The Soccer Blog: Spurs 2 : Liverpool 1 - Better Performance, Bitter Result

Tuesday, 30 November 2010

Spurs 2 : Liverpool 1 - Better Performance, Bitter Result

Spurs 2 : Liverpool 1 – Better Performance, Bitter Result - - The Offside - Liverpool Football Club Blog

« Matchday: Liverpool v. Spurs | Home | Always Look on the Bright Side of Mondays »Spurs 2 : Liverpool 1 – Better Performance, Bitter ResultBy: Noel | November 28th, 2010
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Everyone I know in football respects the job I’m doing here and aren’t too surprised it hasn’t been an easy start. In fact, 95 per cent would have predicted it as Mourinho did. “Liverpool will get worse and worse” is what he said and if the great man Mourinho says it, I don’t know why you don’t quote him!

With a quote like that coming out in the lead-up to the match, one could have been forgiven for thinking things could only get worse against the attacking Spurs. Great man Mourinho? Excuse me while I wash the vomit out of my mouth. Thankfully, despite everybody’s subterranean expectations, things got better from a Liverpool perspective once the match kicked off and early signs suggested a side willing to play football from the back on the road. Unfortunately, in the end it all amounted to the same thing: another loss on the road. And so an old feeling returns, the feeling that sometimes it’s just not meant to be.

Early pressure from Liverpool and a bit of wonderful footwork from Torres and Maxi resulted in the consciously narrow winger sending a shot spinning just past the post before the fairly open match saw an immediate chance at the other end when Crouch headed down to van der Vaart. Unfortunately for Spurs the creative Dutchman pulled up lame, straining his already damaged hamstring and leading to an early substitution for Defoe. With the free-roaming attacking midfielder off for a forward, Spurs lost their numerical advantage in midfield and what had been an open but largely evenly played match shifted towards Liverpool as Meireles and Lucas showed just how effective they can be as a central pairing and began to boss the midfield. With Kuyt industrious on the right, Maxi playing narrow with Konchesky on the overlap, and N’Gog often dropping deep on the left to build play, Liverpool looked surprisingly fluid and adventurous in what appeared more than anything an inversion of the typically imbalanced 4-2-2-2. It was a system similar to what had been seen against West Ham, with an honest attempt at maintaining possession long enough to get the fullbacks forward while keeping the ball on the ground, though this time around the pairing of Kuyt and Johnson set out in a slightly more defensive stance on the right to protect against Bale while Konchesky at least made an effort to take up a more advanced position on the left. It was unfortunate that while Maxi looked a constant threat from his tucked in position on that side, Konchesky looked serviceable at best while under little pressure offensively or defensively, leading to little joy in areas Liverpool were left free to exploit.

Still, a number of threats on Spurs’ goal followed–the best when Kuyt looked up from his wide position to find four red shirts in the box with an unmarked Torres waiting for the pull-back, only for him to pull the ball behind all of them and set the Lillywhites off the other way–ending in a quick succession of corner-throw-corner-throw for Liverpool’s attackers before Spurs finally grew back into the game around the thirty minute mark. Referee Atkinson, at the start of what would quickly become a comically bad performance, helped get things going when he showed Meireles a yellow card based on Gareth Bale’s reputation. The Portuguese midfielder cleanly stabbed the ball away from the charging Spurs winger on the break, but since everybody knows that nobody on Earth could hope keep up with the Welshman in full flight the official wrongly decided it must have been a foul. Atkinson briefly redeemed himself when he ignored right back Hutton’s audition for the Olympics as the Spurs player, completely untouched, flopped around in the box. It should have been a yellow for simulation, but at least no call is better than a penalty against, and given the rest of his performance it seems a minor miracle in retrospect that he didn’t award one.

