Lucas Leiva: We coped well and did the job
Lucas Leiva declared himself pleased with a job well done after Liverpool edged out Plymouth Argyle in an FA Cup third-round replay on Wednesday.
The Brazilian scored a first-half header to secure a 1-0 victory for the Reds at Home Park and set up an Anfield meeting with Wolves when the world's oldest cup competition resumes later this month.
As was the case for the initial staging of this fixture on Merseyside, Jürgen Klopp named a youthful starting XI to take on Derek Adams' team.
This time, however, they saw off the Pilgrims with the help of their oldest teammate - an experience that Lucas believes will prove worthwhile.
"It was a difficult night; we expected that. They are a strong team, a physical team, and we had a lot of young players," he told Liverpoolfc.com.
"The main target for us was to get through to the next round and give experience as well to these young players so I think we did the job.
"Of course, if we watch back, there are a lot of things we can improve, especially with the ball in terms of patience.
"But this is normal and the main thing, as I said, is that we are in the next round and hopefully we have a good game against Wolves.
"That's the beauty of the FA Cup, you have a lot of surprises, and probably people were expecting that tonight because we couldn't win at Anfield.
"Fair play to [Plymouth], they made it very hard, [they have] fantastic supporters as well, they were very good pushing the team.
"[But] I think we coped well. They had their moments but I think in the end it's a deserved win."
LFCTV GO: Lucas Leiva on a rare goal and Plymouth win
Lucas ended a seven-year wait for a goal as he powerfully nodded his compatriot Philippe Coutinho's corner delivery home after 19 minutes.
Reflecting on his strike, he added: "It's been a long time I don't score a goal.
"It was the main thing to help [the team], of course, but I'm delighted because it's always good to score a goal, especially for me.
"Hopefully, I get a few more."
Thanks to their victory in Devon, the Reds remain on track for success in all three competitions they have entered this season - the FA Cup, Premier League and EFL Cup.
But Lucas is wary of making any predictions regarding silverware so early on.
"I think the team is showing a lot of mental strength, we have a lot of young players [and] we are doing well in all the competitions," he continued.
"Hopefully we can get to the finals in the two cups and, [in] the Premier League, try to win it because I think we've shown that we are capable [of it].
"It's always hard to say now in January that we are going to win something. We just have to go game by game, enjoy it and do our best."