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Liverpool 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur Match Report
A big match for both teams with Spurs still in the hunt for the league title and Liverpool are in the chase for a top four spot. Spurs humbled Liverpool earlier in the season, when they won 4-0, with Liverpool finishing the match with only nine players. But Liverpool has been on a good run of form recently and they would be looking to gain revenge at Anfield. Liverpool supporters were buoyed with anticipation of the return of Luis Suarez after serving his ban.
The Team
The big team news of the night was that Suarez would start the game on the bench as Dalglish started with Carroll, Kuyt and Bellamy as an attacking threat. Dalglish had to make a defensive change with Enrique having a slight injury, so Johnson was deployed at left back and Martin Kelly slotted in at right back. Jay Spearing accompanied Adam and Gerrard in midfield. Spurs had a few players missing but their biggest loss was manager Redknapp who was stranded in London as his plane was grounded due to fog.
The Match
Liverpool started brightly and almost took the lead when Gerrard played in Carroll, but Dawson slid in with a terrific last ditch tackle that left the Kop shouting for a penalty. Minutes later Gerrard blasted a free-kick into a defensive wall after Johnson had been fouled.
The game was briefly interrupted when a stray cat entered the field of play in what was one of the highlights of the first half as chances were few. Liverpool had the majority of the possession as they looked for the opening goal and Spearing came close with a 25 yard rocket which went inches wide. Glen Johnson had a shot saved by the legs of Friedel as he tried his luck.
The second half continued in the same theme as the first with chances few. Bale drilled a low shot early before receiving a booking for shoving Agger in the chest. Spurs looked to frustrate Liverpool as the half ticked on and they began to sit very deep as Liverpool probed for an opening.
Kelly had a shot from the edge of the box well saved before Dalglish sent on Suarez with 30 minutes to go resulting in an ovation from the Kop. Chances remained few as the visitors “parked the bus”. Andy Carroll shot over after getting on the end of a dangerous cross from Kelly.
Spurs almost stole the 3 points when Bale beat the offside trap to go one on one with Reina, but Reina stood firm and blocked Bale’s effort before the Liverpool defence hacked clear. Moments later Gerrard picked out Suarez, but the striker could only head straight at Friedel. The game ended 0-0 and another frustrating draw for Liverpool.
Summary
Dalglish put out a very strong team and I suppose it was to be expected that Suarez would start on the bench. It was a fiercely contested match with both teams cancelling each other out and both working very hard to put their opponents under pressure. Andy Carroll played well once again and caused problems to the Spurs defence. Liverpool had good spells of possession, but the final ball was poor far too often. Liverpool nullified the attacking threat of Spurs and danger man Bale only really had that one chance at the end. Liverpool didn’t create enough chances to win the match and it was disappointing to only draw, but credit to Spurs they defended superbly.
Man Of The Match – Skrtel – another solid performance with some crunching tackles.
Why does Liverpool continue to support Suraez? He admitted that he made racial comments and was punished rightly. He is not a racist but he did make comments that we are all trying to drive out of football and society. I can not understand why Liverpool as a club that i have long admired for doing everything right have got this so so so so wrong. Liverpool should know more than anyone that there are things in life worth more than football. Sadly the continued comments of Dalglish and the reactions of the fans is maintaining the story and making Liverpool look very bad
Cmon Liverpool show the class we expect of you
have you read the verdict? if not, shut up and go away
btw, this thread is about the MATCH. has nothing to do with what the fergie association wants cretinous people like u to believe. and stop saying u ‘admire’ the club just to make your case more credible. who r u trying to fool, u manu scum
summary is thorough enough given it is written. it’s difficult to fully extrapolate the essence of a game with only a few paragraphs.
i, for one, am sooooo happy that suarez is back. liverppol was looking good without him and can only get better with him on the field. they are playing strong against the top teams and have a legitimate shot at a champions league spot. the race for fourth place is tight and exciting. and suarez is back!!!
i thought the suspension was extreme and extensive. who knows how many names are used in moments of frustration or intensity during a game. suarez isn’t a racist, and actually has a significant amount of african blood. i think the whole incident reflected more poorly on evra for “telling” on suarez. evra was pretty immature about the whole thing.
this is a highly competitive sport in arguably the most competitive league. be a professional and take it like a man
Good summary, though you do fail to mention Skirtel kicking Parker and getting booked, and Suarez doing the same to Parker with the same response from the boy referee – can’t think why. If we parked the bus, I’d like you to explain what you did in all those magnificent away legs in Europe over all those years …… we did after all have one recognisable striker in the squad, plus four unknowns on the bench, and an old lag snatched from Everton who seemed dazed by the surroundings. This was a bit more than the ‘few missing players’ line admits to. I felt you did quite well and are making steady progress back to your pomp, despite failing to beat our defence again ….. we don’t do showing off, and are only too much aware of how long we’ve been in the wilderness to brag, but isn’t that worth a small amount of credit alongside the underdog’s sarcasm?
More should have been made of the fact that spurs were without vdv, kaboul and a few other fringe players like Defoe, Sandro, gallas, huddlestone and even without a manager still managed to rather comfortably see out a game away from home at a top 4 rival.
I know this is a Liverpool site and you will spin things most favorably to your team (and that’s fair enough) but saying Spurs “had a few players missing” does not tell the entire story. We were missing our beast of a CB in Kaboul, our creative link man in VDV and our jet heeled winger in Lennon. We also didn’t have our impact sub in Defoe and the Kung Fu Kid, Sandro. Our bench was assorted children and two knackers picked up on deadline day.
The absences really cut into our ability to attack, and took about 20 goals out of our attack so keeping things tight and counter-punching was a valid strategy. And one Pool has used quite a bit over the years!
All in all, I’d call it a fair result.