This archive report was first published on 18 December 2019.
On Tuesday, Liverpool's youngest ever team suffered a harsh lesson in the League Cup quarter-finals, losing 5-0 to Aston Villa. The match saw Aston Villa reach the League Cup semi-finals.
Despite a much better performance from the visitors than the score line suggests, the inexperience of the Liverpool line-up showed defensively. The team contained five debutants and an average age of 19 years, six months, and three days.
"I thought we were magnificent," said Liverpool's stand-in manager Neil Critchley. "We were really unfortunate to concede from a free-kick and a cruel deflection and find ourselves 2-0 down."
Jonathan Kodjia scored twice for Aston Villa, with the first goal coming from a Conor Hourihane free-kick that evaded everyone and flew under Caoimhin Kelleher's grasp. The second goal was a result of a deflected Ahmed Elmohamady cross that looped in at the far post for an own goal by Morgan Boyes.
Harvey Elliot, the youngest player to ever play in the Premier League, was the standout performer of Liverpool's young crop. However, the floodgates opened 14 minutes in, and the team struggled to keep up.
"It was a lose-lose for us," Hourihane told Sky Sports. "Everyone expected us to win and we just had to do our jobs."
Wesley, a Brazilian striker, came off the bench to round off the scoring in stoppage time with his first goal in 10 games.
Liverpool's decision to play two games in two days in two different continents and with two very different squads was criticised for showing a lack of respect to the League Cup. However, amidst a run of 15 games in 50 days across five competitions, it was well down the list of Liverpool's priorities as they attempt to win a first league title for 30 years and hope to defend the Champions League come the new year.
