Key events
57 min Now Liverpool win a corner and they’ll be conscious of how many times they’ve conceded late this season, so fancy another. The ball is cleared but they win a free-kick out on the right, cleared easily enough while, on the touchline, Salah and Ekitike warm up.
56 min Change for Spurs, Simons replacing Souza, and the corner is cleared to him, his shot coming off the laces only to be blocked.
55 min A long punt from Vicario puts Solanke in a ruck with Gomez; he barges through him and Richarlison is in, Van Dijk hanging off his shoulder like a ventriloquist’s dummy and doing just enough to lean on him so he falls while shooting; Alisson parrying the effort around the post. Another ref night’ve awarded a penalty there, because the challenge was physical without getting the ball; had Richarlison gone done sooner, this one might’ve had no choice.
54 min “Going through some old storage boxes while keeping an eye on the game,” bras Paul Griffin, “and discovering some nostalgia-sparking ticket stubs that I can’t bear to dispose of. I’m astonished to discover that I saw Szoboszlai Territory at Glasgow King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in 2007! Apparently they were third on the bill below Technical Area, and the headliners, 115 Charges, who seem to have disappeared without trace.”
52 min Important fro Ngumoha: he attacks his man on the outside and though his cross is cleared, the threat of a player who can go both ways, even if he has a strong preference for one of the two, making a huge difference to a … er … profile? Seconds later he’s back moving inside and shooting wide, but Porro, Spence and right-backs throughout the league can’t simply show him down the line.
51 min Frimpong frees himself down the right, whipping a square pass over to Ngumoha on the opposite side of the box. He dips inside and looks for the far top corner with his shot, but can’t get the necessary draw.
50 min Spurs win a throw deep inside the Liverpool half, Danso hurls in hard and flat … and Liverpool clear then win a free-kick.
48 min Ngumoha goes by Porro who tugs at him, lets go, and is circumnavigated as the youngster move into the box, falling when Souza comes across. There are shouts for a penalty but the contact was minor; Tudor is then booked for jawing at the lino or fourth official.
47 min So how do Spurs get back into this? Injuries mean they’ve not got many options, but surely Xavi Simons offers something between the lines? A defender fewer might help them attack without necessarily weakening them in defence.
46 min We go again…
“Given the amount of holding, shoving, pushing and blocking that generally goes on at set pieces near the box,” says Andy Flintoff, “the rugby analogy is much closer than you think.”
I’m really interested to see if they alter the laws to make them clearer and harder for attackers to manipulate’ I like that we’re seeing corners and free-kicks taken seriously, but do think we need clarity as regards what is and isn’t allowed. In 1991-92, Leeds won the league and I’m sure their difficulty in defending it was related to the backpass law which was introduced that summer; similarly, Arsenal may need to refine their set-piece behaviour next term.
Half-time reading:
HALF-TIME: Liverpool 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur
This is much better from Spurs but still a way away from where it needs to be. However they’re still in the game and I imagine they’d have taken that at kick-off.
45+3 min And Tel swings in a decent corner too, various big lads block off Van Dijk and Richarlison is up again … heading down firmly, but too close to Alisson, who shovels away.
45+2 min Tel has, as I mentioned earlier, improved in recent weeks and he’s growing into this game, burrowing into what looks like a blind alley down the left but winning a corner.
45 min We’ll have two additional minutes.
45 min Richarlison battles for the ball outside the box then moves into it and, when Tel crosses, he’s up … only to head just wide of the far post. Better from Spurs.
43 min …but Spurs get it away and, when the ball comes back, Szoboszlai curling in beautifully, Van Dijk heads back across into a defender, then crosses low but no one attacks the six-yard box.
42 min Ngumoha loves to go at men on the outside, he tries it with Souza, gratefully accepts the shove, and now Szoboszlai will whip in from near the by-line …
41 min I really want to understand why Tudor thinks 3-4-3 is the way to go with these players, at this stage of the season, against this opposition. Spurs are outnumbered in the middle and out wide, with no out-ball and no sense of what kind of goal they’re hoping to score. Adamley? Ademowski? Adler? Adamson? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?
39 min “Sorry, the rugby analogy, like Spurs, is broken” advises Richard Hirst. “If they’d kicked for touch and forced a lineout near the Liverpool try line they’d be doing well. More like they kicked out on the full, and the lineout was back where they kicked from. Just saying.”