Spurs’ run of dominance ended around the thirty minute mark after Carragher earned his starting role clearing a goal-bound attempt off the line and Torres headed up the pitch to cannon a long range effort off Kaboul’s thigh and send a second Tottenham starter to the bench in the first half. With Tottenham still on the back-foot from that second forced substitution and the half winding down, a free-kick from a central position led to panic for Spurs as Meireles put some curl on the delivery and Skrtel powered a header into N’Gog’s back. The ensuing scramble caught the unprepared Spurs defenders ball watching and gave Skrtel time to reacquire possession and find the back of the net for only the second time in his Liverpool’s career. More surprising than the goal perhaps was that Liverpool then showed no signs of shifting into a defensive shell, with Lucas, Maxi, and Torres neatly combining to get the ball back to Maxi in space soon after. Unfortunately the Argentinean flubbed his lines and lost control. It was to be the first of a series of poor misses by Liverpool, and when Maxi sprung Torres clear to end the half with another missed opportunity you had to worry that it would come back to haunt them.

And it did, despite a bright start to second with Torres charging at Spurs’ goal again right out of the gate. Torres’ half-chance fizzled when the striker held the ball too long, driving towards the end line before being fouled, but despite the defender getting man before ball the striker didn’t complain and the trailing Atkinson was excused from having to make a decision. After a spell of possession by Spurs, Liverpool again took control of the game with stretches of possession on the ground, midfield confidently anchored by Lucas and Meireles and supported by wide players, fullbacks, and even a Jamie Carragher suddenly willing to keep it on the ground, and for a time it was easy to forget the wasteful efforts in front of goal and to simply bask in a Liverpool side playing attractive, attacking football with the lead on the road against a top-half club.

The good couldn’t last, though, and it all started to come apart when David N’Gog covered his face to block a dangerous Bale free kick. It looked to be clearly just outside the box, but Atkinson got another major decision wrong and awarded Spurs a penalty. As such it was only justice when Defoe screwed shot well wide of Reina’s right post, but from that point forward Liverpool always looked to be in trouble, and not long afterwards all their missed chances caught up to them with a Skrtel own goal. That was followed up with Atkinson getting it wrong yet again when he denied Liverpool a clear penalty. All of a sudden it felt more like the Liverpool of old: a solid, at times even dominant, performance thoroughly undone by an inability to put chances away and officiating so horrible one began to question if there was even any pretense at objectivity. It certainly didn’t feel good, that last quarter or so of the match, but at least Liverpool had been up for it and this time there was an obvious target for the anger not named Roy Hodgson. Of course, if Maxi and Torres hadn’t missed their glorious chances Atkinson never would have been in a position to decide the outcome of the match. Fairer officiating likely would have seen Liverpool leave with three points, but when a team has chances to put the game away and doesn’t then you can only really blame the players who missed those chances at the end of the day.

In the end, then. Maxi’s final effort was blocked down in a scramble on 90 minutes with five more up on the board and the match opening up as both sides looked for three, but with increasing space on the counter Lennon slid past an unforgivably napping, flat-footed Konchesky to put the dagger in and deliver three points to Spurs that had seemed to be coming for quite some time. It wasn’t the result Liverpool deserved, but it had seemed almost inevitable from the Defoe penalty onwards. Still, when Hodgson talks about solid performances and unfair results this week he will actually be right to do so.

For all that the final score was hard to take, this was better. It was promising. For long stretches we saw what we all want to see on the road against any and every side. And yet in the end the result just wasn’t there. These sorts of loses always hurt, though perhaps it would hurt less without memories of City and Northampton and Everton and all the rest. Still, this is a hard one to lay at the feet of Roy Hodgson as the team really did seem up for it and willing to attack. Blame missed chances, blame Torres looking off for long stretches despite getting good support, blame Atkinson’s general incompetence, but it’s hard to blame the manager for this one outside of his faith in a clearly lacking left back. It hurts to see what should have been three points turn into none just like that, but at least it’s a better sort of hurt than all the matches we’ve seen when Liverpool didn’t deserve anything to begin with.

If we’ve been saying all along that it’s not the results, it’s the performances, then it’s only fair to acknowledge that at least this was a promising performance, even if it was the bitter, bitter result.

