TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
1 LIVERPOOL
0
   
(0) (0)
  Date : –  Wednesday 8th January 2025
Kick off : –  20.00
  Competition : – League Cup Semi-final  First Leg
Venue : –   Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
  Crowd : –  59,037
  Referee : –  Stuart Attwell (Leamington Spa) Linesmen : – Mr. Lee Betts; Mr. Constantine Hatzidakis
  Fourth official : –  Tim Robinson
  VAR official : –  Paul Tierney VAR Assistant : –  Timothy Wood
  Weather : –  Cold
  Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the Paxton Road end
  Playing time : –   90 + 21 minutes

 

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR LIVERPOOL
GOAL-SCORERS
      Bergvall  85m 09s   None
  CARDS
    Bissouma  (foul on Jota)  32   Slot (dissent)  86
    Bergvall  (foul on )  68      
   
TEAM
31.   Antonin KINSKY 1.   ALISSON Becker
     
23.   Pedro PORRO 84.   Connor BRADLEY  (  66.   Trent ALEXANDER-ARNOLD  60)  
6.   Radu DRAGUSIN 78.   Jarrell QUANSAH  (  2.   Wataru ENDO  30)
14.   Archie GRAY 4.   Virgil van DIJK  (c)
24.   Djed SPENCE 21.   Kostas TSIMIKAS
      
8.   Yves BISSOUMA  38.   Ryan GRAVENBERCH
30.   Rodrigo BENTANCUR  (  22.   Brennan JOHNSON  15)  10.   Alexis MacALLISTER  (  5.   Ibrahima KONATE  80) 
15.   Lucas BERGVALL         
11.   Mohammed SALAH
21.   Dejan KULUSEVSKI 17.   Curtis JONES
19.   Dominic SOLANKE    18.   Cody GAKPO  (  7.   Luis DIAZ  60)  
7.   Heung-Min SON  (c)  (  16.   Timo WERNER  72)      
20.   Diogo JOTA  (  9.   Darwin NUNEZ  60)  
Substitutes Substitutes
  40.   Brandon AUSTIN 62.   Caoimhin KELLEHER
  48.   Alfie DORRINGTON 26.   Andrew ROBERTSON
  3.   Sergio REGUILON 19.   Harvey ELLIOTT
  47.   Mikey MOORE  14.   Federico CHIESA
  64.   Callum OLUSESI   
  42.   Will LANKSHEAR
  18.   Min-Hyoek YANG

    = Assist        =  Goal scored       =  Own goal scored

Manager : – Ange Postecoglou Manager : –  Arne Slot 
Kit Supplier : – Nike Kit Supplier : –  Nike
Shirt Sponsor : – AIA Shirt Sponsor : – Standard Chartered
Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : –  Kraken Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : –  Expedia
Colours : – Colours : –
Images of kits courtesy of the marvellous Colours of Football website

 

MATCH REPORT
  What looked on paper to be another difficult proposition, with Spurs reduced in options to field a team and Liverpool putting out a very strong eleven, but at the final whistle, it was Tottenham who were celebrating and the Red left fuming.  The performance took the edge of the freezing cold weather that was sweeping the country, hinting what could be possible in the future for the side in a 1-0 win that put Liverpool defeat for only the second time this season.

The game started off with Liverpool swarming over the Spurs man on the ball and then trying to hit Gakpo with long balls over Porro, but it was when Pedro got forward that his cross was cut out by van Dijk sticking out a leg for a corner.  It came from a sloppy pass in midfield, but they had almost conceded a minute earlier when Tsimikas played a blind pass straight to Dominic Solanke in the Liverpool penalty area.  The centre forward back-heeled it to Dejan Kulusevski, but he wasn’t able to take the ball under control and van Dijk hoofed it clear.  Anyway, back to the corner that Porro had won and he played the ball in to the near post, low and out-swinging where Rodrigo Bentancur tried to get a header to it as he dived forward, but stayed down.  The ground went quiet as Porro raced to the Uruguayan, who didn’t move.  He wasn’t near an opponent other than Tsimikas, who showed no concern for our player as he stepped over him.  A stretcher was called for straight away and after 10 minutes of treatment, Rodrigo left on the stretcher in a neck brace having been administered oxygen while on the floor.  

What happened after Bentancur went down was the ball was cleared to Sonny, whose low ball into the middle of the box was side-footed at goal by Dragusin, forcing Alisson to a low reflex save to his right and then the ball was hacked out for a corner.  Brennan Johnson was the player to come on in Rodrigo’s place, which involved a change in formation, with Kulusevski dropping back.  When Son took the resulting corner, it went straight into Alisson’s hands.

