Liverpool (Away) 30.04.2023

It was the home side who started off looking more comfortable in possession, making the breakthrough after three minutes when a cross from the right found Jones left free behind Porro to volley low past Forster.  And then the game last Sunday started to unravel all over again. Gakpo got to the dead-ball line on the right side and cut it back to the near post in the six-yard box for Diaz to volley it past Forster having brought it round from his position ahead of the post.

With fourteen minutes gone, Romero clattered Gakpo and Salah scored from the spot putting it high down the middle and it was 3-0. Could Spurs keep it at three until 23 minutes or would it be another refund day for the fans who travelled ?

The difference between the two teams was clear to see. Liverpool had an urgency and good movement off the ball, which we didn’t and then we failed to track runners when they got forward. As play progressed, one Salah pass, with him running towards his own goal took out four Spurs players and then, when they got to our box, Gakpo shot, with four players almost behind each other and Skipp making a block that took the ball out for a corner.

Salah curled a shot wide as Spurs players scurried to get back to defend, then Dier scuffed a ball forward when Forster played it out to him, but got a touch on the ball into the box that took it back to the keeper. Another loose pass by Dier conceded possession and when Spurs crowded out Salah, Kane dwelt on the ball only to have it nicked off him as he looked for someone to pass to. At 0-3 and the players looking bereft of ideas, it wasn’t going well. Kane had a chance when he got put through and he was coming in from the right side, but chose to flash the ball across goal, looking for Son, rather than shoot. It didn’t matter, because he was offside in the first place. Elliott put a header wide and Sonny hen Spurs did press, Kane won the ball off Robertson, looked to Son on his left bursting forward and he took the ball inside Kounate and Allison to shoot. Maybe it’s just our luck at the moment, but with the ball heading for goal, van Dijk appeared to kick it out.

Although it didn’t look like there was much on, playing out from the back paid off. The ball was worked from right to left along our back-line and up to Son, who laid the ball back from the halfway line to Skippy, who played a perfect pass through on the left for Ivan Perisic. He dumped van Dijk on his arse and picked out a pinpoint cross to Harry Kane, who lost Robertson to volley the ball low through Allison’s legs to get an unexpected goal. Perisic had exploited the space that Alexander-Arnold was leaving Kane.

Once more, the hapless Robertson allowed the ball to be taken off him with ease and this time Kulusevski was away. As he got to the penalty area he slowed and with Kane to his left, Deki chose to shoot and Allison just kept it out with his left foot. Son then hit the post with 90 seconds of the first half left, but was offside after getting in behind the Liverpool back four. At the end of the half, van Dijk was chanting “handball” when he headed a corner against a Spurs defender at point-blank range and the ball came off the Liverpool captain for a goal-kick, which there wasn’t time to take.

Second half began with the same XI and Perisic had to be switched on at the far post as a cross from their left looked for Elliott.  Son pulled back Gakpo, then won the ball kicking it off, hitting the linesman before it had fully crossed the line. The referee chose to do nothing about that but booked Sonny for the original challenge.  Kounate then went through Son from behind, but that wasn’t deemed a bookable offence apparently.  Heung-Min was involved all over the place now and in the 53rd minute, Kulusevski bent a pass in behind the Liverpool defence with the outside of his left foot from the right to send Son through.  His shot beat Allison to his left but thundered back off the base of the post and when play continued, a cross from the left picked out Romero in the box and he stretched to acrobatically volley against the post with Allison rooted to the floor.  As it turned out, Cristian had strayed beyond the last man, so it wouldn’t have counted if it had gone in.

Spurs were finding space more, as we somehow do in the second half, when we haven’t during the first and an expansive pass form Perisic on the left to Porro on the right ended with the Spaniard drilling a shot at goal that Allison had to tip over. Hojbjerg was defending and made a great tackle close to the corner flag on Elliott, taking the man with the ball and maybe it was a little revenge for when Elliott had snidely stood on Pierre’s foot after the ball had gone in the first minute.

It is pointless appealing for anything at Anfield, with Salah giving up a chase with Perisic as their arms brushed as they went for the ball and then Kounate getting booked for next to nothing after his earlier foul.

Spurs pulled another goal back when Romero lifted the ball over for Son to run through and slip the ball low to Allison’s left with van Dijk caught hopelessly out of position and Robertson playing the Spurs man on by a good distance.  With their tails up, Spurs were piling forward, with Hojbjerg looking like he was pushed as he went for a header in the box, then Jota poleaxed Skipp with a high boot to his face that drew blood.  Having seen players sent off for this before (Liverpool’s Mane on Ederson 2017), a booking was the best anyone could hope for at this ground.  When Richarlison was hauled down by Kounate when going for a cross into the area, you just knew that nothing was going to be given as not only would it have been a penalty, but Kounate would be off.  Salah then takes Davies down.  No booking.  Compared to Son’s yellow card for a weak pull-back, these were much worse.

Liverpool and Klopp were disputing every decision given against them (no change there), including an elbow by Salah to cut Davies’ lip, but a free-kick to Spurs out on the left was bent in by Perisic and Richarlison got in behind Nunez, who nearly kicked his head off with a flying boot and the ball went into the ground and then up over Allison to find an equaliser. 

Klopp got booked for his abuse of an official, which had been a long time coming.  He is such a hypocrite.  Saying in his post match interview that Ryan Mason should have other things to concentrate on than the penalty we should have had (which many pundits say was a penalty) and one of his players who should have been sent off (which many pundits say he should have been), which he failed to mention although he thinks Skipp should have been sent off for a tackle on Diaz that saw our midfielder win the ball and then catch Diaz, much as Elliott did to Hojbjerg at the start of the match … except he didn’t get anywhere near the ball.  Yes, all managers see things their way, but to go out and slate another manager for it, when you do it yourself, is really egregious.  Hopefully he will get severely punished for his actions (not for the first time) and his whining comments after the match about the ref’s supposed vendetta against him and his team.

As Liverpool went forward Moura played the ball back to nobody in particular and Diogo Jota got onto it and fired the ball low past Forster from the left side just 99 seconds after our leveller.  Only Tottenham can grab defeat from the jaws of a three-goal comeback.

I think we might have seen Lucas Moura play his last game after he cost us a point at the end and Richarlison doesn’t have much luck does he.  Goals disallowed and when he does score, it means nothing apart from his first Premier League goal for the club.  Credit goes out to the team for the fight-back and while it worked on Thursday, today loose play cost us at the start and at the end. It looks as though European football is slipping away, so the only thing left to play for will be pride.

I remember when we used to have transitional seasons.  Now we are just having bad ones.

East Stan

• Harry Kane’s goal moved him into joint second place with Wayne Rooney on 208 Premier League goals scored.
• Mo Salah made his 300th Liverpool appearance in all competitions.