Liverpool (Away) 15.09.2026

At this stage everything was going through Bentancur, who was dictating Tottenham’s play as it revolved around him.  Despite leading, there was still some desperation among the Liverpool players who surrounded the ref when Senesi clashed with McConnell, who frankly deserved it for the way he had been tackling.  Despite them wanting a card of indeterminate colour, the Argentine defender just got a talking to.  Bentancur wasn’t so lucky when he picked up a booking for a foul on Gakpo – again, tame in comparison with McConnell’s efforts.  Madley, as usual, had no control or understanding of the the game.  From the resulting free-kick, MacAllister put it over the top and that was half-time.

The goal tally did not match the balance of play and while you have to take your chances, you still have to defend well.  Eight minutes into the second half, another Liverpool goal made that all the clearer.  Allowing too much space to the opposition around the box, MacAllister played the ball left to Gakpo in the box and he came onto his right foot to power it past Dubravka into the other side of the goal.  0-2 behind and having trouble scoring goals, it looked like a tough task for Spurs.

Good work by Bentancur set up Adarabioyo for a shot that skidded wide of the right hand post as Spurs hit back two minutes after conceding, then, on the hour, a long run by Marmoush took on four players and then he nudged it to Kudus, whose shot was saved and came out just beyond Gallagher’s reach.  Lucas Bergvall fed the ball into Marmoush in the box, but he was well tackled by Kerkes, Marmoush ran at defence again with his shot this time blocked and the rebound fell to Gallagher to shoot only for it to be deflected over.  The corner by played into the goalmouth by substitute Manuel Fernandes, the keeper gets under and nowhere near it allowing Gallagher to head in from inside six yard box.  A goal !  Was this the start of a revival ?

Kerkez saw yellow for a crude challenge on Gallagher with the free kick earning another corner, Fernandes played it in under the bar and this time the keeper punched it out.  But there was still the jeopardy of the Spurs tactic of playing the ball out and loose passing at the back resulted in Szoboszlai having a great chance from the centre of the box, but a weak shot at keeper passed up the opportunity to wrap the match up.

When Tottenham went forward to try and find an equaliser, Bergvall rose at far post from a corner and headed the ball off a Liverpool head for another corner.  That was cleared but Marmoush ran inside from the left and looked to find the far corner but Mamardashvili made a very good save to keep it out.  With home nerves jangling, Tosin blocked Isak’s shot with seven minutes left, although Liverpool wanted a handball with desperate claims from both players and fans.  Oh, and their manager, who got booked for his whingeing.

With a minute remaining, Savio ran forward and got a bounce off a defender in box to strike a right foot shot across face of goal and the failure to make this situations count came back to bite us, when a seemingly harmless lay off from Gakpo to Szoboszlai 22 yards out ended up in the Tottenham net.  While not quite a worldie, it was a hell of a strike that flew past Dubravka, who didn’t stand a hope of getting to it.

To Tottenham’s credit, they still looked to press forward and a good passing move ended with Maddison coming inside from left in box, producing a shot that was kept out by the keeper with Tosin getting to the rebound but headed wide under pressure.

Knocked out when the final whistle blew, it was a better performance and showed some promise, although ultimately it was futile.  The passing and understanding seemed to be improved, but the old failing of not getting in the face of players around the box is still there.  So, little green shoots, but it all needs to eb put together in the coming matches so we don’t get stuck down among the dead men.