Sunday sees us host Spurs at Anfield in the 4 o clock kick off on Sky and it will be a good opportunity for us to judge how much progress we’re actually making. It seemed we beat them regularly for many seasons but it feels like a while since we’ve tasted victory against them, White Hart Lane especially proving an unforgiving place for us to visit.
Much has been made of the fact that we haven’t beaten a top side this term but not as much time has been spent focussing on how well we’ve actually played in the majority of these games. We’ve deserved more than we got away at Spurs, away at Arsenal, home to Man Utd and in both fixtures against Man City, but we haven’t had what it takes to turn these good displays into victories. The fact that we’ve played so well without winning in so many games suggest it’s not the ability and organisation of the side that needs improving, it’s the belief that our efforts will be rewarded. One win in a game like this could trigger a good run of results against the sides at the top.
In my opinion there are many similarities between us and Tottenham, but it has to be said they’re a couple of years further down the line than us despite also having a new manager arrive last summer. I wouldn’t say they hit rock bottom a few seasons back but they were in the bottom three when Harry Redknapp took over, but a period of investing in young, mainly British talent has paid off as the likes of Lennon, Bale, Dawson, Walker, Assou-Ekotto, Sandro and Kaboul have developed together, complimented by more experienced players such as Parker and Defoe. That’s where we’re at now. We have a mainly young squad assembled for the long term and as they continue to work together we will hopefully re-establish ourselves in the top four, allowing us to push on and aim even higher.
Spurs have been rewarded for their bottom half of the table suffering with consistently high finishes over the last three or four seasons, unluckily missing out on a second attempt at the Champions League last time around when Chelsea won the trophy and took the final spot in this year’s competition away from them. Short term pain provided long term gain. This is exactly the blueprint we’re working from with our current project and let’s hope it takes us even further than it’s taken them.
Anyway, back to Sunday’s game. We’ve had a full week to prepare while our opponents had a game against Inter on Thursday night, in theory giving us an advantage when it comes to fitness and preparation time. It doesn’t always work like this but there’s no doubt we have the potential to make the extra rest pay off in our favour. They have an obvious dangerman in Gareth Bale but we have one or two of our own. The form striker in the Premier League at the moment is Luis Suarez, and not too far behind him, if fit, is Daniel Sturridge who has really hit the ground running at Liverpool. If these two are unleashed in tandem they’ll give the visiting defence a very difficult afternoon.
I’d expect the scoreline to be close but the game not to be tight, both sides are more comfortable going forward than sitting back. The onus will be on us as the home team to provide the main attacking threat which doesn’t necessarily suit us, our attackers are better moving quickly into spaces on the counter, in a very similar style to Tottenham. I’d expect both teams to score and wouldn’t be surprised if it ends 2-1 or 3-2, it has all the ingredients to be one of the most entertaining matches of the season.
There are also FA Cup matches this weekend so if we win we could climb the table and things will look far rosier than they did back in September and October. A victory against a top currently top four side on a good run of form would be a real scalp for Brendan Rodgers and his team and there’s no reason we can’t achieve it. The atmosphere will be good, the team will be prepared and hopefully the result will come.
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