Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Liverpool

[funster]

Ha ha! What a result, and once again, what a comeback! Three games under the stewardship of Harry Redknapp, seven points in the bag, consisting of a first win the Premier League, a dramatic late fightback at that place down the road, and the end of the only unbeaten record left in the top flight.

Its all a very far cry from the previous eight games where we picked up a measly two points.

Yesterday it was the brother-in-law's turn to accompany me to the game. His first time at the football in a good few years. Well, of watching anything worthwhile. Don't think Weymouth count!

The anticipation and excitement, of course, was right up there. After the heroics - and I think they can rightly be called heroics in a footballing sense - of Wednesday night (which I am gutted to say I had to miss - sigh), I had a sneaky little feeling that if King turned out, we may just take all three points.

There was no basis for that feeling, of course. Nothing in a footballing sense that had gone before in the season for ourselves, and maybe more so Liverpool, would have indicated three points for us. Nothing except that emotional, motivational, rollercoaster ride that is Tottenham Hotspur!

A couple of pints and a bite to eat before the game, and we were treated to the news, that, as we left the pub near Waterloo, Arsenal were a goal down. Ha ha! Clearly the Wednesday night encounter had gotten under their skin. It got better when we arrived at The Lane - having endured the rain. A 2-1 defeat, one man sent off and another stretchered off. Shouldn't gloat.

Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Anyway, never mind the Gooners, we had more important issues to deal with.

The team news was a bit of a surprise. Not that King had been restored. I had pretty much expected that. No, the surprise was that with Hutton and Bale both on the bench, we opted for Corluka at right back and BAE at left. Well, given Bale's unfortunate record of never having participated in a winning Spurs league side, maybe that was no bad thing?!

Teams emerge on a wet Saturday evening with King leading Spurs out


Keane on the halfway line - I promise you, that is him!


When the game started it didn't take very long at all for things to go pear shaped. Liverpool had already had one decent attack. Three minutes in the ball fell to Keane on what looked like the edge of the Spurs box. He laid it off to Kuyt and he absolutely smashed it into the top of the net.

High class finish. Even watching from the other end of the stadium that was clear to see.

Oh dear. Was this going to be the game where things came crashing back down to Earth?

For large chunks of the first half it looked like it might. We just couldn't really get going. While Bentley saw a decent amount of the ball on the right, we weren't really pushing forward enough to provide the targets. Coupled with that the lack of ball that Modric saw in his now customary role just behind the lone striker, and we weren't really much of an attacking force.

In no small part this was down to Liverpool's excellent organisation. They really were superbly organised all over the pitch. It wasn't that they were shutting down particularly quickly, not even that they were spraying the ball around and playing expansive football. It was just that they were a side by now used to winning and knowing how to do it.

Overall the first half was actually a bit of a disappointment. For all their superior ability, Liverpool didn't extend their lead. They had chances to make it two or three before half time but failed. The one decent chance we had came when Modric managed to get a shot off that Reina saved well.

At a goal down at half-time my overriding feeling was that this was not the sort of game that you would normally expect from Spurs and Liverpool. It lacked the goalmouth action that I'd expect, although I think some of the Liverpool supporters may disagree. Of course, you could argue that you also wouldn't expect a Spurs-Liverpool game to mean bottom plays top! Wonder when the last time that happened was.....

Still, with just the one goal disadvantage the opportunity was there to claw something back and maybe take a second point from one of the top four.

Bale having a swing at half time


The start at the second half didn't really suggest that was going to be the case. For about the first ten to fifteen minutes of the second half Liverpool obliterated us. The substitutions - Hutton for BAE, and Pavlyuchenko for O'Hara - didn't seem to help. Hutton took over from Corluka at right back, the latter switched to the left, and for the first time under Harry Redknapp we went 4-4-2.

Like I said though, didn't seem to make much difference! Its not often I've seen a side maintain such total domination in all areas of the pitch and push us so far back so often. Not at home. Not for many, many years.

