IT’S a memory that remains fresh in the minds of many Liverpool supporters. Only a few months into his Anfield reign, Rafael Benitez took his squad to Burnley for a televised FA Cup third round tie.

Against a team two tiers below them in the league ladder, the Spaniard thought a Liverpool line-up packed with young, homegrown players would still have enough to progress.

However, a chastening lesson in the competitiveness of English football followed as the Anfield outfit slumped to an embarrassing defeat.

What’s often overlooked is that, by the time of the trip to Turf Moor, Benitez had already guided Liverpool to the semi-finals of the Carling Cup on the strength of a team packed with youngsters and fringe players.

Nevertheless, the Spaniard has never forgotten the accusations he had shown scant regard for cup competitions in the English game by fielding an under-strength side.

His team selections have subsequently been swayed by that experience, and while still keen to give youngsters their chance, it won’t be at the expense of potential silverware, with Liverpool beginning their Carling Cup campaign at home to Coca-Cola League One side Crewe Alexandra this evening.

“It’s an important competition for us but it’s also one which gives us the chance to use some different players,” says Benitez. “We have to be careful though. We want to win the game and go on to win the tournament so while we can use some of our youngsters, we need to make sure we get the team right for winning.

“It’s a good opportunity for the youngsters who are selected. We have four or five of them training with the first team every day so they know how we work, but to be involved for a match gives them a chance to show us what they can do.

“They played well in pre-season and also in some games last year, so we know they have the quality to have a future here.”

It’s a sign of the greater strength in depth of the current squad that Benitez could name a completely alternative starting XI tonight to the one held by Stoke City at the weekend and still field eight full internationals – a figure that would rise to nine but for Fabio Aurelio’s latest injury.

That plethora of options makes it difficult for reserve and Academy players to make their breakthrough.

Witness combative central midfield Jay Spearing and right-back Stephen Darby, who both impressed during pre-season but are unlikely to feature in the squad tonight.

Benitez has spent the last few years augmenting the reserve team, largely with foreign imports.

The mixture of young talent from home and abroad has helped Liverpool win the Barclays Premier Reserve League title last season as well as back-to-back FA Youth Cup triumphs in 2006 and 2007.

Emiliano Insua and Damien Plessis are two players to have made the step up from reserve to first team and are expected to figure tonight.

The 21-year-old French midfielder, signed from Lyon in August last year, enjoyed an accomplished debut at Arsenal in April and was a beneficiary of injuries and Olympic commitments in the early weeks of this campaign, starting the games at Standard Liege and Sunderland.

His contribution earned the praise of skipper Steven Gerrard, who says: “Damien has done well. It’s all happened very quickly for him, he’s still a young boy, and he’ll learn an awful lot from the experience he has been getting. He’s got talent and is one for the future.

“It’s maybe slightly unfair that he had to be thrown in at the deep end straight away this season.

“With youngsters, you usually have to edge them into the team but with the manager without players through injury and the Olympics, Damien was thrown in and he certainly held his own.

“In a couple of years’ time, he’ll have learned from the experiences he has been getting and will be a better player as a result.”

Liverpool last met Crewe in the League Cup in 1990-91 when they won 9-2 aggregate, while the last meetings between the teams ended in a 4-0 FA Cup win for the visitors at Gresty Road in 1992.

Crewe will arrive at Anfield on the back of a 4-3 defeat at home to Southend at the weekend but, unlike Stoke City on Saturday, Benitez is not expecting them to sit back and defend.

“I think they will probably attack more than Stoke did on Saturday,” says the Anfield manager.

“They will play direct to their strikers, look to win second balls and also have some success from set-pieces.

“They will be well organised and will look to break on the counter attack. We know it won’t be an easy game. In England games against clubs from a lower league are always tough. Hopefully we can play well and score the first goal because then things will be easier for us.”

FOR clips of classic derby matches go to www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk