Have a read of Amy Lawrence’s match report here:
Liverpool will rightly feel they should have won, though a couple of big refereeing decisions went their way and Spurs came back strongly in the last third of the game. The two left-backs scored the goals, James Milner and Danny Rose, and it was an enjoyably open game. Liverpool’s front three of Coutinho, Firmino and Mane were brilliant for an hour. Thanks for your company, bye!
Full time: Spurs 1-1 Liverpool
That’s it!
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90+4 min Matip is booked for holding onto the ball to delay a Spurs throw-in.
90+3 min Eriksen is replaced by Harry Winks for the last four seconds of the game. And Adam Lallana is replaced by Kevin Stewart for the last -10 seconds.
90+2 min Liverpool break brilliantly down the right. It’s fed in to Firmino, who helps it on to Lallana in the box. His weary stab at goal is blocked by the stretching Alderweireld, a brilliant interception.
90+1 min There will be three added minutes.
90 min Firmino plays the ball back to Wijnaldum, whose sidefooted shot hits the arm of Alderweireld and deflects towards goal, where Vorm changes direction smartly to save. His arm was close to his body so I think that’s fair enough.
88 min Daniel Sturridge comes on to replace Sadio Mane.
85 min Henderson is booked for excessive moaning.
84 min Onomah runs at Milner and wins a corner, which is headed over from eight yards by Alderweireld. It was slightly behind him, which made it a trickier chance.
83 min Harry Kane is replaced by Josh Onomah.
81 min Poor Kane has had a stinker, though it’s worth nothing that he is still showing for the ball all the time. He’ll be fine, he’s far too good for this to be anything more than a blip.
80 min After a precise right-to-left passing move from Liverpool, Firmino tries to place a shot back across goal and into the far corner. Dier stands tall and makes a good block.
79 min Liverpool still look the likelier winners, but then so did England against Romania in 1998.
78 min “How many does Henderson get Rob, before he gets booked?” asks Ruth Purdue. He’s the new Makelele.
77 min Alli is booked for kicking the ball away.
76 min Wanyama curves a beautiful pass to Rose ... who loses concentration and clodhops it into touch. It was great modern full-back play by Rose for the goal though.
75 min Liverpool won the game once; now they have to win it again.
74 min Jurgen Klopp growls with frustration, punches the air in anger - and then, a split-second later, motions for his team to calm down!
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Dier broke down the right and curled over an excellent left-footed cross towards the six-yard line. It skimmed off the head of Lamela at the near post and came to Rose, in a lot of space beyond the far post. His first touch was a bit heavy but as the ball bounced up he sliced a left-footed shot past Mignolet and into the net.
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GOAL! Spurs 1-1 Liverpool (Rose 72)
I told you Dier was wasted at right-back: he’s just created the equaliser!
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72 min Spurs really miss Dier in the centre of midfield. He is fine at right back, and created their best chance, but he is a brilliant holding player.
70 min Mane goes down under challenge from Wanyama. It wasn’t a foul but not was it the dive that the Spurs fans were claiming in the hope he would get a second yellow card.
69 min A Liverpool substitution: Coutinho, superb as ever, is replaced by Origi. Daniel Sturridge does not look impressed.
68 min There’s a bit of needle between Firmino and Alli. Firmino fouled Alli, who then eased his knee into the back of Firmino’s leg as he got to his feet. File under Modern Football.
66 min Alli’s good pass to Janssen opens up the Liverpool defence. It comes to Kane, who has a simple angled pass to put Dier through on the right of the box - but he underhits it and Milner slides in to make a vital tackle. Kane looks very short on confidence.
65 min It’s not saying a huge amount but this is easily Spurs’ best spell of the game. Lamela and Eriksen look livelier, though we’ve still seen little from Alli, Janssen and Kane.
64 min Lamela’s left-footed free-kick from outside the box on the right is palmed over by the leaping Mignolet, a spectacular but essentially routine save.. But he makes a wonderful save from the resulting corner, diving to his right to palm Alderweireld’s header round the near post!
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63 min Lovren is booked for kicking the ball away.
62 min A good chance for Eriksen, who is picked out by Dier’s excellent cross and sidefoots a rising shot wide from 16 yards. Dier is playing at right-back now, if you’re into the whole tactics thing.
61 min Matip, since you asked, has played well on his full league debut. He hasn’t had that much to do but he looks calm and in control. He’s very graceful too, if you’re into the whole aesthetics thing.
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59 min It’s open to interpretation, obviously, but I think this game has been a story of Liverpool excellence rather than Tottenham uselessness.
57 min Turns out the goal was rightly disallowed - Lallana, who played it across to Mane, was fractionally ahead of the last man. There was confusion because the scorer Mane was well behind the ball so could not have been offside. But it was an excellent piece of assistant refereeing from the assistant referee.
56 min Mane has a goal disallowed for offside after another great Liverpool counter-attack. We haven’t seen a replay but that looked an iffy decision.
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55 min There are loud, sarcastic cheers when Henderson is penalised for fouling Alli. The Spurs fans do have a bit to complain about - the penalty was the wrong decision and Mane should be off - but in many ways they are red herrings because Liverpool have battered them.
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54 min Another smooth move from Liverpool. Coutinho clips an insouciant pass across to Clyne, whose shot deflects wide of the near post.
53 min: Matip hits the bar! Milner hit an excellent dipping corner from the left towards the six-yard line, where Matip lost Vertonghen and headed the ball onto the top of the bar.
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52 min Vertonghen is booked for putting his arm round Mane. It was a foul though Mane made a meal of it by going down holding his face. The mood has become very spiky since that Mane tackle on Rose just after half-time.
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51 min Eriksen picks up a loose ball in a promising position, only to drag a miserable shot well wide from 25 yards.
48 min Mane, already booked, is lucky to get away with another late tackle from Rose. The referee didn’t give a free-kick; had he done so - and he should have done - it would probably have been a second yellow card.
47 min After more good play from Firmino, Wijnaldum leans back and hits a lovely curling shot just over the bar from 22 yards.
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46 min Peep peep! Liverpool begin the second half, kicking from right to left. They won’t be sitting on their 1-0 lead.
“Outside or not, the penalty was the least Liverpool deserved from that first half, and I say that as a Spurs fan,” says Guy Hornsby. “We just weren’t at the races at all, so it’ll be a fascinating next 45, as Poch has shown himself pretty good at half time inspiration. There’s so much attacking talent on the pitch that I do worry about us with effectively 3 at the back.”
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It wasn’t clear at the time but that shouldn’t have been a penalty for Liverpool - the contact was just outside the box, though it was very hard for the referee to see that because most of Firmino’s body was inside the area.
Half time: Spurs 0-1 Liverpool
It seems Good Liverpool have turned up today. First their dominance forced Spurs into a tactical change to 3-5-2; then they took the lead through James Milner’s penalty. Their front three have been extremely good. See you in 10 minutes for more of the same. Meantime, here’s some half-time reading.
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45+3 min “I’m not suggesting that this is a boring encounter,” says Paul Devlin, “but I’ve had plenty of time to notice that Matip is the only Liverpool player without an N in his surname. With Klavan waiting in the wings, he had better perform!”
Torben Piechnik has plenty of Ns to give as well.
45+2 min A splendid curving pass from Mane almost puts Firmino through on goal, with Alderweireld making a crucial interception.
45+1 min Coutinho blocks Lamela taking a quick free-kick, so Lamela takes it straight at Coutinho and gets him booked.
45 min Firmino has been really good. Actually the front three have all been really lively. They certainly aren’t missing Daniel today.
With the penalty, Firmino sucked Lamela in on the left wing and then went past him into the box. Lamela was on his tail and unwittingly knocked Firmino’s right leg onto his left, forcing him to fall over.
