Match report: Liverpool 2 Spurs 1. Down, but not out.
OK, we were beaten, but let us look at this positively (from our point of view). The game could have gone either way, we missed a few sitters, and it took them until the final minute to get their goal, and this is only part one (part two will be played on our ground, which will be on the 28th Jan). We are second in the league and can bounce back. Oh, and we ain’t Arsenal (thank God!). On the subject of Arsenal, I glanced at the league table and had a shock, they were at the top of the league… then I realised I was looking at it upside down!
The match;
Their Roberto Firmino’s last-minute header broke our stubborn and determined resistance, which sadly gave them three points and put them at the top of the Christmas tree, for now.
It certainly was an entertaining grudge match and could have ended in a stalemate before they scored. It was from Firmino’s header at the high post, past Lloris. Which was from Andrew Robertson’s corner.
Liverpool started off positively and went ahead when Mohamed Salah’s shot took a deflection off Dier and went above Lloris and into the back of the net. As for us, we had hardly left our own half, but we did stick to a counter punch seven minutes later when Son raced clear to shoot past their goalkeeper.
The second half was better for us. We had a good chance when Steven Bergwihn fired wide then hitting a post when clean through and Kane headed over at point-blank range.
We were denied at the end when Kane put his hands to his head after missing a brilliant chance. It seemed history was repeating itself, as we have lost to a late winner on each of our past three visits to Anfield. Then, I was at those matches, as I should have been on Wednesday, if it wasn’t for this bloody COVID-19 stopping us, loyal supporters, from following our team to the end of the earth.
At the end of the night, we were left severely pissed off and deflated as we were sunk by that late goal at Anfield once again. We could have ended, should have ended, Liverpool’s unbeaten home sequence in the league that now stretches to 66 games. But we shouldn’t cry over spilt milk, but must dust ourself off and look to the next match to get back on track; where we’ve got a challenging game against Leicester, at home, while the duplicitous red bastards take a leisurely swim and face Palace, but to be fair, they can have their moment (Palace that is). And don’t forget that Fulham kicked them in the nuts and severely winded them.
My thoughts:
Bergwijn buggered up two opportunities to score with only Alisson to beat. Then Kane somehow directed a header down and over the top at The Kop end, holding his head in disbelief. My feet were in my mouth. I thought we could have done something at Anfield and it could have significantly ended that way for us if we had only taken our chances or had the rub of the green.
Saying all that, and now looking back at it, the morning after, we showed why we are currently one of the top two sides in the country as we survived a Liverpool barrage to open up the opportunities to actually win. It is still all to play for and going by what I’ve seen so far and putting the other teams’ results into the equation, there are only two teams in it. We can still kick arse!
The last time Mourinho managed a side at Anfield, his team suffered a 3-1 defeat when he was in charge of Manchester United in December 2018, which saw him sacked 24 hours later. At Spurs, he is in charge of an evolving side that will undoubtedly contest places at the top end of the table this season and hopefully win trophies.
Klopp paid us a compliment: “It was just a really good game against a counter-attacking monster.”
Mourinho’s comments after the game: “We were playing to win, we were not playing to get a point. A point would have been quite a fair result but we played to win and had the biggest chances to win it. The moment of the occasions and the reaction they had, they were in trouble. I feel it was a very undeserved result, but that’s football. At half-time, we move the pieces a little bit, but overall the game was always under control, and I am very pleased with the performance. The changes were to find counter-attack situations which we did immediately, but with Gio’s [Lo Celso] yellow card and the incredible pressure these guys on the touchline put on the officials, I was afraid of the yellow card, and I had to take him off. I am not the one to speak to my colleagues about their behaviour on the touchline.”
Even though the team have been knocked back, we are still positive. We can still win the league, and other trophies and nothing is over until it becomes mathematically impossible.
The stats
We have won just one of our past 27 Premier League away games against Liverpool (D8 L18), last winning there in May 2011.
We have only conceded more Premier League goals against Chelsea (102) than we have against Liverpool (97).
This was our first Premier League defeat in 12 Premier League games (W7 D4), since a 0-1 loss to Everton in September.
Mourinho has never won away against Klopp in six attempts in all competitions (D2 L4), with Klopp being the manager he’s faced the most away from home without ever tasting victory.
Son has scored 11 goals in 13 Premier League appearances this season, equalling his goal tally from the entire 2019-20 campaign (11 in 30).
Twenty of our 25 Premier League goals this season have been scored by either Son (11) or Kane (9).
Salah now has eight goals against us in all competitions – against no other side has he scored more in his club career in European football (level with Bournemouth and Watford).
What’s next?
We host Leicester City on Sunday (14:15).
My name is Glenn Renshaw.
I am currently a Premium Season Ticket holder (West Stand) in the new stadium. Before that – at White Hart Lane – a season ticket holder in various parts of the ground (mainly in the North stand).
Before becoming a season ticket holder, I stood on the shelf and various other parts of the ground since the 1950s. In 1987 I became one of the first to hold a Spurs Membership card. I was also a life long member of the Spurs supporters club (now defunct).
I go to all home, away and abroad matches.
I was born in 1955, Edgware, London (it was in the late 50s – as a baby – that my dad took me to Spurs to initiate me). I currently live in Berkshire.
I also collect all Spurs books (and have everyone printed), Spurs handbooks (from 1920s onwards, Spurs programmes (since the 40s).
Previously, I wrote for Spurs Fanzines: The Spur, Spur of the Moment, My Eyes have seen the Glory and various other Spurs fanzines’. I also wrote for the SpursWeb app & its website.
I currently write and work for spursnetwork.com and its website. I write its Reviews & Match reports and a lot more.
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