How we escaped that barrage to come through unscathed when they had one corner after another, one free kick after another, one shot on target after another..... well, somehow we did.

There were two or three absolutely tremendous chances for Liverpool to extend their lead. An exceptional save from Gomes to tip the ball onto the bar from what looked like a deflection off King's arm while he was on the ground. A shot wide. A header somehow, incredibly, from two yards placed the wrong side of the post.

No matter. You take whatever breaks come your way, and this season we've not had many.

In my mind I thought that we had to withstand the constant pressure. Liverpool would not keep it up at that pace throughout and when the chance came we would have to capitalise on it.

Keane was withdrawn with about half an hour left. He seemed far from happy. The reception all day had been mixed - as expected. A mixture of boos and polite applause. The latter probably just about shading it. Keane's own gesture of applause seemed to be directed at the whole of the stadium rather than the Liverpool fans specifically. Regardless, its water under the bridge and at a goal down there was little room for sentiment as we attempted to carve out a chance or two.

Eventually the chance did come. We started to see more of the ball, we began pushing up the pitch, and we began to win a corner or two.

There seemed little threat. All the balls we'd thrown into the box at set pieces were met with the full Liverpool complement in the box. All ten outfield players packing the box and four of our own sitting on the edge of the box. There was never going to be any way through that. How are you going to win a header when you're totally outnumbered in the box?

Well, you either try something different and push the ball quickly to the edge of the box for somebody like Huddlestone to have a pop..... or you rely on good old Jamie Carragher!

I'd thought to myself earlier in the day "Mmmmmm..... been a while since Carragher scored an own goal".

Bingo! Corner swung in from the right and somehow the ball finds its way into the net. The equaliser!

Sat at the other end of the stadium it was difficult to see who had connected. The screens showed King as the centre of attention and as it turned out it was Carragher who netted the own goal under pressure from Ledley.

Interesting fact - Jamie Carragher has now scored three times for Tottenham. That's as many as he's netted in his entire Liverpool league career. Good lad!

All of a sudden there was an optimism that maybe we could sneak a win. Certainly Harry went on the offensive throwing on Lennon to replace Modric on the left wing. We had lacked pace on the wings throughout the game and while it would be overstating the facts to say Lennon made a massive difference, he definitely gave us a different angle, a different way in which to take the ball forward.

Liverpool matained control in the midfield though, and such was their dominance in that area that the lad sat next to me said he thought Liverpool were playing with an extra man. I pointed out that any Premier League side with Steven Gerrard in the starting eleven was likely to be in that position! Yesterday he demonstrated again the tremendous drive he gives to the side.

As the clock ticked on we created more chances than we had, Liverpool fewer. The best seemed to fall to Pavlyuchenko. A save by Reina and a golden opportunity with a few minutes to go for Roman to take hero status. Shame he blazed high and wide when hitting the target would at least have drawn the ball back into play!

With the fourth official preparing his board to show the injury time to be played the tempo slackened, for Liverpool particularly, and all of a sudden it looked like they'd settle for the draw.

Bad mistake. As we went forward again, with the fourth official holding up the board to say four minutes (no idea where that came from since there we no stoppages or injuries!), Bent got a shot away that Reina palmed away, but Bent's speed got him to the rebound first and he crossed to find Pav in exactly the right place to slip the ball into the net!

Incredible! Unreal! 2-1!

The massed ranks of Spurs supporters went absolutely mental! Twice in a week against top four sides. First coming from two down with two minutes left to notch a draw. Now, right on the 90th minute, after having trailed for most of the game, to take the lead!

All of a sudden though I had the recollection that there were four minutes still left. Ludicrous. Nobody could understand where that had come from, but one thing was for sure - the Liverpool barrage would resume.

They came forward, they threw the ball into the box, they pushed us back, but they couldn't break through. As the ball was launched into the far left corner of the pitch the whistle went, and as the Liverpool supporters left en masse, the celebrations amongst the Spurs contingent continued!