GOAL! Spurs 0-1 Liverpool (Milner 43 pen)
Milner tucks it away confidently, low to the left. Liverpool thoroughly deserve the lead.
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PENALTY TO LIVERPOOL
Lamela concedes a daft penalty, right on the touchline. It was fine play by Firmino and though the collision was accidental, Bobby Madley pointed straight to the spot.
Two interpretations of that Vertonghen wrestling move
Rolf Wilhelm: “A warning? What good is a warning? Clearest penalty you’ll see and back to school for the ref.”
Kevin Porter: “Rob, Isn’t it about time football commentators and pundits had to pass a test proving they’d actually read the Laws of the Game. Why wasn’t a penalty given after the holding in the box? BECAUSE THE BALL WASN’T IN PLAY, YOU *******.”
There’s a moral in this somewhere.
37 min You know how I said it was hard to conceive a dull game between these two? Well…
34 min Firmino’s fine square pass finds Lallana on the right of the box. He runs down one blind alley, and then another, and then a third! Eventually the ball comes back infield and Mane fouls Rose inside the Spurs area. The Spurs fans ask for a second yellow card, as does Rose I think. At least I would have thought that if I didn’t instinctively know that no British player in the history of the game has ever dived or asked a referee to send a player off.
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32 min Now Mane is booked for a late tackle on Alli.
30 min Mane tries to put Wijnaldum through with angled pass but makes a mess of it. He should have done better there. At the other end, Alli’s low shot from 15 yards is well blocked by Lovren.
29 min It looks like Spurs have switched to a back three, with Dier dropping into the defence. Rose, meanwhile, is booked for a foul on Firmino
28 min Oh, maybe it’s not tactical - Kyle Walker is limping off, so there will be a reshuffle.
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27 min It looks like Pochettino is going to make an early tactical change, with Vincent Janssen ready to come on.
26 min Mane’s excellent chipped pass finds Coutinho on the left of the box. He takes it down on the shoulder and, then, as it bounces up, sidefoots towards goals from a tightish angle. Vorm, perfectly positioned, blocks it at te near post.
23 min Coutinho’s low 20-yard shot hits Alderweireld and deflects over the bar for a corner. This is a fine spell for Liverpool. Before the corner is taken, the referee Robert Madley gives Vertonghen a warning for performing a popular wrestling manoeuvre on Matip. When the corner is taken, there is no wrestling an the ball is cleared. Klopp is complaining to the fourth official, presumably that Liverpool should have had a penalty.
22 min Lovren is penalised for an entirely pointless foul on Alli, which he follows by accidentally studding the back of Alli’s head. Eriksen’s inswinging free-kick is cleared and Liverpool break swiftly through Mane. Vorm flies from his line again, this time 30 yards from goal, and makes another excellent slide tackle. That was almost identical to the first one.
19 min Vorm charges out to the right edge of the area to successfully slide tackle Mane. A split-second later and he would have conceded a penalty.
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16 min “Why did they move the early Saturday kickoff 15 minutes earlier than last season?” says JR in Illinois “Don’t they know it’s 6:30 am here? I could really use that extra 15 minutes of sleep. It’s so early I’m not even at the hangover stage yet.” Won’t somebody think of the drinkers?
13 min Mane breaks dangerously into the box and crosses low towards Coutinho, who is offside inside the six-yard box.
12 min Lovren bounces off Kane, who scoots towards the area and squares it to Alli. He is in the process of lining up a shot from 20 yards when the ball is nicked away by the covering Lallana. It comes to Rose, whose cross is headed to the edge of the area by Matip. Alli, still waiting on the edge of the area, shanks a left-footed half-volley well wide.
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8 min It’s been a lively start to the game, as we expected, with both sides pressing the ball at every opportunity.
6 min A free-kick to Spurs, just outside the box on the left wing. Eriksen goes for goal and Mignolet leaps to his left to beat it away. It was a fairly comfortable save.
