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Luis Suárez answered some of his critics with the two goals that took Liverpool into the Carling Cup quarter-finals. A goal down at the interval, the visitors were indebted to their Uruguayan striker for masterminding their recovery almost single-handedly, dispelling in the process the myth that he does not convert enough chances to be regarded a clinical finisher. He missed a few chances here too but there was nothing wrong with the two goals that he claimed.

Liverpool made eight changes from the draw with Norwich at the weekend but kept faith with Suárez, their outstanding performer in that game, and kept Pepe Reina in goal. Both players were involved quickly, the goalkeeper having to backpedal hastily and ending up relieved to see Jon Walters’ speculative chip over his head land on the roof of the net, then the Uruguayan just failing to fasten on to the rebound when Thomas Sorensen beat out a powerful shot from Andy Carroll. Then Suárez tried a chip of his own but found Sorensen too tall to outwit.

Those who complain that Suárez’s goals to shots ratio is unconvincing may have a point, though he cannot be faulted for getting in good positions to shoot and generally getting his attempts on target. On Saturday he was mostly foiled by the excellence of John Ruddy, a pattern that seemed to be repeating itself here when Sorensen saved at point-blank range mid-way through the first half. Liverpool had just put together their best passing move of the game through Maxi Rodríguez and Lucas and, when the latter’s square ball found Suárez free on the six-yard line in front of goal, Sorensen had to react quickly to smother a first-time shot.

Apart from Rory Delap’s long throws Stoke were finding it difficult to put Liverpool’s defence under pressure, although Jamie Carragher was lucky to escape with only a yellow card for an ugly, scything tackle that upended Matthew Etherington. It was lucky he was not playing for Chelsea against QPR at the weekend, or he would have been off.

Sorensen was called upon again to save from Carroll and then Martin Kelly either side of the first’s half’s major talking point, a disallowed Stoke goal that predictably arrived from a long throw. Stoke moving their touchlines in by a yard or so has given Delap even more of a run-up and less ground to cover and he achieved such a velocity in the 36th minute that Walters was able to beat Reina with a simple glancing header. Lee Probert had already decided that the goalkeeper had been impeded, however, although it was impossible even after a few replays to establish by whom. Certainly Walters did not make any sort of illegal contact, indeed any contact, and there was no one else in the goalkeeper’s vicinity.

If that was an injustice, it was quickly corrected. Stoke took the lead on the stroke of the interval through a Kenwyne Jones diving header, following a fairly calamitous mistake by Sebastián Coates, Liverpool’s Uruguayan defender. Having indicated to team-mates he was about to deal with a bouncing ball near the left touchline, Coates was surprised to be dispossessed by Walters, and could only watch as the hitherto sluggish Jones stooped to a low cross to direct a header expertly beyond Reina’s reach.

Kenny Dalglish sent out Martin Skrtel for the second half, not for the hapless Coates but for the cautioned Carragher. It appeared that what the visitors lacked was a midfield presence rather than another centre-half, yet while Suárez is on the pitch there is always hope and the striker was able to conjure an early equaliser without needing anyone’s help. Cutting inside Robert Huth on the left, Suárez weighed his options, nutmegged Ryan Shotton on the edge of the area then the inside of the right hand upright with a curling shot that not even Sorensen could reach.

That deflated the home side somewhat, though an increasingly laboured Liverpool were unable to come up with any more moments of individual brilliance to take the lead and normal time was dribbling away uneventfully until Suárez hit the winner five minutes from the end. When the late substitute Craig Bellamy hit a post a minute earlier it was just about Liverpool’s first threat since their equaliser, but Suárez was in position once again when it mattered when Jordan Henderson angled in a volleyed cross and he stayed onside to put a firm header back across the goalkeeper.

Carling Cup 2011-12Stoke CityLiverpoolCarling CupPaul Wilsonguardian.co.uk

Finally at Liverpool, the big No9 was sent on from the bench and saved his side’s afternoon with a powerful header at the Kop end of the sort that would have made anyone from Tony Hateley to John Toshack proud.