Just fantastic! What a great result, the full three points, and, temporarily at least, off the foot of the table. Guess what? No Bale!

The last of the celebrations as the players leave - the Liverpool continget had already decided the time had come to head for the exits!


Many will think it was undeserved. Not a word I'd use. We stuck to it, rode our luck, Liverpool failed to convert any of the many chances they created, and in the end, as so often happens in the Premier League, they were made to pay.

They were vastly superior in midfield. With Gerrard driving them forward we lacked the ability to counter and it was very noticeable that we had nobody to take control of the ball and push us in the opposite direction. Jenas, much maligned though he is, was missed yesterday. Zokora failed to step up and take charge, and Huddlestone we know is not the sort of player that will come back to pick-up the ball and then run through the middle with it.

There were other dubious performances. Hutton looked short of confidence and a bit timid when he came on in the second half. Possibly a case of needing time to recover from the mistakes of Wednesday night against the Arsehole. Corluka filled in manfully at right back. Composed and classy, he wasn't afraid to receive the ball and work his way out of trouble. The lack of support on the right wing in the first half, and the left wing in the second, meant he got plenty of practice! His performance at left back wasn't that great. He was clearly more comfortable on the other side of the pitch and Liverpool were afforded plenty of time when attacking down that side in the second half.

Can't blame the lad. He's now played across the entire back four since joining from City!

Gomes was relatively quiet. Surprisingly so. He remained on his line much more and resisted the tempatation a couple of times to come for the ball. Rightly so. Somebody must have had a chat with him. His one mistake yesterday was to sell King short on a ball out that led to one of Liverpool's many second half attacks. There again he pulled off a superb save during that period of Liverpool dominance to keep us at just a goal down.

Liverpool will feel very hard done by, for sure. Heading home on the train a couple of their supporters - lacking any semblance of a Liverpool accent and heading for Basingstoke..... - commented when talking to their mates on the phone that they could easily have won seven or eight-nil. Well, exaggeration for effect is acceptable I suppose, but I think Benitez was closer to the mark when he said it could have ended 4-0.

That it didn't is down in part to the fact that they didn't convert, and in part to the fact that we kept going. It feels, after these two games, that we have this belief now to see games through. Right till the very end. Given the results this week it should inspire sufficient confidence in the team to keep doing it. If you can turn around a two goal deficit at The Emirates to take a point, and then beat the league leaders right at the end, you should do it every single game.

Liverpool? Well, the dropped points will hurt them, but they looked good enough to maintain their challenge at the right end of the table. Thoroughly well organised, and although Keane was disappointing, Kuyt, I thought was superb. A willing outlet, unexpectedly quick, and accurate in his passing. With Torres in the side they are a force to be reckoned with.

I did have to say yesterday though, they reminded me of the Chelsea of a couple of years ago. Not massively flash, not wanting to play the expansive football that you would see from (say) ManUre or that lot down the road a few years back, but extremely efficient. The lost points yesterday will probably be a mere hiccup for them and serve to remind them not to take anything for granted in the Premier League.

From here we move on to trying to get our European campaign back on the road with the visit of Dinamo Zagreb to The Lane on Thursday. Then onward in this relentless fixture list to Eastlands for a game with City.

These are exciting times again at The Lane. The turnaround has been fantastic, but the work has barely begun. There is a lot still to do, but as Arsenal learned on Wednesday, and Liverpool yesterday, in the Premier League you don't take anything for granted.

You don't take Tottenham Hotspur for granted. Not any more!

Suffice to say, the brother-in-law enjoyed it!

[thfcshady27]

mate im just gonna read ur reports instead of watching motd from now on lol far more detail and extremely un bias which is always refreshing...keep up the good work!

[Gareth]

Love the photos.. We deserved to win it. We took most of the chances we had and put them in the net.

[LLOYDY]

exellent result now lets pick up 3 points at city and climb out of the relegation zone..............coys