No club treasures its history more than Liverpool and its lowest point is generally agreed to be the FA Cup defeat by Worcester City several months before Bill Shankly walked into Anfield like Jimmy Cagney in a tracksuit. That was away from home with Liverpool stagnating in the old Second Division and in an age before rolling news and the internet, the damage was limited to headlines in the Liverpool Echo. Last night, Liverpool were at home, they were playing a side 69 places below them and there were cameras everywhere.
That Northampton would commit every fibre of their being to the contest was predictable. That they would be the better side for swathes of the evening was not. Liverpool, the club that has won the League Cup more than any other, had to rely on a David Ngog header merely to force a penalty shoot-out in a monsoon in front of the Kop. When Steve Guinan drove his first into the crowd that seemed to be that, but Liverpool were unreliable even from 12 yards. Ngog and Nathan Eccleston both missed. Abdul Osman did not and seconds later he and the rest of his team were sliding on the sodden earth in front of their supporters who had travelled in their thousands without daring to expect this. On Merseyside the Carling Cup has provided a pint and a half of humiliation.
If anyone at Anfield had taken any pleasure from Everton's humbling at Brentford, the laughter was choked by a performance that stank of a club sleepwalking towards a crisis. If Sunday's defeat at Old Trafford was in the words of Sir Alex Ferguson, a "catastrophe for Liverpool," then this ripped away any self-confidence Roy Hodgson's regime possessed. The manager was not in the mood to take positives or make excuses.
This was a weakened side, though not a weak one – it boasted half a dozen internationals, although crucially there was no insurance on the bench. Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard or Joe Cole, men who might have made a difference were elsewhere. In their place were academy graduates. "I have lost a Uefa Cup final on penalties, there is no worse way to lose any game and I know what damage they can do to those who miss," said Hodgson. "If they are going to be Liverpool players, they will have to recover. There is nothing I can say to the fans. We have been knocked out of the Carling Cup by a side several divisions below us.
"I didn't think we came anywhere near what I hoped to see from this team. When it goes to a penalty shoot-out in front of the Kop, you would hope your players have the composure and confidence to win it. However, you have to give credit to Northampton. They have stolen nothing, but I am bitterly disappointed that a team in which I had so much faith did not repay that faith."
The task facing Northampton was considerable. Only one team from a lower division has come to Anfield in the competition and won – Grimsby Town in 2001, when Liverpool were the holders. Northampton had travelled to Merseyside with some unimpressive form in League Two and a lengthy injury list, and were behind within eight minutes as Milan Jovanovic scored his first goal for Liverpool, measuring his shot expertly.
Jovanovic's goal ought to have provided the signal for a rout but did nothing of the sort. Before the interval Hodgson was tearing off his jacket in frustration as another slice of sloppy play was enacted a few feet from where he was standing.
The carelessness continued, became endemic and was to prove fatal. Eleven minutes after the interval Liverpool failed to clear a ball played into the area by Liam Davis and Billy McKay, a Northern Ireland Under-21 international, smashed the ball past Brad Jones. Northampton suddenly sensed they could win, a belief that ran through the next hour of the contest. Even when Ngog equalised, Northampton still had the drive to pour forward and force Martin Kelly to clear off the line. "I cannot credit them enough" said their manager, Ian Sampson. "By the end they were falling over with cramp and playing in the wrong positions but they kept attacking."
Having forced the game into extra time, Northampton kept on until they broke through and took the lead when Michael Jacobs drove home a loose ball into the net. The travelling supporters began a chorus, to the tune of Hey Jude‚ of "La, la la la ... Cobblers". The next couple of months will determine whether this will be the soundtrack to Liverpool's season.