Some Related Liverpool Posts:Match Preview: Liverpool v. Bolton, 10.31.10UPDATED–Manchester United 3, Liverpool 2: Not Quite EnoughMatchday: Liverpool v. Manchester UnitedMatchday: Liverpool v. BlackburnMatchday: Liverpool v. Blackpool

Category: Match Recaps

Tags: David Ngog, Dirk Kuyt, Fernando Torres, Gareth Bale, Glen Johnson, Lucas Leiva, Match Recaps, Maxi Rodriguez, Paul Konchesky, Raúl Meireles, Roy Hodgson, Tottenham Hotspur
« Matchday: Liverpool v. Spurs | Home | Always Look on the Bright Side of Mondays »Timoptic2004
Another loss....an interesting article on NESV

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6032874/washington_wizards_a_starcrossed_franchise.html?cat=14Tropics RedRe Konchesky taking a more advanced role; umm, makes you wonder why Insua was loaned out so quickly. I'm sure I read somewhere that he had a high crossing percentage completion last season?NoelIn most measures I recall an article outlining that he was second to Ashley Cole in attacking contributions from left back. And he was actually probably better defending than Konchesky, too, while offering the potential for improvement at that end as well.superscouserLet's just call him Roy "Mediocrity" Hodgson, because that is where he has us. Anyone half decent would have expected Spurs to come out more positive in the second half and what did he do? Nothing. I think the picture of old Roy slumped after the second Spurs goal sums him up, he sits there resigned to defeat - I just he really would resign.GrubbIf we played like this every match away from home (in terms of effort and intent) I would like Hodgson a lot more.

Still not a fan of his pre/post pressers, and I don't think we're tactically being advantaged in any way, but the longball crap seems to have died off. The technical players are getting themselves into the team more often than not too, and the ridiculous team selections seem to be thinning out. If only we could get him to pick Aurelio over The Konch.

I'm not going to change my opinion of him, but I'm proud of the performance and proud of the lads. I can take defeats as long as we're in the game and not playing hoofball. If we were slightly deadlier, the match would have been over at half time, should've been 3-0. I can wear that as a supporter, it's just meek surrender a la Stoke/Bitters I can't abide by.

Been watching a helluva lot of Dortmund lately tho =-)redtrev73Can barely manage to analyse this latest disappintment in calm and rational terms. Yes, we played well. Yes, meireiles and lucas were quality. Yes, the attacking play and high pressing away from anfield were a tonic given the miserable performances on the road under hodgson....and yes, roy must be credited with the plaudits for all of the above when many of us on here have been so critical of the guy. But you know what? I'm not in the mood for magnanimity. When that whistle blew it was still his sorry mug looking dejected after we'd folded...and that's what we did. Zorba was so poor vs crouchy but konchesky then underlined why so many feel he is unworthy of the shirt...his efforts vs lennon were lamentable...and so woy is hoist once more by his own petard...and we're all swingin' with him. He got every chance from me for months but the guy has become an albatross round the neck of LFC because his inability to lift us has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. He's a jonah. Simple as that. Wield the axe john h, for pity's sake. Oh, and by the way, if you spurs 'fans' havent got anything other than uninformed, cretinous bile to spew, then may i echo noel's admirably polite and restrained request that you gather your mouth-breathing mates and do doneTTHFCBullshit and bias report.
"and Skrtel powered a header into N’Gog’s back." replays clearly display the ball hitting Ngog's elbow.
"It looked to be clearly just outside the box, but Atkinson got another major decision wrong and awarded Spurs a penalty." The whole wall was in the penalty area including Ngog. How do you stand and raise your arms in the penalty box and the ball hits your hand outside the penalty box?
"Atkinson never would have been in a position to decide the outcome of the match" Yup scored both goals thanks to Atkinson. And Ekotto got the ball first, according to replays, but wait, your eyes and common sense isn't working. He should have sent Johnson off for the challenge on Bale which was high footed.

Sore loser.... Yah, blame the ref. At least I respect those who claim Liverpool were unlucky when they could have brought home at least a point from the game. Liverpool could have been 2 up, but wait, its atkinson's fault that they were only 1 up.
Tom FooleryYou serious mate? Then this is a bullshit and bias comment. Atkinson was poor, and its fair to acknowledge that, but no one's blaming the whole result on the little man in black. Read, "Fairer officiating likely would have seen Liverpool leave with three points, but when a team has chances to put the game away and doesn’t then you can only really blame the players who missed those chances at the end of the day". And, anyway, this is Liverpool Offside, expect some bias. And, as many of us regular readers can tell you, expect some bullshit.

