Tottenham 1 Liverpool 2
What a horrendous first half. Up until Xavi Simons got sent off in the in the 33rd minute there really was nothing of note to talk about from either side in the first half, both teams were really poor going forward with Spurs probably looking like the more dangerous side throughout the first half. They still looked really short on pace in the attack with counter-attacks slowing down to a snails pace most of the time, Liverpool were the same really lacking any creativity in the final third with Florian Wirtz the only real spark in attack throughout a poor first half. Xavi Simons then decided he didn’t want to play the rest of the match clattering into his Dutch teammate Van Dijk down the Achilles, the ref only gave a yellow but later changed it to a red after having a second look through VAR leaving Spurs down to 10 men with over an hour left to play.
An improved second half for Liverpool. Liverpool simply had to improve in the second half against 10-man Spurs and Arne Slot subbed on Alexander Isak at half-time to help Liverpool going forward which worked a treat for Liverpool’s opening goal where Romero makes a mistake giving the ball away in his own half with ball eventually going to Wirtz who plays a lovely ball into Isak who finishes brilliantly past Vicario but ends up injured in the aftermath as Van De Ven was sliding across to try and block the shot, so unfortunate for Isak who’s had such a tough season with injuries and Slot will be hoping he’s not out for too long. The second goal comes 10 minutes later thanks to Ekitike who rose brilliantly to head the ball in past Vicario to put Liverpool in firm control of the match and basically wrap up 3 points.
Were Spurs better with 10 men? I think it says a lot about Xavi Simon’s time at Spurs so far that when he gets sent off the team actually doesn’t get much worse, to be fair I don’t think Tottenham could have got much worse especially going forward but they created quite a few chances in the second half eventually getting one back thanks to Richarlison who always seems to score against Liverpool, Spurs were really piling the pressure on winning free-kicks in dangerous positions and Liverpool were really on the ropes until Romero decides to kick Konate on the chest getting a second yellow card and ending any hope Spurs had of getting an equaliser. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot just as you had Liverpool on the ropes, I’m sure Thomas Frank was fuming at full-time as Spurs could have easily got a draw out of the match in the second half.
Does Frank last much longer for Spurs? This result now leaves Spurs 13th and 7 points off Liverpool in 5th and you wonder if Frank will last to the New Year in the Spurs job with Crystal Palace away next week. There’s just no consistent attacking threat in this Spurs side alongside a midfield that has no creativity which leads to a recipe of disaster in trying to win games in this league, it doesn’t look like Solanke and Kulusevski are back any time soon and I’m not sure they will go into the market in January to get some much needed attacking threat. It’s looking grim for Spurs at the minute and they could be 14th on Christmas if Fulham beat Nottingham Forest on Monday, scary times for Spurs fans at the minute.
Liverpool will make the Champions League this year. All of a sudden Liverpool are up to 5th in the Premier League Table and even though they’re still not playing at their best they are picking up points which I think shows the volatility of the league this year. There was a lot of talk about Liverpool not making the Champions League spots this year but I think they’ll make it with the other teams in and round them struggling to consistently win matches. Their next few fixture are very favourable against Wolves and Leeds and I expect Liverpool to solidify their place in the Champions League spots in the next month.