Telt.
37 min Tangentially, what do we make of the Kinsky situation last week? On the one hand, my instinct is to feel bad for him and how was thrown in like that but, on the other, he’s a professional who, knowing he’s not played much and is away in the Champions League knockouts, so surely should know better than to muck about in possession in the first 15 minutes. I guess we’ve all been in a situation where we’ve acted impetuously and been punished hard, then desired a bit of sympathy thereafter, so.
36 min Liverpool win it high with Robertson and he moves on to Mac Allister who finds Gakpo inside the box, left of centre; he shoots low and hard, but plunging right, Vicario tips on to the post. That’s a really good save.
34 min Nice from Liverpool, Szoboszlai finding Wirts, who moves on to Ngumoha … whose shot is blocked. We’re not seeing much from Liverpool in the way of combination-play; there’s not much feel among their front three.
33 min “Some good decisions by Slot today,” reckons Oliver Lind. “With Salah on the bench, we are now playing 10 v 11, which sounds about just enough to beat Spurs. Would have preferred to see Gakpo on the bench, too, for some old-school 11 v 11 though.”
This looks like the end for Salah at Anfield, doesn’t it? You could tell his run last season wouldn’t sustain, and when it didn’t, it always looked like a dead cat bounce. Well, here we are.
31 min A poor clearance from Vicario is collected by Gakpo, who picks his way forward and crosses, Danso heading behind for a corner. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team as lacking in devilment as this Spurs abomination, the collective not just less than the sum of its parts but less than the sum of 0+1.
30 min It’s a while since Spurs did anything but defend and, when they win a free0kick, rather then get it into the box, they go short, the subsequent pass sailing into touch for a lineout near the try-line.
27 min In comms, Jamie Carragher avoids saying “at different times” – if you’ve not noticed it’s a favourite phrase, I’m afraid it’s now with you forever – while noting that Liverpool lack pace in wide areas. For a club that spent as much as they did on attackers, that reflects poorly, but I’d not be surprised if Ngumoha establishes himself on the left now; the question is what happens in the middle if ever Isak and Ekitike are fit at the same time.
26 min Lovely from Ngumoha, bouncing away from Porro before spreading to Frimpong on the opposite flank. He can’t find a route down the line so goes back infield, and eventually the attack peters out.
23 min “Sorry about you having to redact my worries about the game,” returns Nick, Wayne, “but I think the sooner the better we’re down, and they cut out the deadwood the better. Staying up like this is pointless. Sorry but there it is.”
It’s a tricky one. Leicester recently went down when they shouldn’t have done, kept most of their players, then won the Champo … before going down again. The problem Spurs have is the players they want to keep might want to leave and the ones they want to sell no one will fancy.
21 min Gravenberch lanks forward and no one closes, so he measures a curler which I realise makes him sound like Hilda Ogden, shooting just wide.
20 min “Igor Tudor anagram,” says James Cabot. “Torrid U Go”. Another defeat today and he surely will.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur (Szoboszlai 19)
A swerving effort over the wall that’s nowhere near the corner, but Vicario, his confidence left somewhere in October 2024, can only palm it into the net. It’s not as bad as what we’ve seen this last week, but it is still dreadful.
17 min Mac Allister drives at Souza and Gray, makes sure to fall over an extended leg, and now Szoboszlai has a free-kick, 25 yards out, left of centre – or, in other words, in the perfect position. No one else is even pretending to loiter behind it.
15 min “Men in particular are meant to share their feelings, no?” begins Ian Copestake. “Well, to that end this Liverpool fan is desperate for what seems a gimme to be exactly that. In a world of chaos, I request something to be as it should be.”
Liverpool are moving it too slowly at the moment but, as I type, Frimpong goes at Spence on the outside; the defender gets back at him, knocking the ball behind, only for the ref to appraise a goalkick. This is the best Spurs have played in ages, for the less than zero that’s worth.
14 min Er, this is has been an alright start from Spurs? But as we said in the preamble…
13 min The corner is a decent one, swung flat to the back post, where Sarr heads into a defender and behind … but the flag goes up for a foul on the keeper.
11 min Souza feeds to Solanke down the left and he’s into the box, looking to poke a return pass for the tap-in … but an Dijk and Gomez do enough. Spurs, though, maintain the pressure, Souza stepping into a shot from distance, swerving away from Alisson, who tips over the top.
