Liverpool continued their impressive start to the season with an outstanding 1-2 victory over Tottenham at Wembley, a result which sees the reds maintain their 100% record. The importance and quality of this result should not be understated, and the reds put in a quality performance overall to overwhelm Tottenham, who were in the end fortunate to only concede twice.
First half
Liverpool were extremely quick out of the blocks and had a goal disallowed after less than a minute, when Tottenham’s full backs were caught for not the first time in the afternoon. As always, Liverpool’s full backs offered width in the attack and became a problem for Tottenham’s narrow midfield three, who were torn between staying narrow or pressing the wide areas. Liverpool’s pressing throughout the game stifled Tottenham and Liverpool forced Tottenham into a central midfield battle by cutting the passing lanes to wide areas, therefore forcing Tottenham to play centrally, which we also saw Liverpool do to West Ham on the opening day. Liverpool could then overload the centre of the pitch using their narrow wingers and centre forward, who tirelessly tracked back all day.
Liverpool continually got in behind Spurs midfield and outnumbered Spurs defence, but failed to make it pay multiple times, which eventually almost came back to bite them. After a host of opportunities, Liverpool finally took the lead in the 39th minute thanks to a Gini Wijnaldum header after Liverpool won a corner off the back of some sloppy play by Tottenham.
Second half
In the second half, Liverpool picked up where they left off, continually getting behind Tottenham’s midfield and causing havoc in the half spaces. A piece of sublime movement from Sadio Mane this time opened Spurs up, and three touches later Liverpool had a goal. Kieran Tripper made the mistake of becoming too tight to Mane, who span Trippier and got in behind Spurs. Here Trippier has to be quicker to recognise the danger and cut that space off by dropping back, but it is excellent movement by Mane.
As well as becoming compact, Liverpool continued to press Tottenham and force them backwards, which obviously affected Tottenham’s ability to create chances. Liverpool chased the ball out of their half and could then move the defensive line right out and eventually win the ball back in a higher position. In this example we see Keita and Henderson pressing Tottenham. Keita’s pressing is fantastic as we see him pressing the man already before the ball has been played.
Play of the game
This was the most impressive piece of play I saw from Liverpool in the game, although a goal wasn’t scored from it. Joe Gomez collected the ball from the goal kick and stayed calm, travelling with the ball past the onrushing Lucas Moura. This calmness on the ball lured Tottenham’s press towards the ball, when Gomez then played a pass through the midfield lines to Firmino. Firmino then turned and released the ball through the lines again, where Liverpool then had a 3v2. As a result of Joe Gomez’s calmness on the ball, he was able to draw Tottenham to the ball and disorganise them, leaving masses of space to be exploited. It took only two passes for Liverpool to penetrate Tottenham, all thanks to Joe Gomez’s ability to be comfortable on the ball. Unfortunately, yet again Liverpool were wasteful and didn’t finish the opportunity.
Liverpool continued to have shots on target but couldn’t hit the back of the net and eventually became complacent and greedy, which led to a wake-up call when Erik Lamela struck late on. Tottenham then should probably have had a penalty late on, but it’s almost impossible for any referee to see that in real time, and it would have been a gross injustice to a Liverpool side who thoroughly deserved the three points today.
Man of the match: James Milner (Again!)
Team ratings:
Tottenham 4/10
Liverpool 8.5/10
Cam Meighan
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