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In what is rapidly becoming Tottenham MO, they went behind, only to come
back in the second half to grab a 2-1 win that looked unlikely when
Jermain Defoe missed a penalty and the referee was having a bit of a
mare. But come back they did and left Liverpool bereft of points
to take back on their journey to the frozen North and took themselves
into fifth place in the table.
Frankly, this was one of the most open games I have seen this season and
both sides could have had more goals. Spurs had two cleared off
the line and Liverpool were robbed of two Torres chances by excellent
defending by substitute Bassong, but in the end, the reticence of the
visitor's manager to press for a winner cost his side, who, at times,
showed a cynical edge that we have only seen from European sides or the
lower end of the table coming to the Lane this season.
With Liverpool kicking off, Spurs were
pushed back for a couple of minutes, but when they did finally get
moving forward, Aaron Lennon took on the Liverpool midfield and ran to
the edge of the box, where he ended up stepping on the ball and leaving
it behind him. Within a minute, he was away again, but this time
wide on the right, where he pulled the ball back low for Luka Modric,
but the midfielder could only dig his shot into the ground and it
bounced easily for Reina to catch.
In the ninth minute, Fernando Torres
nicked the ball off Hutton on the Liverpool left tight to the dead ball
line and pulled it back across goal. Spurs half-cleared the ball
and it dropped to Maxi Rodrigues, who shimmied and made a yard, ending
up poking a shot at goal that beat Gomes, but flew about six inches past
the post. It was a wake up call to Spurs and Rafael van der Vaart
broke in the box, running form right to left and as he tried to keep the
ball in, he went off the pitch and was doubled over the advertising
hoardings for a while, before the physio got to him and he walked slowly
round the track, indicating that he would take no further part in the
match. Harry Redknapp chose to replace him with Jermain Defoe,
which was almost a like-for-like swap, as VDV had been playing just
behind Crouch up front.
And Defoe was keen to show how sharp and
ready hew as to get back into the action, as Modric's 13th minute cross
from the left, despite being under a lot of pressure, found the striker
in the box. Defoe swivelled on a sixpence and hit a volley, but
failed to make a good contact on it and it was another straight-forward
save for the Liverpool goalie. Five minutes later in the other
goal, Heurelho Gomes was proving his worth, when he got a good hand to a
25 yard shot from Rodrigues after he was set up by Torres.
A ten minute spell followed, where Spurs
ran at the Liverpool defence, who had to resort to some foul tactics to
stop the progress the players were making. There were two bookings
for crude tackles on Gareth Bale. That put Meireles and Konchesky
on yellows and after Defoe had appeared to slip over on the edge of the
box, the ball broke to Alan Hutton and his run into the area ended with
him hitting the turf, but Atkinson failed to point to the spot or to
book Hutton. That was after 25 minutes, but five minutes after
that, Modric made a good run down the right wing and he crossed low into
the six yard box and for some reason, Reina inexplicably spilled the
ball. Defoe, like all good predators, was waiting and side-footed
towards goal from ten yards out, but Jamie Carragher threw himself to
block the effort and away went the ball and the opportunity.
A right wing cross from Kuyt at the other
end was whipped in and Ngog got across his marker, but he was too far
advanced in front of the near post to get it on target and it thumped
into the advertising boards.
Spurs went to the substitute's bench once
more in the 36th minute, as Kaboul came out of a challenge limping and
he was replaced by an unprepared Sebastien Bassong, who rushed to get
his tracksuit bottoms off, his shirt on and forgot his gloves, having to
blow vigorously on his hands to get some warmth into them, until he had
a chance to claim his hand-warmers from the coaching staff. Spurs
were almost behind with five minutes to go to half-time, as Meireles
struck a low shot from 25 yards and Gomes got down to it and just got
enough of a hand on the ball to take it wide for a corner.
Another weaving run from Bale ended with
Carragher up-ending him and seeing yellow and the Welshman got up to
take the kick, which dipped Ronaldo-like, but bounced up over the
keeper, but was wide. Then, three minutes before the break,
Liverpool took the lead. A Meireles free-kick was dinked into the
mix and although Skrtel won the first header, the ball appeared to hit
Ngog on the arm and it fell for the Czech defender to shoot past Gomes
from five yards out.
As the game entered added time, Spurs
could have been buried by Liverpool. Torres scooped a pass around
the corner to put Rodrigues through, but as the Spaniard went to go
round Gomes, he seemed surprised that the keeper was out to meet him and
lost the communication to his feet, just let8ting the ball run through
to the goalie. And then, looking like he might be offside, but
wasn't, Torres raced away towards goal and took one touch too many,
allowing Bassong to make a recovery tackle that was superbly timed.
With former Spurs Steve Hodge and Tony
Galvin coming out at half-time to talk about their times at White Hart
Lane to the freezing fans, the talk was about the hang-over that Spurs
might be suffering from the Champions League win.
And that was even more evident when, a
minute after the break, Torres was once more clear through on goal, put
away by Lucas, but, as before half-time, Sebastien Bassong got the ball
as the Spanish forward was about to shoot from the right of the box.