Liverpool’s attempts to try and play long balls into space behind the full-backs wasn’t working as they were over-hit.   One long ball brought Antonin Kinsky out of his area as he wasn’t sure it was going to run through to the penalty area and closed down by Jota, he flicked the ball into the air and plucked it back into his hands having retreated the right side of the 18 yard line.  It was a cool piece of play from a player on his debut and the stories of how confident he is certainly range true.  Moments later, the keeper drilled a pass through the middle of the pitch that almost found Son inside the Liverpool half and his assured passing to a white shirt and even coming halfway up his own half to receive the ball showed he has a mature head on his shoulders with a clear understanding of how Ange wants the game played.  One pass across the box, intended for Spence hit Archie Gray on the ankle and could have gone anywhere, but Djed rescued possession.

Tottenham were finding the press working on Liverpool.  Bissouma won the ball nudging it off a red shirted player to Kulusevski, whose cute ball into the centre of the box just ran through to Alisson, then Bergvall won possession in our own half with Spurs breaking in numbers.  It was worked across to Son on the left and he played a low ball into the near post with the outside of his right boot with Solanke getting there first, but unable to turn it on target.  The visiting side still insisted in playing out and Quansah tried to be clever, until, under pressure from Son, he skewed the ball off for a Spurs throw and got knocked over in the process.  Liverpool’s inability to tackle Spurs players was leading to a lot of holding, pulling and pushing or in Jota’s case a full body flying cross-press, but still he couldn’t stop Djed’s progress.  

23 minutes in, Salah had a shot from the left edge of the D, but it was swept well wide of Kinsky’s left hand post.  When Son put Quansah under pressure he stretched to play the ball out and then went down again, seemingly this time with a chest problem.  He was substituted with Endo replacing him.  While Jones blocked off Bergvall while running straight into him, because it was on the halfway line, it was just a free-kick.  When Bissouma  was running alongside Jota and bumped him over from the side, it was a free-kick and a yellow card.  From it, MacAllister put a weak header straight at Antonin and their inability to deliver a short pass accurately left their moved breaking down, so they opted to take some time on the ball inside their own half in contrast to Sours, who were much more progressive in our passing.  When Liverpool did decide to go forward, they got Tsimikas into the box on the left but his low ball into the middle of the penalty box was cleared by Bergvall who had followed play very well to get into a good defensive position.

The fourth official held up 11 added minutes due to the Bentancur stoppage.  Gakpo pulled a low pass back into the penalty area and Salah took a heavy touch before scooping a shot at goal that went high and wide before Gakpo ran down the middle and hit a shot from way outside the box that Kinsky was right behind, but slipped as it came in, but he had time to recover as the ball squirmed out of his grip.  The Liverpool winger was the only Red to have a go at goal and when he came in off the left and tried to bend a shot into the far top corner, but overcooked it and put it wide.  Although Liverpool moved up the pitch towards the end of added time, they were unable to get much through to goal, with good defending by our back four.

Early in the second half, Salah lifted a ball to the far post to the left where Gakpo was unmarked, but the ball was too high and went over the winger for a goal-kick.  Tsimikas was then guilty of pulling down Brennan Johnson and then appeared to step on his ankle, which the referee must have not seen or decided it was accidental, as it was worse than Bissouma’s foul that got him a booking.   

Ten minutes into the second half, Spurs had a great chance to take the lead.  Bergvall hassled Alisson when he had the ball at his feet.  The keeper got away with a turn as Lucas slid in, but he wasn’t aware that the midfielder had got up and nicked the ball away from him from behind.  It went out of the box to Porro, who side-footed it at goal, with van Dijk blocking the effort, before Bergvall got onto it again and played Pedro in just right of the goal and just inside the box.  This time he dinked the ball over Alisson, but the ball faded wide as it went across the face of goal.

When Son went down, Liverpool played on and Salah tried a cross that forced Kinsky to get back to stop it going under the bar and then grabbed it as he knocked the ball down in front of goal.  The break in play for Son to recover allowed Slot to bring on Alexander-Arnold, Diaz and Nunes.  Solanke had been taking a battering and when Gravenberch raked his studs down Dom’s calf, which is often a yellow card, wasn’t in this instance.  A cross onto Nunes’ head saw him try to get it into the top right corner of the Spurs goal, but Toni reached up to take it with ease.  

Lucas then went into the book as he slid in on Diaz, who went down when it looked as though Bergvall didn’t made any contact with him.  The free-kick was passed about a bit before Salah slipped a ball in behind Archie Gray and Nunes was on it, but Kinsky had read the play well and was out close to him to block the ball with his body.  With 70 minutes on the clock there was an even more important block as Tsimikas’ cross picked out nobody in the box but ran to the far side of the area, where Alexander-Arnold his it first-time with his right foot and his low drive was stopped a foot in front of the line by Radu’s clearance and MacAllister tried to dig out a shot with the ball under his feet, but put it wide.

Son left the play with Werner coming off the bench to test Alexander-Arnold, who isn’t the best at defending, with even the Liverpool fans wanting him to leave for Real Madrid.  When Bissouma made a tackle and the ball went to Archie, his first thought was to get the ball down the left for Werner, who ran away from Alexander-Arnold, whose only attempt to stop him was to try and pull his arm.  He couldn’t stop the German and he moved forward, but his final ball ended up in the outside of the side-netting.  with just under 14 minutes left, Porro picked out a great ball that bent around the last Liverpool man and Dominic ran off Endo’s shoulder to take the ball into the box with van Dijk trailing him and he slotted the ball home low to Alisson’s left to find the net.  The goal was checked and it took a long time before the referee made an announcement to the crowd that it was offside.  We could have done without him blowing his whistle while the mic was on though !