RatForDinnerAgainLiverpool had 'some chances', so deserved to win. Interesting theory. However Did Spurs not have 20 'chances' on goal to Liverpools 12. So surely they deserved to win 20-12? That would be silly some of those were off target, so how about we decide games on shots on target. Oh wait Spurs had 13, Liverpool had 8. Thats still a 13-8 victory (and Skrtels goal probably isnt even included).

Surely there is some criteria to which we can attribute the win to Liverpool. How about the couple of times Torres was through on goal? That should clinch it but being through on goal is a much more accurate measurement of the flow of the game than silly old 'goals' ...but wait again Lennon was through on goal right at the death and Defoe was blocked by only a Carragher last ditch stretch. But of course, silly me. Liverpool chances were more worthy.

Fact is. You lost. Neither of Spurs goals had any referee interference. And the referee didnt save/tackle or block any of your chances to my knowledge.
EdTypically when you quote someone, you quote something they actually said. And in this case, it would have been quoting someone who was quoting the article, so it would be metaquoting. Or something.

Anyway, if you'd bother to read the post or the comments instead of just jumping to whatever sort of bullshit conclusion you've already come up with prior to visiting, you'd see that what you wrote is barely relevant. Nobody stated that either of Spurs' goals were interfered with by the referee, and it's not exactly hyperbole to suggest that Martin Atkinson wasn't on his top form.

How you've managed to turn a quote that places the accountability on Liverpool's shoulders ("...then you can only really blame the players who missed those chances at the end of the day.") into some half-assed, unfunny attempt at making supporters sound pathetic is beyond me.

But hold your head high, because I'm sure you were quite amused with yourself as you left this steaming pile of shit on our doorstep.

Do stop by again, won't you?MartinI like how you think you can reason with the Spurs trolls. May as well try to teach a guinea pig calculus.NoelYou sound sarcastic there at the end, but if I'd known about this beforehand I might have been throwing up Spurs-offending posts on a bi-daily basis all month. Could have brought us more hits than H&G and the club sale. Then again, aside from being more concerned what lost/might have won the match for Liverpool than about the Spurs side of things seems to be what's gotten a few annoyed, which I find puzzling.

Oh well, if the re/watching of the match leaves you feeling there's some aspect of the game you want to comment on, I haven't settled on anything for tomorrow beyond an early news roundup, so feel free if something catches your fancy.RoscoThink your missing the point entirely, I see no sore losers here, sore winners rather. Atkinson had a poor game all round, for both sides. Should of been 2-0 at half time, and yes we are all fully aware it wasn't no-one is saying chances win games. Spurs' were missed as a result of good defending, liverpools a combination of atrocious forward play and sebastion Bassong.

Any neutral could say a draw would of been a fair result, but Tottenham cliched it in the end up. What puzzles me is people like you who feel need to trawl Internet forums to gloat in people faces while ridiculing their points without taking any time to actually read them.Tom FooleryI think sore winners is a pretty adequate description. I guess they just aren't used to winning yet, and havn't learned how to react...in time maybe they'll grow.Tom FooleryYes, we lost. I'm not even trying to suggest that we 'deserved to win' as you put it. We were clearly riding our luck on many occaisions, and to suggest otherwise is foolish. So...what's your point again? Do you guys just show up to rub salt in the wounds of some fine folks who do thier best to grasp for positives after what was a disappoiting result? Or is merely to reaffirm the fact that we lost? In which case next time don't waste your time, we already know what happened.RoscoThen again there was a fine display of tottenham fans mentality today. A few misplaced passes from Wilson Palacios resulted in sarcastic cheers after he completed a few, that'll do wonders for the boys confidence.
Perhaps try looking up the word "supporter"eddiei would like to mention, that the performance from our team, despite a couple of mistakes, was brilliant!. im not being biased. im being honest. we played like the home team, and bossed the game for the majority of the game, despite no gerrard or cole.

We all feel gutted about the result, because we definately deserved something from the game, (maxi chance/ torres through on goal/ ngog header/ meiereles screamer/ penalties? other chances too). But i have to say, that the performance was top drawer - We finally realised that hoofing the ball away from home is useless.

however i do feel that koncheskey doesnt warrant a starting place in the first team. he was ball watching again today, and is always out of his depth against a decent rm. he panicks all too often. Please woy, play aurelio first choice LB.

