Yet another last minute goal leading to an equaliser, but this time
against Spurs and the team suffer with late goals being conceded which
is costing us points, when we need to be climbing the table.
While Tottenham might have been fortunate to
be only one goal down approaching half-time, they rode their luck to
grab an equaliser just before the whistle for the interval and then
snatched another two minutes after the break. Both times,
Robinson's long balls upfield found the head of Dimitar Berbatov and
Robbie Keane nicked between two Liverpool defenders to flick the ball
past Pepe Reina.
A bright start by Spurs saw Voronin
penalised for a foul on Zokora as he ran towards the penalty area and
Gareth Bale stepped up to curve a free kick just inches wide of Reina's
goal. Liverpool responded with a Riise header over the bar and
Robinson needed to be strong to punch away a corner under heavy pressure
as the Reds tried to nibble away at his confidence after the tough time
he has been having. After 11 minutes, his confidence took another
dive as his own dive to stop Gerrard's free-kick was fierce and low, but
ENO got to the ball and should have held it. A deflection might
have unsettled him, but spilling it right in front of the goal in the
six yard box left Voronin the easy task of putting it into an unguarded
net.
The Tottenham side looked as if it had
resigned itself to another Anfield defeat, but Keane's flicked header to
a whipped in Jenas free-kick flew just wide, as it looked like Tottenham
wanted to get back into the match. Shortly after a dropping ball
fell to Hyypia and it was lucky for Spurs it was him, as he sliced the
volley wildly. He was also involved in the next incident when he
blocked off Bale's run on goal and no free-kick was given. It was
one of a number of decisions the frankly pathetic Halsey and his
assistants got wrong.
Fernando Torres had been reasonably
quiet, but burst into life taking on Kaboul outside the area before
sliding a left foot shot a yard wide of the goal, but Liverpool went
even closer when Gerrard thumped a free-kick past Robinson and it
bounced away off the post to safety. Spurs were equally as close
to an equaliser, but when Keane's back-heel was toe-ended towards goal
by Berbatov, Carragher was there to save the day with a timely clearance
off the goal-line. Jenas broke forward to dip one over the bar
from long range when he should have done better, then Torres struck a
tame shot at Robinson when through, before he, Gerrard and Voronin
conspired to mess up a three on two break on the Spurs goal, only being
stopped by the flailing leg of a prostrate Michael Dawson, who had
fallen over on the edge of the six yard box as he got back to cover !!
Dimitar and Robbie linked to set up Teemu
Tainio with a volley that Hyypia got in the way of just before the pair
worked the flick on for Keane to get in between Carragher and Finnan to
slip the ball past the advancing Reina to make it 1-1 seconds before the
break.
The second Spurs goal was a carbon copy,
but at the other end, as the teams had swapped round by then and this
time Keano got in between Carragher and Arbeloa to lift the ball over
the goalie. Tottenham looked as if they might get a third, as a
long ball saw Berbatov chase it down and Reina came a long way out and
just about made the sliding challenge to win the ball after he had
thought about heading it.
John Arne Riise twice hit shots that
usually rip into our net, but this time they went a long way wide, while
Tottenham were still creating opportunities, with Keane and Berbatov not
getting enough on their shots to make Reina work hard to save.
Dawson saved Robbo's blushes by clearing from in front of goal when the
keeper spilled Finnan's low shot, although the keeper was on his toes
when a low ball into the near post saw Mascherano turn it towards goal
and Robinson was down to it quickly to turn it away. The
Argentinian hit a screamer from 30 yards that flew wide, with Robinson
flying after it, as Liverpool's attempts got more desperate.
Spurs still had their moments to win it.
Bale went through on goal and Reina came out to take him down, but the
referee, in his wisdom, gave a free-kick against our Welshman and
Liverpool breathed a sigh of relief.
Even more so, when in jury time Finnan
hoisted up a high cross that fell to Torres at the far post and he got
above two Spurs defenders to head down into the corner of the net past
Robinson.
So many last minute goals are costing us,
especially when the game should have been well won by then.
I suppose most Spurs fans might have
settled for a point before the game, seeing the form we have been in,
but once more, having engineered a good winning situation, we let it
slip. It seems that winning mentality Jol looked for is still not
in place.
BENNY THE BALL |