While he has come under criticism from some Southampton supporters for his inconsistent performances in recent months, Nathan Redmond showed that he can be the club's key man over the course of the rest of the season with his impressive showing in the 1-0 win against Liverpool in his side's EFL Cup semi-final win on Wednesday night.

The forward scored what proved to be the winner in the 20th minute and could, and perhaps should, have added to his tally as the match went on, as Jurgen Klopp's men struggled to cope with Redmond's pace, skill and attacking threat.

It was the England Under-21 international's first goal since he netted against Manchester City in the Premier League at the Etihad Stadium back in October, and should prove to be a real confidence-booster for the 22-year-old in the coming weeks.

Here are FOUR ways Redmond showed against the Reds that he will be crucial to Saints for the remainder of the season...

Goalscoring

Saints were dealt a huge blow when top goalscorer Charlie Austin was ruled out for around four months with a shoulder injury suffered against Hapoel Be'er Sheva in December, and manager Claude Puel needed the rest of his squad to step up to replace those goals in the striker's absence.

After struggling over the Christmas period - scoring two goals in their three matches, with one of those coming from centre-back Virgil van Dijk - Puel needed a big performance from the recently goal-shy Redmond for the club to keep their chances of reaching a Wembley final alive and he got it, with the forward time and time again finding great positions in the penalty area - producing a clinical finish to boot.

Involvement

While he may have drifted in and out of games in recent months - as wingers can do, especially when they are low on confidence - Redmond was at the forefront of everything positive that Southampton did over the course of the whole 90 minutes in the win against Liverpool, showing how influential he is when on his game.

Causing Liverpool full-backs Nathaniel Clyne and James Milner problems all evening with his pace, the forward didn't stop running for the team and created chances for his teammates - namely when he put Cedric clean through on goal - in what was an impressive all-round performance.

Decision-making

One of the most pleasing things for Claude Puel and the Southampton supporters would have been Redmond's decision-making on Wednesday night, which has come into question at points this season.

After seeing an early chance saved by Loris Karius, the forward bounced back by making a good run and producing a composed finish to open the scoring, and he was unlucky not to double his tally in the first half when he hit the ball at goal, only for Karius to pull off another great save.

Having twice seen efforts saved down low, when Redmond did get another opportunity he chose to lift it over Karius instead. He was mightily unlucky that the ball came off the underside of the bar and was cleared away to safety.

Work rate

As well as the huge threat he provided going forward, plaudits have to be handed out to Redmond for the work he did tracking back to help his full-backs against Liverpool too.

Whether it was Ryan Bertrand on the left or Cedric Soares on the right, the 22-year-old was back to support his defenders when James Milner and Nathaniel Clyne got forward, and he helped massively in nullifying the threat the Reds' full-backs can provide from wide areas.