That is it then, the end of the season as we know it, Tottenham got absolutely humiliated and put in their place and shown up for what they are, a bunch of bottle jobs that are only good for one thing and that is being Spursy.
Or
Tottenham showed last night that they are now on par with Liverpool, the worlds best team, they are after all world club champions, Jurgen Klopp’s men were very lucky that they caught Steven Bergwijn and Harry Kane on an off night and should have been beaten by a couple of goals.
There is obviously a middle ground here and some perspective is required.
It is easy to fault Jose Mourinho yet his tactics worked beautifully against Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal and to some extent, Chelsea and it would have worked last night if the luck had swung his way just a little.
Liverpool needed an injury-time winner and they were opened up on numerous occasions by Tottenham and very few teams have done that in over 60 Premier League games at Anfield.
The team can take great heart from their performance, yes it was back to the wall stuff but did anyone really expect us to go to Anfield and have a go at Liverpool? You want to get beat by 3 or 4 then do exactly that, just as Wolves and Leicester tried recently.
It was a game of tactics and Klopp came out on top this time but play that game again and it could easily have been the other way around, such was the Spurs performance.
Now, if Spurs lose to Leicester at the weekend then fair enough, Jose should be questioned about his methods and there would be every reason to be worried going forward.
But there is absolutely no need to be concerned after last night, we got beat by the best team in England and probably, alongside Bayern Munich, the best team in world club football.
Be positive, last night changes nothing and Mourinho will adapt, just as he did after the opening day defeat against Everton.
Well written article. As an LFC fan our line-up was not the full deck of cards and did well, but there may be an even stronger line-up available to Klopp on 28th Jan. It is still a “title-builder”.
Jose brought his chess-set out, moved his pieces around (Kane dropping deep, Sissoko roaming) and created openings, but Klopp seems to be the only EPL manager who can counter Jose.
Spurs three spring attacks from open play looked liked Jose’s tactics worked, but the constant progression from possession showed Klopp’s tactics were still working as well.
Going back to the UCL final, I don’t know why Moura doesn’t start more often as he has been strong Vs LFC (31.03.19). Outside looking in, I feel Son is the best attacker at Spurs now.
If Spurs wanted to win trophies in the long run they should have stuck with Pochettino, but if they want trophies right now they need Jose for his experience and win-by-margins mentality.
Unfortunately, with Jose there is discord. The fans will want the title, but I feel Jose will go for: Europa League + League Cup + top four in EPL. There is a title-challenging squad there, but Jose will set his “winners” stall out elsewhere first.
Regardless of which fan thought which team dominated it’s the best match for a while and not a “zombie” game most other Prem teams have turned out in these pandemic conditions.
All the best Spurs fans, see you in the New Year!
#YNWA
I suspect losing 7-2 to Aston Villa is more “Spursy” Or maybe winning 6-1 at Old Trafford is more “Spursy” Who knows these days.
The last two results have unfortunately made anything other than a win at home to Leicester a mini crisis – that’s just the way it is.
Palace needed to be a win to avoid that scenario.
Just a set play, sh’t happens to all teams in that regard – I don’t think it was particularly ‘spursy’
Unbeaten in 65 consecutive home games and we hung in there and as you suggest, the 2nd half was down to luck – I think the three results win/lose/draw were the throw of a dice at that stage.
That’s as good as anyone’s managed at Anfield those last 65 games…because I don’t see any winners there. We could have won and it wouldn;t have been a major freak result based on the 2nd half.
1st half…we got taught a football lesson but rode it out…just.
Not the End of the world… still in with a shout on many competitions… but was a bit of ‘Spursy’ showing through again? A bit of nerves when it was a 6 pointer at the top? Maybe.
That’s despite comments like “outplayed” and “outpassed”.
The Daily Telegraph’s match report includes player ratings for the 22 starters.
Liverpool’s total is 74, and Spurs’ total is………74!
Agree 100%.
Mourinho is in the results business, this is going to hurt him as much as it hurt us and hopefully the players too. Bounce back quick cos Leicester are no mugs and we need all 3 points from the rest of our December games now to have any chance of ending the month top of the tree.