Liverpool (Home) 30.09.2023

What was unsurprising about this match was that Tottenham came from 1-1 to win it.  The resilience and relentlessness of the Spurs team put the visitors under so much pressure that they eventually cracked with Matip making a tired, but clinical attempt to cut out a cross that ended up rocketing into the roof of the Liverpool net five minutes into added time.  The toll it took on the players was exemplified when they went to a 5-3-0 formation after Jota was sent off for a stupid second bookable offence in a minute even though he has been inculcated in the Anfield Way by saying Udogie dived.  By sticking everyone behind the ball, it did make it very difficult for Spurs to find space to get a decent shot away, but the effort required made for tired legs and eventually poor decision making.

But earlier in the evening, everything had looked rosy for the Reds, with a spritely start.  Pedro Porro made a good interception when Diaz looked to get onto a low ball in from Salah in the box, then, from the corner, MacAllister volleyed a yard wide from outside the area.  When Tottenham looked to go forward, Curtis cynically pulled Maddison back by the shoulder (something that was deemed a booking last week when Sarr did it) and James tried to catch Allisson out with a quick free-kick, with the keeper being off his line, but he didn’t strike it properly and it failed to reach the goalie.  Spurs did look more dangerous, when Richarlison went down the left and played an inviting ball across the six yard box, but there wasn’t a team-mate following in to get on the end of it.

Guglielmo Vicario has had a very good start to his Tottenham career and in the 13th minute, he made an excellent double save to protect his goal.  Gakpo had time to take the ball inside the penalty area and shoot on the turn, but Vicario beat it away with both hands to his right.  Robertson was following in and rifled a shot from a narrow angle and the Italian keeper was up to push it aside for a corner.  It came to nothing, with a Spurs corner resulting in the same outcome, but then, in the 26th minute, Curtis Jones went in to a tackle with Yves Bissouma and the referee gave a foul and a yellow card.  He was advised by VAR to have another look on the monitor and look at the pictures they had.  For all the pundit commentary about it looks bad in slow-motion and also at the point of impact, but that is normally because it is bad.  Maddison put his hands to his mouth when the replay was on the pitch-side TV, while all van Dijk could do was point to his armband as this was supposed to give him immunity from leaving the referee to review the incident without being hassled.  The tackle was poor as it failed to contact the ball in the middle, but he went in high on the ball, with his foot going over the top and catching Biss on the shin before it racked down his leg.  People on the phone-in accused Bissouma of going down like a sack of spuds, but they have obviously never experienced a forceful set of studs on their shin (one of the parts of the body with the least protection).  People claimed he was unlucky.  Well, I think he was lucky.  Lucky that he didn’t break Yves’ planted leg.  I don’t think that there should be much complaint about the red card, as the referee was protecting the safety of the player, but I wouldn’t put it past Liverpool to appeal, like they did with MacAllister’s dismissal against Bournemouth.  Whether it was an accident or not, there is no doubt about the impact it had.

Tottenham looked to immediately make the extra man count and Porro and Maddison worked a shooting opportunity for the midfielder, who brought an exaggerated flying save out of the Liverpool goalie.  Richarlison fired a shot over the bar from the angle on the left before an angled ball through the Spurs defence from the right sent Luis Diaz away and he took it into the box before sliding it past Vicario to the keeper’s right.  It looked offside from where I was sitting, but then I wasn’t level.  As with most goals that are scored, VAR had a look and apparently the referee reviewing it in a box somewhere told the ref that the check was complete and didn’t tell him what he was checking for.  As the ref had disallowed it, he assumed that he meant that his decision was right and the game restarted with a free-kick to Tottenham for offside.  When it came out afterwards, he appeared to be onside and therefore the goal should have stood.  How the game would have turned out if the goal had stood is one of the things we will never know, but for all the decisions that have been handed to them at Anfield over the years, it is sweet to have a “home” decision for a change.

Two minutes after the officiating error, it was Tottenham’s turn to have the ball in the net and this tie it was counted.  A perceptive pass by Maddison inside Gomez released Richi inside the left side of the box and he put an early ball across, just outside the six yard box, with the outside of his right foot.  Heung-Min Son timed his run to perfection and got in front of Matip and left van Dijk behind him to steer the ball into the net with his instep.  Unsurprisingly, the Liverpool captain was appealing for offside, when he should have been more concerned about the Spurs striker getting away from him.  It seems that the Dutch defender’s powers are on the wane and he can’t rely on those around him to bail him out.

Liverpool were unable to cope with the strength of Destiny Udogie and MacAllister crudely fouled him to earn a booking.  Pape Matar Sarr was winning headers in his own box from free-kicks and corners, but at the other end, he tried a shot that he dragged wide.  Udogie then went in the book for a foul on Gakpo, when it looked from a distance that he had won the ball, but when the free-kick came in, it was cleared.  From the throw-in, it was recycled to the far post by Szobolszai, where van Dijk headed back into the middle and Gakpo took a touch with his back to goal and turned to fire past Vicario and two defenders on the line.  It was a bad goal to concede, as there was too much space in the Spurs box to allow him time to control and shoot, but in doing so, he seemed to twist his knee and with little time left, he went into the dressing room at half-time, but didn’t re-emerge.   There were shots at both ends, with Romero’s blocked and Diaz not getting enough on an inviting ball across the goal from Salah, with the ball going well wide.