Konate came on with ten minutes to play, with MacAllister going off and Endo moving into his usual midfield position.  Salah was looking to glide in behind Gray, but he slid the ball away with Kinsky coming out and colliding with him, but no harm was done.  Tottenham worked the ball down the left with Spence and Werner, with a ball into Kulusevski’s feet allowing him to turn, but he clipped as he shot and the ball bobbled through to the keeper. They launched a break with Tsimikas going down the left wing, until he was tackled by Bergvall and the referee allowed play to continue.  We all expected him to go back and give Lucas a second yellow when the ball went dead, but that happened after Gravenberch buried a shot into Kinsky’s chest.  The Reds bench surrounded the fourth official and van Dijk was in the referee’s ear while Tsimikas got treatment.  Porro played a ball into space behind van Dijk and Konate looked favourite to get to it as it ran into the right side of the Liverpool box, but Solanke showed good strength to hold him off and have the vision to spot Bervall making a run into the area to his left.  He played a left foot pass into Lucas’ run which allowed him to take the shot first-time with his right foot and bury it into Alisson’s bottom left corner of the net.  Sliding into the corner the joy was there to see and the relief that he hadn’t received a red card was in the minds of the Tottenham fans, just a minute before and with Tsimikas still off the pitch when the ball went in.  Not so pleased was Arne Slot, who picked up a yellow card for his abuse of the fourth official.  He wasn’t the only one, with one of their backroom staff pointing his finger in the fourth official’s face.  But it was a goal that stood this time coming ten minutes after Solanke’s strike was ruled out for being inches offside.

Suddenly, the opposition realised they won win here 6-3 every week and crosses were raining in on the Tottenham box, but the players defended doggedly.  Porro headed away a dangerous cross at the far post and Diaz slammed a forearm into the back of Pedro’s head and then the Liverpool winger put a cross into the near post with the outside of his right foot for Nunes. who threw himself at the volley, but Antonin produced a reflex save, diving to his right to push the ball wide of the goal for a corner.  Spurs tried to break from the corner, but Werner’s ball beyond Kulusevski was too far for his tired legs to carry him.  With fresh legs, Diaz tried ot get away from Porro in the box and threw himself to the floor in a embarrassing attempt to win a penalty, which he didn’t get and neither did he get a yellow card for trying to deceive an official.  A last minute corner for the visitors was headed out by Yves Bissouma and when it came back in, Jones went to ground in another shameful penalty appeal, especially as van Dijk had forearmed Johnson in the head before the ball reached the ground, but nothing was given and apart form another Werner pass too far ahead of Dejan from the right this time, that was all there was time for.  Still ranting and raving the entitled Reds bemoaned their defeat and found someone to blame in the referee. 

For Tottenham, it was a justification in having faith in our youngsters and while Liverpool weren’t all that good, they still possess players who can damage a team, but the way that the young back four stuck to their task was admirable, with the team defending from the front and the energy being kept up to the end.  There were outstanding performances across the pitch and the pressure that the players put Liverpool under really shook them.  Bergvall was instrumental in moving Spurs forward, ready to receive the ball and looking forward with runs and passes that the Liverpool midfield couldn’t cope with.  It was also great to see Dragusin and Gray running the ball out of the back, turning defence into attack.  And behind them all Toni Kinsky making a confident and promising debut.  Clean handling, good with his feet and all wearing a short sleeve shirt in freezing cold weather.  He may well be used to it coming from the Czech Republic, but he was immediately warmly taken into the hearts of the Spurs fans.  Coming only two days after he signed, it was an impressive start by the 21 year old.  And there was great effort from the rest of the team, but it is only half-time and it will take a performance at Anfield out of context with our recent matches there to keep them at bay, although it was demonstrated here that the commitment can make that happen.

It’s four weeks to wait, but there will be some players returning and that will pose a pleasing difficulty rather than the ones put to him by journos trying to make a name for themselves.

Barry Levington

 

MATCH NOTES
 
  • Antonin Kinsky made his Tottenham debut.
  • Lucas Bergvall score his first Spurs goal.
  • Lucas Bergvall (18 years and 341 days) became Tottenham’s youngest goal-scorer in the League Cup since Gareth Bale (18 years and 72 days) in September 2007 against Middlesbrough.
  • Tottenham maintain their unbeaten (in 90 minutes) run of five home League Cup games against Liverpool.
  • Referee Stuart Atwell became the first match official in English football to make an audio VAR result announcement to the crowd.
  • This was Liverpool’s first away defeat in all competitions this season.

 

OTHER SEMI-FINAL FIRST LEG RESULT
  Woolwich Wanderers 0 Newcash United 2