5 talking points as Liverpool begin EFL Cup defence with nervy shootout victory

Holders Liverpool progressed to the fourth round of the EFL Cup the hard way by overcoming Derby County in a penalty shootout.

Caoimhin Kelleher, who scored the decisive spot kick in last season's final against Chelsea, was the hero for the Reds again, saving three penalties before Harvey Elliott scored to to send his side through to the fourth round.

Liverpool dominated during regular time, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain going close on three occasions and substitute Elliott denied by a fine save from Joe Wildsmith late on. However, the visitors posed a threat on the counter-attack and Max Bird watched his lashed effort fly wide of the far post in the 51st minute, moments before Oxlade-Chamberlain's deflected shot was stopped well.

Jurgen Klopp brought on big guns Roberto Firmino and Darwin Nunez for the final 25 minutes but Derby stood firm to take the game to a penalty shootout, where Kelleher made three fine stops to deny Conor Hourihane, Craig Forsyth and Everton loanee Lewis Dobbin, before Elliott won the tie for the Reds.

Here are five talking points from a nervy night at Anfield.

Finding their feet

Talk ahead of kick-off was dominated by the number of academy starlets in the Liverpool XI, but it was the players more accustomed to first-team football who stood out in the opening 20 minutes.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain went closest with a volley which fizzed past the post, while the majority of the Reds' attacks came from down the left, where Kostas Tsimikas combined with Fabio Carvalho. Liverpool's youngsters did began to impact the game more from then on, with 17-year-old Bobby Clark a particularly-energetic presence in central midfield who showed endeavour to drive at Derby players.

Elsewhere, Stefan Bajcetic - a player tipped as a future star after his performances in pre-season - saw plenty of the ball as the No.6 role and Melkamu Frauendorf grew into the match, delivering some threatening crosses from the right as Liverpool began to ramp up the pressure.

Resilient Rams

Liverpool should have taken the lead just after the half-hour mark and Layton Stewart only had himself to blame after fashioning a brilliant opportunity for himself.

The 20-year-old led the line for the Reds and pressed excellently to win the ball back before feeding Fabio Carvalho on the left of the penalty area. The Portugal youth international had the vision to cut the ball back across goal to Stewart, who could only clip over the bar with the goal gaping.

In the youngster's defence, it was not an easy chance with a bouncing ball, but he will have been devastated not to have opened his account on his first senior start. Moments later, Kostas Tsimikas volleyed well wide of the target as Liverpool began to turn the screw.

It appeared only a matter of time before the hosts took the lead but Derby had other ideas and plugged the gaps which had been starting to emerge between their five-man defence and the midfield.

Captain Joe

It has not been an easy start to the season for Joe Gomez, far from it. Aside from his man-of-the-match display against Manchester City in the Premier League, the centre-back has been guilty of a number of errors which underlined why he is fourth in the pecking order behind Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Ibrahima Konate.

However, Gomez, who is no longer a spring chicken at the age of 25, was entrusted with the captaincy in Liverpool's heavily-rotated, youthful side to face Derby. Deployed on the left of a pairing with Nat Phillips, the Englishman was afforded plenty of time on the ball to build attacks thanks to the Rams largely staying in their own half while out of possession.

This allowed Gomez to strut his stuff, regularly picking out the bright Fabio Carvalho with some pinged passes to the left flank. But what the former Charlton prospect will be most pleased with is a confidence-boosting clean sheet, which rarely looked at risk of being tarnished thanks to the gulf in quality between the two sides and the authoritative performance of the Liverpool defence.

Confident Calvin

On the day he was called up to the senior Scotland squad for the first time, Calvin Ramsay put in a fine performance as he made his first start for Liverpool.

Having come off the bench in the Champions League clash with Napoli, the 19-year-old lined up on the right of defence and exuded confidence as he marauded up and down the flank. It was a full debut with plenty of promising signs of what the future holds for the former Aberdeen prospect, who has seen his start to life at Anfield heavily disrupted by injury.

Who will win the EFL Cup this season? Have your say in the comments.

Jurgen juggles

Jurgen Klopp decided the 66th minute was the moment to make three substitutions in search of the winner, sending on Roberto Firmino, Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott for Melkamu Frauendorf, Layton Stewart and Bobby Clark.

These changes almost came up trumps just seconds after the fresh faces were introduced as Firmino, Elliott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain combined and the latter forced a save from Joe Wildsmith.

The Derby goalkeeper made a brilliant save to deny Elliott from close range in the closing stages, leaving the Englishman so exasperated he kicked the post in frustration, summing up the mood in Anfield as the clocked ticked down and a penalty shootout loomed.

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