Spurs vs Liverpool: Match Report
Two unbeaten teams clashed in North London this afternoon to deliver a match brimming with drama. Both teams have had a good start to the season, Spurs looked to build on their impressive display at the Emirates last week whilst Liverpool searched for another away win.
The game started with Liverpool on the front foot moving the ball forward quickly and applying pressure on the Spurs defence who stayed composed in an out of possession. They also had Bissouma in front of them who has had a great start to life under Postecoglou, playing regular first-team football and often being one of the best players on the pitch. Spurs grew into the game and withstood the pressure, with Vicario pulling off a double save. The game continues to develop with no strong indication of who was on top before Curtis Jones catches Bissouma with his foot rolling over the top of the ball upon contact. Initially, it was given as a yellow card, but Simon Hooper was called to have a second look at the incident by VAR. After seeing it in slow motion on the monitor, the yellow was overruled and a red card was shown to the Liverpool player. We have seen those given before and we have seen a lot of similar situations ending in just a yellow. I don’t think it should have been given, it was clear there was no malicious intent behind the challenge, and he got unlucky with the contact he made on the ball resulting in his boot ending up on the shin of Bissouma.
Moments after, Liverpool were in. Salah running at the defenders found a ball through to Diaz which was planted in the back of the net, but called offside. After the game, PGMOL came out stating the goal should have stood. Each week the game of football is losing its integrity and rightly so because of errors like this, errors that VAR exists to correct. These should never be occurring, yet we see them on almost a weekly basis. It’s embarrassing for the sport and ultimately went on to affect the outcome of this game and has done so with countless others. On a more positive note, Salah and Diaz seem to have a really good connection and we have seen this link up numerous times already this season and how devastating it can be. This season Salah's creative numbers are at an all-time high. Last season he amassed 12 assists and was working at 0.19xA per 90, whereas this season that figure has more than doubled with over 0.4xA per 90 and already has a third of the assists he managed last season in just 7 games.
Maddison was able to pick up the ball and almost instantaneously spots and feeds the run of Richarlison on the left flank bypassing the Liverpool defensive line and putting a ball in across the box, Son gets on the end of it and of course, he finds the goal to put Spurs ahead in a huge game. Postecoglou has found how to get the best out of this world-class player and he's back amongst the goals consistently now after an unusual off-year last campaign. He has bagged himself 6 goals in the first 7 games, second only to Haaland in the Premier League.
Liverpool have shown resilience, coming back with 10 men away at St James Park after Nunez was at the double to snatch all three points and are no strangers to going behind in games this season. With a minute to go in the first half, Szoboszlai floats a ball into the back post, Van Dijk towers over Porro to head the ball back across the goal with Gakpo hitting it on the turn to put them level. That was a huge goal, and it tells you plenty about the character of this Liverpool outfit who never count themselves out of any game. The two teams go into the break level.
Coming out into the second half Jota replaced an injured Gakpo and Alisson was already busy, saving shots from Madison and a volley from Son which would have been special if it ended up in the net. In the second half, Spurs were on top from the first whistle and refused to let up, showing resilience of their own. Although most of the traffic was heading in one direction, occasionally Salah had the chance to catch them on the break and did so a number of times. Flying down the right wing and giving Spurs something to be mindful of as we all know the quality he carries.
Jota was booked for an offence on Udogie when in actual fact the player tripped over themselves. Just one minute later, Jota made a late lunge on Udogie and saw none of the ball. In the 69th minute, the man in red received a second yellow and was cheered off the pitch by the Spurs fans, leaving Liverpool with only 8 outfield players. At the same time, Postecoglou substituted Son and took off his biggest goal threat in a game against just 9 men when Spurs needed a goal to grab all 3 points. He did the same at the Emirates when I thought that Spurs could still have played on for a win. Maybe he is trying to manage his minutes, but a bold statement, nonetheless.
Spurs struggled to carve open a compact low block set up by Liverpool and were reluctant to cross with Van Djik, Matip and Konate in the box. The game withered on, with very little being created by Spurs and it looked likely that Liverpool would somehow hold onto a point after a difficult afternoon in the capital. However, there was one last twist in the script. Pedro Porro, in the last minute of added time, bursts down the wing and fires a ball straight towards the 6-yard box, Matip meets the ball and rifles it into the top corner of his own net. Liverpool, 2-1 down, 9 men, 0 points and 1 PGMOL apology.
Looking at the match as a whole Spurs were impressive again, even though they did play the majority of the game with more men than Liverpool. Son has found his form again and is firing on all cylinders, Richarlison deserved a goal today for his performance especially off the wing, where he made an abundance of great runs, he just couldn’t apply the composure to place the ball in the back of the net. Maddison, as per usual, had another great game in which he linked the midfield to the attack perfectly and had a few attempts of goal which were well met by one the world's best keepers.
For Liverpool, Alisson single-handedly kept them in the game at times, pulling out save after save, coming out for crosses relieving pressure and controlling his area effectively. I was impressed with Joe Gomez, especially earlier in the game when he had the license to get forward and had some nice interplay with Salah. The whole Liverpool defence deserves their plaudits and got really unlucky in the end. In midfield, Szoboszlai had a good game again coming off the back of scoring a rocket midweek in the Carabao Cup. On the other hand, that’s 4 red cards this campaign for Liverpool and the suspension of Curtis Jones leaves them even shorter for midfield depth than they were already. They put on a brilliant defensive performance and ultimately were let down by those in the VAR room and the match officials, otherwise would have been walking away with their heads held high and more importantly, a point.
Sources
https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/players/292462/mohamed-salah