5 min Vorm makes a great save to deny Coutinho. Liverpool won the ball high up the pitch, with Mane finding Firmino. He showed great composure to beat Alderweireld and play the ball square across the box for Coutinho. He sidefooted it first-time towards the near post, where Vorm stretched out his right foot to make an excellent save. That said, Coutinho should have scored.
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2 min Rose’s cross hits Clyne, prompting an unconvincing penalty appeal. No dice.
1 min Peep peep! Spurs, in white, kick off from right to left. Liverpool are in red.
Prediction: Spurs 2-2 Liverpool.
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“I like the look of that LIverpool side,” says Kev. “Matip should give the back four stability, but I won’t be satisfied till we sign a left back without the attention span of a gnat.”
Marcos Rojo might be available??????
The players are in the tunnel. The captains, Harry Kane and Jordan Henderson, have done a fine job on their hair. Football has changed a lot since the days when Kenny Dalglish queried Graeme Souness’s use of cologne: “He thought I was a poof”.
“What do you expect from this match?” says Ruth Purdue. Two hours of my life I won’t g “Will it be end to end? Both team trying to counter each other. I personally hope there will some comedy defending again.”
This will be a fine game; a dull match between these two is hard to imagine. I know that’s exactly what happened last season when they drew 0-0 in Klopp’s first game, but I really don’t think that will happen tday.
Some pre-match reading
“Decent,” says Gary Naylor of this legendary goal. It’s as good an excuse as any to link to another old Joy of Six.
If you don’t know your history...
Why not take a crash course in Spurs v Liverpool with this from the golden age of the Joy of Six.
An email! “Notwithstanding last season, a decent early indicator of title-winning credentials is the strength of the bench which, for both these squads have good options up front, but get weaker through midfield and on to defence and goalkeeper,” says Gary Naylor “Okay, there are injuries and perhaps a signing or two to come, but I can’t see these two in the shake-up come May.”
I suppose that’s less of an issue for Liverpool, with no European football. I’d love Spurs to be champions as there is so much to like about them - but I agree, I can’t see either of these finishing about Manchester City. That said, it would take more than a feather to knock me over if they did win it; both teams have a lot going for them.
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Great forgotten goals from Spurs v Liverpool, part one in a series whose length depends on whether I can be bothered to keep posting YouTube videos in the hour before kick-off
Team news
Daniel Sturridge doesn’t want to play on the wing, and he gets his wish: he’s dropped.
Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1) Vorm; Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose; Dier, Wanyama; Lamela, Alli, Eriksen; Kane.
Substitutes: McGee, Carter-Vickers, Davies, Onomah, Winks, Janssen, Son.
Liverpool (4-3-3) Mignolet; Clyne, Matip, Lovren, Milner; Lallana, Henderson, Wijnaldum; Mane, Firmino, Coutinho.
Substitutes: Manninger, Grujic, Moreno, Lucas, Sturridge, Origi, Stewart.
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Preamble
Hello. Anyone here remember Tottenham Hotspur? Decent side, almost won the league last season, played the best football by a Spurs team since the 1980s. They were a breath of the fresh stuff. Yet nobody is talking about them this season, such is the slightly childish focus on all things new in the Premier League.
That’s probably a good thing for Spurs, who can go about their business quietly for the time being. Although the bar has been raised this season, there is every chance their superb young side - with a few carefully chosen additions like Victor Wanyama and Vincent Janssen - will challenge for the league again.
This afternoon they meet Liverpool, who continue their August road trip: they will not play at Anfield until mid-September due of the expansion of the main stand. After high-scoring wins at Arsenal and Burton, and a high-possession defeat at Burnley, we don’t really know what to expect from Liverpool. At their best they are perhaps the most scintillating team in the country; at their worst they are a gift to lovers of schadenfreude.
They are nonetheless one of six potential title winners, seven if you count the actual champions, Leicester, which not many people have done. The upshot of that is there will be lots of Big Games (don’t you dare call them six-pointers, don’t you dare get me started on that) early in the season. This certainly falls into that category.
Kick off is at 12.30pm.
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