Unfortunately for Anfield, it was not Andy Carroll. He stayed on the bench until 10 minutes from the end. Norwich’s Grant Holt, formerly of Barrow and Workington, was the second-half substitute who earned his side a notable point. Liverpool could, and really should, have had the game wrapped up after creating a succession of chances, almost all of which fell to the normally deadly Luis Suárez. But the Uruguayan had an off day, while the more limited Norwich striker made the most of what little came his way.

Liverpool could have been two goals up within the first five minutes. Martin Skrtel rattled John Ruddy’s bar with a header from the first corner of the game, then when Suárez easily rounded Leon Barnett to leave himself a clear shooting chance moments later, the Kop gasped in anticipation only for the normally reliable striker to miss the target. When Craig Bellamy set up Suárez again in the 10th minute Ruddy managed to get a hand to his sidefooted effort and tip the ball on to a post, before Stewart Downing squandered the rebound from close range.

Liverpool were playing with much more urgency and penetration, with not only Bellamy but Glen Johnson restored to the side, and it appeared only a matter of time before Norwich were broken down, though before Suárez fired wide with his third clear chance of the game, Wes Hoolahan did manage to reach Steve Morison’s flick to bring a save from Pepe Reina.

After surviving the initial rush, however, Norwich began to play themselves into the game and hold their own in midfield. Reina needed to be alert again to hold a far-post header from Steve Morison after David Fox’s corner, then Elliott Bennett dispossessed José Enrique on the edge of the area but could not release his shot in time. By the halfway point of the first half the Norwich fans felt sufficiently emboldened to ask where the famous Anfield atmosphere was. Another 10 minutes and they were making comparisons with libraries, and they had a point.

Russell Martin was required to tidy up on his own line when Ruddy came out to deny Dirk Kuyt and allowed the ball to run loose to Suárez, but once the visitors had found their feet there was little to report at either end by way of goalmouth incident, unless you were to count Suárez kicking the goalframe in frustration after another attack petered out tamely.

By the interval it was debatable whether Liverpool deserved to take a lead, though they ended up with one courtesy of a couple of Norwich blunders in the minutes added on for stoppage time. Martin was so busy trying to keep Suárez in check as Liverpool played a long ball forward from the back that he inadvertently knocked the ball into Bellamy’s path instead. The much travelled striker was not about to pass up the opportunity to score against his first professional club but his shot was helped into the net by a deflection from Marc Tierney that took Ruddy out of the equation.

Norwich began the second half promisingly, Anthony Pilkington bringing a diving save from Reina, but were lucky not to got further behind when Suárez demonstrated his movement and ability to make something out of nothing. Turning and skipping away from a bemused Barnett for the second time in the game Suárez once again made space for a clear shot at goal, and thought he had successfully flicked the ball past Ruddy when Martin’s outstretched leg appeared from nowhere to divert a goalbound effort on to an upright and out. Suárez looked as if an entire season’s luck had deserted him in a single afternoon, and was entitled to be mystified by his inability to add to his scoring tally from a whole host of promising situations, though his misses never appeared likely to be costly until Norwich pulled themselves back into the game on the hour.

Paul Lambert had just sent on Holt as a substitute, and within three minutes the tall striker headed the visitors level. Hoolahan calmly spread the ball out to the right, and from Pilkington’s perfect, hanging cross, Holt arrived at a gallop to beat Jamie Carragher, Johnson and Reina in the air to thump a header home. Holt had an equally inviting chance three minutes later, this time from a Pilkington cross from the left, but Reina stayed on his line and was able to beat the ball away.

Only then did Kenny Dalglish send Carroll on, rather puzzling some home fans by cutting one of his supply lines when Downing was the player who had to make way. As Bellamy had already been replaced by Jordan Henderson it meant Carroll was asked to operate without natural wingers on either flank. To no one’s great surprise, he managed little of note, missing his one opportunity, a close-range header from a Steven Gerrard cross in added time.

