastatingly counter-attack and bag their second of the evening. Displaying greater desire, the visitors won several 50-50 challenges as they broke. The move culminated in Dyer tapping home Hernandez's clever, composed and unselfish square pass from close range.  

Suarez may have headed home Gerrard's free kick four minutes later, but it was a case of too little, too late for Liverpool, who even lacked urgency when they were chasing the game in the closing stages. 

Suarez's goal provided little consolation

In injury time, Swansea hammered the final nail into the Reds' Capital One cup coffin as a carbon copy of the build-up to their second goal concluded with De Guzman's last gasp tap in from Michu's assist.

A 3-1 defeat was little more than Liverpool's lacklustre, low-energy, pedestrian performance deserved. Yes, Swansea played well and it was only the League Cup, but this defeat destroys the momentum garnered from recent results and leaves Liverpool stuck struggling to shake off their early season woes. 

It's easy to say it after being knocked out of the cup, but the League certainly is the priority this season and therefore the Reds must pick themselves up now and put in a much better performance against Newcastle on the weekend. 

YNWA