Liverpool has new midfield option amid Arne Slot hint - 4 talking points from Brighton

THE AMEX STADIUM, BRIGHTON // Liverpool to book its place in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, with and scoring the goals.

All four strikes came in the second half with Gakpo's first the pick of the bunch at the Amex Stadium. He curled a superb strike into the top corner and sent the Reds on their way to the last eight.

Tyler Morton was a good performer and Wataru Endo would have been glad of the minutes having not featured since the last round against West Ham United. Here are the four things spotted as the game unfolded.

A hint for the rematch

In a team full of changes, it was interesting to note that , who captained the side, was left in after being given the runaround by Bukayo Saka last weekend. Is that a hint that Kostas Tsimikas might be playing the more important match of the week against the same opponent?

Tsimikas looked impressive when he came on at the Emirates Stadium against Arsenal, offering a fresh injection of speed. The Greek seems to be preferred to Joe Gomez as the second-choice full-back option, and could seemingly be in line to start at Anfield against Brighton in the Premier League having missed out here.

Robertson performed well enough overall against Brajan Gruda without being scintillating. It was a professional performance in which he didn't do a great deal in the way of providing an attacking threat.

Wataru Endo and Tyler Morton contrast

For someone who had played only 266 minutes so far this season for Liverpool — all but eight of them at U21 level — Tyler Morton looked incredibly sharp. He was spraying passes all over the field and soon warmed into things. There is no reason that he couldn't be dropped into a more important match in the future on this evidence.

Given some encouragement from , Morton was demanding possession from his teammates dropping between the center-backs to dictate things. There were lapses, more in concentration than anything else, but it isn't hard to see why there was plenty of interest in him from all over Europe last summer. Morton isn't Ryan Gravenberch, but he is a very technically proficient player.

Endo, alongside him, is far more functional, but it is easy to see why Slot was full of praise for him during the pre-match press conference. He works hard and is useful in a defensive role, though he is never going to be as well-suited to playing the way Liverpool wants. Here, he made a strong enough impression without it ever seeming likely he will retain his place when the bigger games come.

Vitezslav Jaros impresses

Making a really good save from Tariq Lamptey when the Brighton right-back was racing through on goal, Vitezslav Jaros impressed hugely on his first start for Liverpool. He has plenty of senior experience elsewhere but playing for the Reds is another level of pressure compared to, for instance, Sturm Graz in Austria, where he had a sensational loan spell.

With his feet, Jaros took a couple of chances but he was absolutely right to back himself. That is a vital part of the game at the very top level, and Jaros appears to have the quality to slot right in and play with the best of them. He didn't keep a clean sheet but he was a very impressive performer.

Unfamiliar system pays off

Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones started in almost a front two as a pair of false nines down the center for Liverpool, with Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz offering the width and Morton and Endo some stability. It worked well enough to win the game but we won't be seeing it too often; it was purely out of necessity with Darwin Nunez needing a rest.

The Uruguayan and Mohamed Salah, who both came on when the result was already wrapped up, will be straight back into the Liverpool starting XI at the weekend. The only question will be about whether Gakpo has done enough to keep his place. The fact that he came off and Luis Diaz stayed on would suggest that he might have.