Stoke City 0 Liverpool 1: Mark Hughes out of time as hope of reviving Potters’ glory runs into reality in Capital One Cup

The Reds have never lost a cup tie to Stoke and it is hard to imagine that any of their wins have been much better fashioned than this one

(AP)

In his book Strange Days on the political paranoia that engulfed the 1970s from Watergate to the belief that the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, was a Soviet agent, the journalist Francis Wheen recalled a conversation in a newspaper office. “Everything’s connected. Name me two things that aren’t connected,” said one. “Stoke City and the League Championship,” came the reply.

They may never win the league but in terms of the League Cup this was surely their time. Stoke had beaten both Manchester clubs in the Premier League and beaten them easily. You looked at the starting line-ups for this semi-final and Stoke appeared to possess more game-changers, a better goalkeeper and better centre-halves than Liverpool. They were at home and, if they were to make it to Wembley, you sensed they would have go into the second leg at Anfield with a lead.

As the red smoke from the flares that followed Jordon Ibe’s goal billowed from the away end, all those pre-match calculations drifted away with them.

Their manager, Mark Hughes, had emphasised what this trophy meant in the Potteries. The men who won the 1972 League Cup are everywhere at the Britannia Stadium. Their semi-final with West Ham went to two replays and spawned the release of a club song, “We’ll Be With You”, which failed comprehensively to knock Chicory Tip’s “Son of my Father” off the top of the charts and was easily outsold by the song released by their opponents, Chelsea. “Blue is the Colour” was No 9 on cup final afternoon.

Stoke’s rewards may have been slight – a single tie against Kaiserslautern in the Uefa Cup – but the memories of their victory at Wembley are clung to fiercely.

This was the night for the front three of Bojan Krkic, Marko Arnautovic and Xherdan Shaqiri to demolish a Liverpool central defence that by the interval consisted of the unlikely pairing of Kolo Touré and Lucas Leiva. Aside from a flurry in first-half stoppage time, Stoke seldom came close. By the end it was the old Stoke, lumping it long for Peter Crouch. Their efforts were summed up by a cleverly taken low corner from Shaqiri that led to Bojan completely miskicking in front of goal.

They were better when attacking the Boothen End but even there, where their most passionate and noisiest supporters sit, they must have felt opportunities were being squandered.

To judge from his body language, Hughes must have felt the same. In a first half spattered with misplaced passes, he yelled, he waved his arms around and put them behind his back. Then as the rain sloshed down he walked around with his hands in the pockets of a rather elegant suit that by now was utterly soaked.

Jürgen Klopp, rather less stylishly but rather more practically, was wearing a cagoule with the hood pulled over his head. Hughes came out for the second half in a raincoat.

Liverpool, historically, have a hold over Stoke. They have never lost a cup tie to them and that run includes an 8-0 thrashing at the Britannia in 2000. It is hard to imagine that any of their wins have been much better fashioned than this one.

Klopp’s previous semi-final – with Borussia Dortmund in the German Cup – gave him one last chance to upset his old enemy, Bayern Munich, who were beaten in the most un-Germanic penalty shoot-out of them all – Bayern failed to score from a single one of their spot-kicks.

Though the tie is not over, this performance should have pleased Klopp almost as much. The negatives came in the injuries to Philippe Coutinho and Dejan Lovren. The intense style of play Klopp favours and which he has sometimes called “heavy metal football” can take a very heavy toll on a footballer and Liverpool’s physio, Chris Morgan, may have a long few months in front of him. By the end, Touré was limping.

Under his management, Liverpool have been vastly more effective away from Anfield – at the Etihad Stadium, Stamford Bridge and St Mary’s.

The 4-1 win over Manchester City had been Roberto Firmino’s finest hour since a very expensive move from Hoffenheim and he excelled here.

Klopp had pointed out that Firmino grew up in Brazil’s rural sugar belt and Hoffenheim is very small-town Germany – its entire population could be accommodated in the Boothen End. He had found Liverpool, a city where football is everything, unsettling.

Should Liverpool reach Wembley, Firmino will discover just how passionate they can be.