Luis Suarez expertly finished off a good passing move also involving Jose Enrique and the again impressive Philippe Coutinho, the Uruguayan's quick low shot giving Hugo Lloris no chance in the Spurs goal. Jan Vertonghen scored either side of half time, on both occasions taking advantage of poor defending by Glen Johnson before Stuart Downing and a Steven Gerrard penalty turned the game decisively in Liverpool's favour.
It was a decent game that had promised goals before kick off and always looked like one team or the other could strike at any moment. We shaded the first half hour before the visitors stepped up a gear and for the middle third of the match we found it hard to get a grip on possession of the ball, the final thirty minutes were fairly even though we took full advantage of a pair of defensive errors to ensure the three points remained at Anfield.
It was refreshing to see a referee let plenty go in the game, he had several opportunities to bring out his yellow card but chose not to, the only two bookings being handed out when he had absolutely no choice. Having said that twice we were denied what seemed pretty clear penalties for fouls on Coutinho in the first half and Johnson towards the end of the match.
When the team was announced I was slightly concerned, Joe Allen was left out of the starting XI and Daniel Sturridge brought back in after injury. Sturridge has been excellent since he arrived but I didn't see the logic in dropping a more defensive player in favour of a striker after our performance at Wigan last weekend. Surely playing against an in-form Spurs has more requirement for a hard working, ball winning central midfielder than a trip to a relegation threatened opponent? I'll happily admit Brendan Rodgers got it right and I was wrong, we usually play a variation on a 4-3-3 formation but we were a slightly more orthodox 4-4-2 today. Spurs attack with plenty of pace in wide areas and reverting to 4-4-2 gave our full backs much more cover, something that is certainly needed against Totenham at the moment or you will struggle.
The match was billed as a battle between Suarez and Gareth Bale, two candidates for Player Of The Year. On today's evidence it's much easier to keep Bale quiet than Suarez. Our excellent number 7 scored with a top quality finish and won the penalty that brought us our winning goal. He was a threat all afternoon and he's the one player for us who you feel will make something happen every time the ball goes near him. Bale provided the assist for the first Spurs goal and looked dangerous delivering set pieces but, other than one good run, was well kept in check by Lucas. Bale is used to playing wide where there is plenty of space, on today's showing I'd say he's still getting used to how the game has to be played from a central area.
I wouldn't say we were far better than Spurs today, but over the whole ninety minutes we certainly equalled them and for me that's progress. We were in a real footballing battle this afternoon and we managed to come out on top, showing great mental strength to recover from going 2-1 behind and being outplayed, not to mention how cool Gerrard was stepping up to fire home a pressure penalty. A win like today should give us more confidence going into the other big games we have left this season, namely against Everton and Chelsea. A couple of positive results there and just maybe we can sneak into the top five.
Add our scoreline to a couple of other results this weekend and everything feels really good right now....
A good win against an inform side. We're getting better and you can see the confidence in the team improving.
ReplyDeleteA bit more height at the back and in the team in general would help defend set pieces better.
More height is a really good call, we may not need it for our stlye of play, small and mobile might be the order of the day, but that doesn't mean our opponents will play the same way!
ReplyDeletegood game though always feeling the pressure when watching such games
ReplyDeleteIt was a good win considering that the team was still work in progress especially in defense and Spurs had more depth in their squad and were on a hot winning streak.
ReplyDeleteSome LFC fans had played down our wins against a "reserve" Swansea side and a weak Wigan side. Lets see what they say this time against Spurs - a tired Spurs or a lucky win given by Spurs?
But I thought LFC was not outstanding in the Spurs win but the team's character was commendable. Downing was full of energy on the right. Between Bale and Suarez, Suarez should be player of the year. The tipping point for Suarez is that he plays in a LFC team that is still adapting and changing style and he has to create a lot of his goals inspite of a lack of support from others especially early in the season. With Bale, he is not effective if he has no good supporting team mates to feed him balls and if he is marked out of the game. It is almost impossible to mark Suarez and he is very nimble in tight situations.
Lets hope LFC continue their winning streak till the end of the season.