We are 6points behind spurs, and 7 points behind city, which doesnt make good reading, when we are trying to get atleast top4. However there are 6 months of the season left, and if we continue to play like that away from home, added to our always solid home form. then we are definately in with a shout. Also we are yet to play city and spurs at HOME. Hopefully with a few more players signed in january, we will get that top 4.
YNWA.superscouserHave to strongly disagree about being brilliant, unless old Roy has set your expectations so low. It was an "OK" performance, but still not good enough.JoelA few comments on the game:
Not Roy's fault and I have to applaud him for not sitting with 9 behind the ball. However, his comments in the lead up again were ridiculous, and he again threw players under the bus- stating that "we are not really that well blessed for centre-halves" regarding Carra's injury. Hello, Danny Wilson? The Greek having been our best defender this season by a country mile? Aurelio-Ngog sub was right in line with Roy's away record- the game was asking for Jova or Babel to come on there.

Mediocre game from Kuyt. Typically industrious, but re-affirmed my opinion that he should not be a guaranteed starter. Did well covering and keeping Bale quiet in tandem with Johnson, but he's just not fast enough or skillful enough to play the wide role without someone pacy on the opposite wing. Not really physical enough or big enough to play second striker- Ngog is much better suited there. I'm not meaning to say that we should get rid of him, but in the current team, he's not what we need to in the team every week. Excellent squad player, but shouldn't be on the Torres/Gerrard level of starting every game always.

Good game to Johnson, kept Bale very quiet throughout the game and looked solid coming forward.

Absolutely boss game from Lucas/Meireles, Lucas especially. Completely dominated the center of the park. Raul getting closer and closer to pegging a 30 yard screamer.

Konchesky is absolute shit. Skinned raw by Lennon over and over. Bombs forward constantly when he should be the one sitting back with Johnson pushing up.

Carra's lack of pace was on show again, getting absolutely roasted by Modric for the OG. Really needs to be not a 100% starter these days.

Thought Maxi played well and linked up excellently, but he needs to learn to shoot between the 18 and the 6.

Atkinson absolutely awful- no booking on Hutton's dive, no penalty when Assou-Ekotto cleaned out Kuyt and completely missed the ball, yellow to Raul when he won the ball, nothing yellow to Skrtel for telling him to ask his assistant. A penalty for that bump on Crouch would have been very harsh, considering that there was no yellow when Assou-Ekotto avoided a card for his best John Terry impression with a knee into the back of Torres' neck. Can't shovel the blame for the loss on him, as we didn't take our chances, but he was horrible.MikeGod I want Raul to hit some net from long range. He wants it so badly it hurts. Santa, you fat bastard give me some midfield magic. You wear red with white trim for fuck's sake.RedLiverBirdFCSecond half did them in again? And... I didn't know Liverpool were still in the FA cup????NoelFA Cup, yes. Northampton was the Carling/League Cup.EdGreat review, Noel, sounds like one I can actually look forward to watching on DVR even though I know the result.

As for the small group of chirping twats that have found their way here, welcome. That you've strung together a few somewhat coherent sentences is delightful, but at least have the decency to pretend to have some insight about what happened today.NoelSuppose with getting it up less than an hour after the match I should have included a special welcome to Spurs Offsider readers. Though admittedly I'm in a snippy mood after that result and coming off what was a bit of a marathon week.RoscoYou do have a special knack for attracting the crazies.

Ed, take noteNoelIf I can just figure out some way to turn that lunatic magnetism into a source of easy cash moneies I'll be set for life.UnkleWoysAnkleNo mention of Koncheski on Crouch? Spurs had more chances, more possession and even missed a penalty. Oh and had two cleared off the line. Dont be a bitter loser. And yeah why not take Keane in January to replace Torres?bindippercrying all the way back t'pool!Firealarmbreakglassfancy taking Keane back in january?2-1Get some specs and then write a review yea?NoelSure thing, mate. And how about you take fourty-five minutes to try to write and edit 1500 words to show me how it's done properly?

Or: if you can't even tell me what's so wrong about what I've said, you can go do one.Apartments NerjaLiverpool threw that game away! The chances they had! From a very unhappy iron!blog comments powered by Disqus