It was the sort of home display that Liverpool fans have been waiting to see all season as the reds put six past Brighton to move into the FA Cup quarter-finals.

This was a terrific Liverpool performance and it started up-front by the big man Andy Carroll. Scored one, laid on one and his presence resulted in two other Liverpool goals. It was by far Carroll’s best performance in a Liverpool shirt. And part of the reason was that Liverpool varied the balls into him. Instead of the big ball down the middle, Downing was knocking balls to the near and far post from the left, and Gerrard knocked in some good crosses also from the right. The varied attack kept the Brighton defense off-balance as they did not know where Carroll was going next.

Steven Gerrard praised the part played by the Liverpool fans after the Reds registered a 2-1 victory over Manchester United in Saturday’s FA Cup fourth-round clash at Anfield.

“I thought the Liverpool fans were superb today,” Gerrard told ITV1. “They never let us down and they played a part today. They pushed us through. They realised we were very tired after midweek, but when they’re pushing they suck goals in, and I think they sucked Dirk’s goal in today.”

Gerrard conceded, however, that United had dominated much of the game before Kuyt struck the winner in the 88th minute.

What an amazing four days for Liverpool FC. On Wednesday we have the emotional draw with Man City that sent Liverpool back to Wembley for the first time in 16-years, And then today, Liverpool beat Manchester United 2-1 to advance to the last 16 of the FA Cup.

Some quick thoughts on the match today:

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard led the celebrations as his side ended a near six-year wait to qualify for a major domestic final.

The Reds booked their place in the Carling Cup showpiece with Cardiff by seeing off Manchester City on aggregate tonight – a 2-2 draw coming on the back of their 1-0 win at the Etihad Stadium a fortnight ago.

Liverpool last reached a domestic final in 2006 when they beat West Ham to the FA Cup in Cardiff, and the February 26 meeting will be their first Wembley appearance since 1996.

An absolutely brilliant performance by Liverpool as they draw 2-2 with Manchester City tonight, winning 3-2 on aggregate and advancing to Wembley where they will play Cardiff in the Carling Cup final.

Tonight’s performance was everything that Saturday’s performance against Bolton wasn’t. Liverpool played with passion and tempo, created chances and more importantly took them. If it was not for Joe Hart, Liverpool scored have scored four or five goals tonight. And over the two legs Liverpool were the better side and deserved to be going back to Wembley.