It could have been a psychological blow to let a goal in just before half-time when the other side only have ten men, but Spurs were still looking to make the most of the man advantage as they kicked off.  Liverpool however, lined up in a 3-3-3 formation with Jota replacing Gakpo.

Allisson was called upon to throw himself to his right to claw away a curling shot from Maddison and then reacted quickly to turn Son’s volley over the bar when he had chested the ball down in the box.  As usual, Robertson failed to engage as he was too busy putting his arm up in the air.  The urgency with which Spurs were playing was pushing Liverpool back and Sarr drilled a shot straight into Allisson’s middle, before Maddison put a pass into the box that Richarlison dragged back in front of goal for Son to convert, but the Brazilian was given offside. 

The next Spurs attack broke down and a ball was hoofed forward for Salah, who raced forward, but was matched by Bissouma, who won the ball off him, before being pulled over by the Reds striker, who then foolishly booted the ball away and got booked, although I’m not sure if it was for that or for the dissent he gave the ref.  One of the coaches on the Liverpool bench also picked up a yellow, presumably for something he said to the fourth official.  Salah broke away again ,this time on the left, but Porro slid in to take the ball off him, but Sonny took a kick in the aftermath and was substituted a couple of minutes later, with Manor Solomon coming on to take his place on the left, with Richarlison moving into the middle.

Before the substitution, Jota had caught Udogie as he ran away from him and got booked and then when play restarted, Spurs won the ball off the Liverpool man on the East Stand touchline and Udogie was again, cynically tripped by Jota, who was shocked to see the referee pull out a second yellow card.  As he trudged off very slowly, he was intimating that Udogie dived and seemed to ignore the idiocy of making a second tackle when he had just been booked for one the same 90 seconds before.  It left Liverpool with nine men and they dug in to deny Spurs space and look to hit on the break and try to capitalise should they win any set-pieces.  Klopp sacrificed defender Gomez and forward Diaz to bring on a defender in Kouyate and a defensive midfielder in Endo.  He also brought on Alexander-Arnold for Salah, with this being a defensive move rather than the England player operating in midfield as he had been recently.

A corner for Liverpool was won by van Dijk with his head, but he had to go low for it and got under the ball, sending it over the bar.  Tottenham were finding space for Pedro Porro on the right and he had a couple of shots and similarly to the opposition just before the break, Solomon cut in from the left to fire a low ball towards goal that Richarlison just failed to get a toe on after it had come off van Dijk’s arse.   Fresh legs were introduced by Liverpool with Gravenberch replacing the anonymous MacAllister, while Ange brought on Skippy to replace Pape Matar Sarr.  As players tired, the yellow cards totted up with Robertson, Bissouma and Romero all booked, but when Liverpool took one of the free-kicks, any danger was averted when Guglielmo came and caught it.

Finding it difficult to break down the 4-4-0 Klopp formation, a more physical approach was suggested as Postecoglou replaced Maddison with Alejo Veliz, our strapping young Argentinian and Hojbjerg came on for Bissouma, just as the board went up to show six minutes to be added.  Pressing on the Liverpool back eight, a long cross from Porro found Richi at the far post, but being challenged for it, he could not get enough power behind it and Allisson gathered it at the foot of his right-hand post.  Kulusevski went for a shot after he came in from the right, but it was wide, then van Dijk was astonished when he dropped the ball for Allisson to take the goal-kick when Allisson had given it to him to take. 

Nerves were jangling when the ref awarded Liverpool a free-kick on the left, but they decided to take it short and Micky van de Ven, who had a great game, won the ball off Gravenberch just outside the penalty area and set Spurs on their way.  Hojbjerg took it forward, Davies and Solomon were involved as the ball was worked wide to Kulusevski.  He came back inside to Romero, who then fed it out wider to Porro who moved it forward to drive a low cross into the near post area, where Skipp was moving into and Richarlison and Veliz behind him, but they were beaten to it by Matip who shinned the ball rapidly past Allisson before he could move.  It was poor defending by Robertson, who failed to close Porro down quickly enough and the crosses in the air had not been that successful, so firing in a low ball with defenders running back towards their own goal was a tactic that eventually paid off.  

For the second home game running, a late, late goal had turned the game in Tottenham’s favour and the pressure that had built and built caused Liverpool to crumble.  They had been taken by surprise by the sheer intensity of our play and the fact that we keep going.  Too many players on the opposition were made to look average or invisible by the channelled aggression in our play, with every Tottenham player playing their part, but it wasn’t all about strength.  Maddison’s pass to Richarlison for the first goal was a beauty and Richi’s cross allowed Son to finish first-time.  Porro’s drag back that left Robertson careering past not knowing where the ball had gone was classy.  And the way Spurs played the ball out of defence, hardly getting caught in possession and playing around the Liverpool press.

Ange has got the team playing with freedom and belief.  And that belief is spreading to the crowd, with the after-match celebrations encompassing fans of all ages.

Philip Martin

• Heung-Min Son scored the 200th goal of his career.
• Alejo Veliz makes his Spurs debut off the bench.
• Spurs beat Liverpool at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the first time.
• Joel Matip’s own goal was the latest recorded winning goal against Liverpool (90+5m 31s).
• Liverpool received their third and fourth red cards of the Premier League season – the first team to have got four red cards in the first seven games of a Premier League season.
• Allisson made more saves of any goalkeeper for Liverpool – eight – in a Premier League match since they played Everton in November 2013.