Salah at the double to defeat a woeful Spurs. Reds climb to 8th.
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Liverpool 2, 6th November 2022.
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Liverpool 2, 6th November 2022.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 (Kane 70)
LIVERPOOL 2 (Salah 11, 40)
Without the unwanted intrusion of VAR, football remains a fairly simple game as well as a more authentic spectacle. There was no need for a spying eye in the sporting sky this evening and even if there was, the artificially intelligent robot wouldn’t have spotted the clear and the obvious, nor the prism through which I watched this evening’s game from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. I watched this evening’s much needed first away win in the Premier League for the Reds through the lens of two England internationals, the Skipper and the reluctant right back, the man definitely going to Qatar and who will lead his lions into World Cup battle, the other a decried and often scorned attacking wing back who I’m sure will travel with the England party but not be a working cog in Gareth Southgate’s attempt to win the World Cup for England, and for the first time since the heady days of a 1966 England in full swing.
Through this kaleidoscopic prism of following the affairs of England and Tottenham captain Harry Kane and the Reds very own Trent Alexander-Arnold, the template for the game as a whole was set. Isolating Kane was key for a Liverpool and Klopp team recognising that everything, everything for Spurs flows through their talismanic captain. Cut the supply line to Kane and isolate him as he roves around the attacking third of the pitch in his false 9 or floating number 10 role, and you stop the attacking threat of the London team. In an attacking sense, Klopp wanted his team, and his full backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson in particular, to spread the ball quickly side to side, using the width of the field to spread Tottenham’s packed team around and when this wasn’t an option, to play somewhat unrecognisably different with long balls bypassing the centre of the pitch for the marauding runs of an impressive Darwin Nunez and the predatory instincts of their Egyptian King and double goal scorer this evening, Mo Salah.
With Kane isolated and ineffective, the Reds dominated the opening quarter of an hour of the game with Trent Alexander-Arnold epitomising the spirit and verve and chaotic luck so often associated with Klopp’s Liverpool. His cross field passes were sublime, otherworldly at times, laser like and brilliantly expansive whilst, with a dash of added luck, Alexander-Arnold’s first half defensive display also mirrored the ragged mire they often worked themselves into rather than any attacking zest from the home team. The Reds were quixotically at their worst when they were in fact at their imperious best, the game often appearing too easy for a Liverpool in full control with only a lack of concentration or their complacency allowing Spurs into a game they were never really a part of.
Aside from a chaotic 60 seconds whereby Kane found space for the first time and his cross was squeezed against the near post of the Reds goal between a combination of a missed header from Ivan Perisic and the face of Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker and a follow up shot hesitantly smothered away by Becker from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, the home team were dreadful in a first half that saw them retreat into half-time 2–0 down and to the sound of boos and whistles from the Spurs faithful. Liverpool’s opening goal on 11 minutes was a beautiful team move that typified their early dominance as well as their ability to easily pass through a non-physical and powderpuff approach from Tottenham. Cycling the ball from an impressive Konate through eventual goal scorer Salah, Roberto Firmino and Harvey Elliott, Salah continued his run into the Spurs penalty area to meet the perfect control and pass from Darwin Nunez following a cross from Andy Robertson, and with the Reds moving the ball quickly through the lines as well as spreading the attacking play they had simply run through a tepid Tottenham team before Salah punished them with a perfect shot into the corner of the Spurs goal, leaving goalkeeper Hugo Lloris flatfooted and unable to react to the Egyptian’s instant shot.
The Reds second goal on 40 minutes was a gift but also symptomatic of a first half ending in a chorus of whistles and boos for the home team. A simple long kick from Alisson Becker was badly misjudged by England defender Eric Dier and whilst he had his own personal calamity, Salah nipped in and with Lloris advancing from the Spurs goal, he simply stabbed the ball over the approaching French goalkeeper and into his empty net.
As somewhat expected, the 2nd half transmogrified into a differing sporting beast altogether with Spurs upping the physicality and intensity of their play and throwing everything at the Reds in an opening 10 minute salvo whereby they hit the frame of the Liverpool goal (again it was Ivan Perisic, but this time he rattled the crossbar) and Eric Dier seemed to be on a one man mission to remedy his dreadful mistake for the Reds second goal. His was the curling pass that set up Perisic to crash a shot against the Liverpool crossbar, his cross that forced a frantic back peddle from Becker to tip another curling cross over the bar and it was Dier’s header from a corner that should have forced more than a tame save from Becker in the Liverpool goal. Kane was finally influential, the penetrating width of the Reds play was gone and whilst they continually tried releasing Nunez and Salah with long balls into the Tottenham half, Jurgen Klopp had clearly changed tack from an open, expansive and attacking game of the first half to a far more narrow and compact containing game for the second.
Kane’s goal on 70 minutes (as well as the introduction of the attacking threat of Dejan Kulusevski) should have set up a grandstand finish but in truth didn’t, and the Reds saw a thoroughly deserved win home in an almost clean and unhurried fashion.
Ibrahima Konate was imperious next to a largely untroubled Virgil van Dijk, Thiago’s attacking midfield influence in the first half was replaced by Fabinho’s defensive tenacity in the second and Darwin Nunez has clearly been watching Roberto Firmino’s defensive contribution to the team with a brilliant chasing and harrying “first line of defence” showing as well as an assist for Salah’s first goal and all round performance and being a pesky attacking nuisance that constantly stretched the Tottenham defence. Both Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold had stand out games and although a tad lucky with the frame of their goal being rattled on two occasions, these were isolated and sporadic threats largely inflicted by casual passages of play around an otherwise dominant and match winning performance.
A much needed first away win of the league season and a stopping of the rot of two previous defeats and worryingly underwhelming performances. One more league game to come before the pausing of the season for the World Cup, with the Saints of Southampton visiting Anfield on Saturday on the back of a rollercoaster of a season that sees rife speculation on the future of their current manager, Ralf Hasenhuttl. It’s already a must win game and against a struggling team warding off the spectre of relegation and exactly the type of opponent the Reds have struggled to defeat (see recent defeats to Nottingham Forest and Leeds United).
The Reds are up to 8th in the Premier League and if results go their way after beating Southampton on Saturday they could finish this mini season prior to the World Cup in 6th place. Not ideal, but in this “Sword of Damocles season” where every league win will be gratefully received, this evening’s win was fully deserved with some major shining lights for the season ahead.
Thanks for reading. My Liverpool FC archives contain a wealth of articles past, present and often personal, or you can find the three most recently published articles on their season hence far linked below:
VAR to the rescue as the Reds await the cream of Europe in the New Year
Liverpool 2 Napoli 0, 1st November 2022.medium.com
Birthday boy Summerville stuns The Kop as an energetic Leeds are far too good for a woeful Reds
Liverpool 1 Leeds United 2, 29th October 2022.medium.com
Reds ease into the last 16 of the Champions League with an imperious victory in Amsterdam
Ajax 0 Liverpool 3, 26th October 2022.medium.com