Andoni Iraola changed almost his entire Liverpool team against Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup and still came away with a 3-1 victory. That alone made Tuesday a very good night for the Reds.
Alexis Mac Allister, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai produced three superb finishes, but Lewis Koumas may have given our head coach the most useful answer of all. The 20-year-old didn’t score, but he didn’t need to.
Koumas Looked Ready for This Chance
Koumas started through the middle as Iraola made 10 changes from the team which had been held to a draw by Fulham three days earlier.
Alexander Isak was among the substitutes, leaving the youngster to lead a completely altered attack alongside Rio Ngumoha and Gakpo. It would’ve been easy for Koumas to play cautiously, particularly on his first senior Liverpool start since scoring on his debut against Southampton in February 2024. Instead, he made himself impossible to ignore.
The 20-year-old pressed Tottenham’s defenders, chased loose balls and gave Liverpool somewhere to go whenever we needed to play through pressure. Liverpool Echo reporter Ian Doyle described him as “a real pest,” while Lewis Steele noted that the forward “never stops running.”
That effort earned him the official Player of the Match award. His reaction when Gakpo presented him with the prize was wonderfully genuine, as seen in our report on Koumas’ proud moment after the Tottenham win.
It was the kind of display which managers remember when the fixture list becomes unforgiving.
Iraola’s Changes Were Anything but Reckless
Making 10 changes against Premier League opposition looked risky, especially after an uneven start to the top-flight campaign for the Reds.
The decision worked because this wasn’t simply a team of youngsters thrown together and told to survive. Mac Allister supplied experience in midfield, Gakpo carried a proven goal threat, and Joe Gomez returned alongside Ronald Araújo in defence.
Giorgi Mamardashvili also justified his selection with an important early save from Lucas Bergvall. At the other end, Ngumoha’s skill created the opening for Mac Allister to hammer Liverpool in front after 21 minutes.
Cup football always comes with an appetite for risk. That’s familiar to supporters who follow match markets or play roulette online in their leisure time, with digital casino tables offering familiar number, colour and wheel-based bets. Each roulette spin produces an independent outcome, whereas Iraola could assess player fitness, training performances, and the quality available on Liverpool’s bench. His selection carried risk, but it wasn’t a blind gamble.
The Basque’s decision was backed by the energy of Koumas, the experience of Mac Allister and Gakpo, and substitutes capable of changing the game. Szoboszlai proved that final point with his spectacular stoppage-time volley.
Liverpool’s Second String Looked Strong
The biggest positive was not simply reaching the Carabao Cup fourth round. It was doing so without asking the same players to carry another demanding night.
Liverpool had faced Atlético Madrid and Fulham at Anfield during the previous six days. Iraola needed to protect some of his regular starters without treating the cup as an inconvenience.
Koumas, Ngumoha, and Mamardashvili helped him strike that balance. Gakpo also reminded everyone of his value, creating Szoboszlai’s late goal after scoring Liverpool’s second.
The challenge now is making sure that these performances lead to further opportunities. Young players can’t develop if one good cup appearance is followed by months without meaningful minutes.
Koumas has shown that he can press from the front, occupy centre-backs and give Liverpool an intensity which suits Iraola’s football. He won’t displace Isak on the strength of one match, but he has earned the head coach’s trust.
Liverpool’s official match report confirms the 3-1 result, Iraola’s 10 changes, and the decisive contributions from Mac Allister, Gakpo, and Szoboszlai.
Those details matter, but Tuesday offered something more valuable than another unbeaten result. It showed that the players outside Iraola’s preferred Premier League XI are ready to contribute.
Regardless of the fourth-round opposition, the boss now knows he has another centre-forward option available to him. That is a welcome problem, and Koumas made sure of it.