Suárez missed a couple more chances before the end, Barnett recovered some kudos with a great tackle on the charging Charlie Adam, and Norwich escaped with a well-deserved point. Suárez, who else, missed the last chance of the match in the closing seconds, though as much as his on target attempt was worthy of a goal, credit must go to Ruddy for a remarkable and important save.

Premier League 2011-12LiverpoolNorwich CityPremier LeaguePaul Wilsonguardian.co.uk

For the second week in succession Arsenal had a man sent off and failed to score a goal, but for Arsène Wenger at the moment it never rains but it pours. Just as a patched-together Arsenal side seemed likely to hold out for another draw, a freakish own goal handed Liverpool three points they barely deserved.

Kenny Dalglish will not be complaining about that, though there was more evidence here that he may have paid over the odds for Andy Carroll. Liverpool barely looked like breaking the deadlock here until the £35m striker was taken off. By the end, with Arsenal losing their composure, the visitors were able to add insult to injury with a second goal in the final minute, their two substitutes again combining to leave Luis Suárez a tap in.

In something of a major surprise, Wenger turned out not to have been joking when he hinted Samir Nasri might play. The supposedly Manchester-bound Frenchman not only appeared in midfield, he seemed perfectly happy to do so. People have been saying all summer that Wenger is too careful with his money, yet here he was taking a bold gamble with a chip worth at least £20m, amid rumours that talks between the two clubs have broken down. Dalglish was slightly more cautious in his selection, leaving Suárez on the bench and asking Andy Carroll to play with just Dirk Kuyt’s occasional company up front.

That did not immediately look too threatening a combination, though when Laurent Koscielny broke down after a quarter of an hour and Arsenal had to fill in at centre half with Ignasi Miquel, making his first Premier League appearance, the balance tipped a little towards the visitors. Certainly the Arsenal fans had cause to be worried when Miquel mistimed his jump and failed to cut out the first Stewart Downing cross he had to deal with, leaving Carroll a free header that Wojciech Szczesny had to dive to save.

Jordan Henderson also brought a save from the Arsenal goalkeeper, though, with fewer crosses landing on Carroll’s forehead than Dalglish must have been hoping, it was perhaps significant that the nearest Liverpool came to taking the lead in the first half was a shot from exactly halfway by Charlie Adam, one that had Szczesny back-pedalling but flew a couple of feet too high. Arsenal came back into the game before the interval and twice came close with direct approaches, one when Pepe Reina dived low to keep out a drive from the impressive Emmanuel Frimpong, and then when Nasri left Lucas Leiva chasing in vain with a run through the middle to flash a shot narrowly wide.

The second half, played in a steady downpour, was as drab and depressing as the London weather until several things happened at once with 20 minutes left. First, Robin van Persie brought a scrambling save from Reina with the first decent attempt since the interval. Then Arsenal had a man sent off for the second week running, the impetuous Frimpong dangerously leaving a foot in against Leiva to collect a second yellow to add to the one he received for obstructing a throw in the first half. Finally, and not before time, Dalglish replaced the labouring Carroll with Suárez, who at least promised finesse.

Together with the other Liverpool substitute, Raul Meireles, Suárez helped conjure a goal in a matter of minutes. It was not much of a goal, more of a comedy of errors in the Arsenal defence that ended with Miquel’s attempted clearance striking Aaron Ramsey in the face and looping back over a stranded Szczesny, though the situation came about because Suárez, who had actually strayed fractionally offside, was trying to reach a return pass from Meireles. Just a few minutes of cleverness brought a greater reward than the previous hour-and-a-bit’s attempts to play the ball up to the big fella, a point re-emphasised by Liverpool’s second goal. It could have gone either way with Carroll on the pitch, but at the end it was the Arsenal fans complaining about not enough money being spent.

Premier League 2011-12ArsenalLiverpoolPremier LeaguePaul Wilsonguardian.co.uk