Bale popped up a cross for Peter Crouch to head down and Defoe got on
the end of it, but didn't make a touch on the ball and then in the 52nd
minute, Lennon's cross was flapped at by Reina, who knocked it straight
out to Bale inside the box and his shot was knocked off the line by
Meireles's head. It was a good effort by Bale, who took the
bouncing ball well and managed to get the ball on target.
Assou-Ekotto tried his luck from distance
and a deflection took the shot wide, a Bale cross was aimed at Crouch's
head and Konchesky had a hand on his back as the Spurs striker tried to
control the ball, but once more referee Atkinson turned a blind eye,
with no assistance form his assistant. When Spurs did get a
free-kick nine yards outside the box for Carragher's hand in Defoe's
face (bearing in mind the Liverpool defender had already been booked),
Bale stepped up to have a shot at goal and with the ball travelling in
that direction, it hit the wall and the referee pointed to the penalty
spot. Just like last week, a player in the wall (this time Ngog)
raised an arm to stop the ball and there was some debate about where the
handball took place, as the ref had moved them back 10 yards just inside
the area, but they had edged forward as the free-kick was being prepared
to be taken. Justice was seen to be done, but then it was undone
when Jermain Defoe took the spot-kick and dragged it wide of Reina's
right hand post. Justice had been undermined by the protests that
Liverpool made to the linesman and the ref, with Skrtel getting booked
and Reina getting away with the same level of dissent, while Carragher
put his arm around the refs shoulders and Torres and others delayed the
taking of the kick to heap pressure on Defoe.
Having missed penalties in both of the
last two home games, it was becoming an unwanted habit. Liverpool
seemed to be getting the rub of the green, with Lucas' jump tackle on
Palacios not being punished with a booking and then clattering into
Modric a short while later. But then, what looked like a
stonewall penalty for Liverpool was waved away by Atkinson, as
Assou-Ekotto slid in on Kuyt as he ran down the right side of the box.
But that was five minutes after Spurs had
drawn level. Modric was determined in winning a bouncing ball,
taking it on his chest and getting it down to run into the left side of
the box before bringing a low ball back into the six yard box. it
was intended for Crouch, who was standing in the middle of the goal, but
Skrtel got to it first and took the ball past Reina, as he dived out on
the floor to collect it. Another Liverpool game and another own
goal ... only this time it hadn't been Carragher.
That was in the 65th minute and Liverpool
signalled their intentions by bringing on midfielder Aurelio for strike
Ngog. Spurs pressed onwards and Palacios, who had a torrid time in
the first half, being unable to find a white shirt with a large number
of his passes, did better in the second half and one ball into Defoe saw
him twist away from Skrtel and strike a quick shot just wide, with Bale
hitting another difficult shot at goal in the 80th minute, following a
cross from Crouch and this time Reina got in the way.
Liverpool did move the ball about well
during the game, with Merieles put in by Torres, but his first time
drive fizzed past Gomes' left hand post by inches with seven minutes of
normal time left. When Kyrgiakos came on for Carragher, who
dislocated his shoulder trying to pull Crouch's shirt, Spurs might have
had another penalty had the linesman been paying attention, as he shoved
Defoe out of the way in the air with a shove in his back. Johnson
was booked for a crude studs up challenge on Bale and from the
free-kick, Crouch headed on, Lennon won a header at the back of the box
and Defoe was onto it in a flash to volley past Reina, who could not get
enough of a hand o it to stop it hitting the net. Luckily for the
Liverpool defence, the linesman was watching this time and flagged Defoe
offside.
With a minute of normal time remaining,
that looked like that.
Gomes made a timely intervention to punch
away a cross with Torres going for the header, with the move ending in a
foul on a Spurs player. BAE hit the ball long and it was headed on
by Crouch, with Lennon reacting much quicker than Konchesky, who thought
about bringing the player down, but thought better of it, but by then it
was too late. Lennon had taken it on his chest and raced into the
area, where Reina came out, but the winger shot past his left hand and
into the net in the second minute of added time to give Spurs a 2-1
lead.
Liverpool tried to get something out of
the game in the remaining three minutes, but Gallas shepherded Kuyt out
wide and then took the liberty of kicking the ball off him to win a
goal-kick. Lennon took hold of the ball deep inside his own half
and set off on a run to eat up time. Unfortunately, he lost the
ball to Kyrgiakos, who then slipped over leaving Aaron a free run at
goal and although he out-paced the defenders, his final shot went across
the face of goal with Modric waiting at the far post for a squarer ball
back to him to knock t into an empty goal.
In the end, it was a fantastic win
against the odds, but it is still a bone of contention that Tottenham
have to go a goal behind before they come back to win. Modric was
immense today, running the midfield with jinking little runs and also
getting back to tackle or intercept the ball. Gallas did well
without being flashy and Bale and Lennon gave the Liverpool defence
nightmares, as there was no pace in their legs to stop the Spurs
wide-men getting past them, so they resorted to bringing them down.
In a way, it was good to see Spurs able
to treat a team such as Liverpool like this, but the Liverpool are not
the team they once were and it should be another confidence booster that
they can go on to win games like this with belief in their own ability
and not a fear of the opposition.
Purcell Cole |
Liverpool
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