Liverpool vs. Tottenham Hotspur: Match Report from Inside Anfield

Living in Spain, I get fewer chances to make it over to Anfield to watch my team in action than I used to, but since my flatmate is a Spurs supporter we decided we'd make the effort to go over to the game and watch together.

Spurs were coming into the game after a terrible start to the season—in the relegation zone, but having just qualified for the group stages of the UEFA Cup and in the previous league game coming from 1-4 down to Aston Villa to draw 4-4, while Liverpool had just been beaten 1-0 at home to Marseille in the Champions League—with probably the worst display I had seen from them in several years.

The team news for Liverpool was more or less as expected—Voronin got the nod to partner Torres up front, and Riise came in at left midfield with Pennant on the right. Spurs went with Tainio on the right of midfield and Bale on the left, with the usual front two of Berbatov and Keane. 

Liverpool started brightly, and although some of the passing was sloppy, they seemed to be trying to take the game to Tottenham from the start—with a couple of early half chances being blocked or cleared.

In all honesty, in the first half it seemed as though Tottenham had possession of the ball for longer, but created very little with it—whereas Liverpool looked very dangerous every time they attacked (though the opening fifteen minutes were scrappy and littered with players giving possession away cheaply, especially the Tottenham midfield.)

After little more than a quarter of an hour, Gerrard turned Jenas and was pulled back by him, the Red number 8 winning a free kick off his White counterpart. He took the free kick himself—and although it took a slight deflection of Jenas on its way through, Robinson in the Spurs goal should really have dealt with it better. Instead, it became the latest in a recent spate of mistakes by the Spurs and England keeper—and he could only palm it into the path of the onrushing Andriy Voronin, who put it away with no trouble for his fourth goal for Liverpool.

At that point the confidence seemed to flow back into the home team, and they started to use the ball a bit better and attack with more conviction; Pennant beat Lee down the right for the first time in the game, and sent over a dangerous cross, while Torres weaved his way across the box and sent a right footed effort just wide of Robinson's post. 

From an almost identical position to the first, Gerrard beat Robinson with another great free kick—but it crashed against the outside of the post and rebounded to safety.

At this point it simply seemed to be a matter of when—not if—Liverpool would score their second.

It should have come before half time; Torres did well against Kaboul, and laid it into the path of Voronin—but instead of shooting himself, he tried to lay it into the path of Gerrard. Gerrard's first touch was slightly heavy—and then the chance was gone, Dawson doing well to block the shot.

In a 3-on-2 situation, Liverpool should really have been 2 goals up and looking at a comfortable win.

Spurs were all over the place at this point; Tainio had been annonymous, and Keane and Berbatov were mostly feeding off of scraps, with Carragher and Hyypia winning every high ball forward at the back for Liverpool, and Bale having little luck against Finnan (though he did get close in the opening minutes with a free kick that seemed to deflect wide off the wall, in what turned out to be the first of a series of errors, giving a goal kick.)

Out of thin air, Spurs equalised. Liverpool should have heeded the warning, as a long ball over the top saw Berbatov nip between two defenders and place the ball past Reina in the Reds' goal. However Carragher was back on the line on that occassion to clear the danger before it could roll in.

But when Berbatov managed to flick a header on another lofted pass, Keane was quicker to get between Finnan and Carragher, and prod the ball past Reina into the corner. Only a minute before half time, Spurs changed the course of the game. 

It was the first league goal of the season Liverpool had conceded which wasn't a penalty. That said, the goal was certainly preventable, and a disappointing one to let in—and up until that point Liverpool had looked pretty much in control of the game.

Whatever was said at half time in the Liverpool changing room was pretty much out the window within a minute of the restart, as another flicked header by Berbatov resulted in the same outcome. Keane got to the ball first, ahead of goalkeeper and defender, and with a great finish lifted the ball in off the crossbar to put Spurs in front.

The travelling fans—my mate sitting next to me, punching my arm included—could hardly have expected such a turnaround from half an hour previously. Suddenly ,Tottenham were the ones running the game, rather than giving Liverpool time to settle on the ball and keeping possession when they had it.

Jenas, previously kept quiet by Mascherano, began to pull the strings a bit more in the centre of the park, assissted by Zokora. Riise was now the one giving the ball away for Liverpool at every opportunity, twice miscontrolling the ball as it rolled harmlessly to him and not completing the easiest of passes. On two occassions, a one-on-one with Reina looked on the cards for Tottenham attackers, who were both times thwarted by the excellent work rate and teamwork of striker Voronin, who tracked back and made last ditch challenges inside his area when the Liverpool midfield had allowed first Jenas, and then Bale, to run through unchecked.

A further poor decision from the referee denied Spurs a chance at goal—rushing from his area, Reina was "impeded" by a grounded Gareth Bale. Meanwhile, Zokora had the ball—and although two defenders were back for Liverpool, there was certainly no chance of the Reds' keeper catching Zokora before he got his shot away.

Liverpool's number 25 fared better however when rushing out to stop Berbatov, chasing him out of his area and eventually making a good tackle to put the ball out for a throw in.

Benítez threw on Babel, Kuyt, Benayoun for Arbeloa, Pennant and Voronin, while Jol switched Malbranque for Tainio—but even with the added attackers on for the home side, the Reds were struggling to break down a newly resolute Spurs who sensed that their season's fortune was about to change.

Benayoun made a couple of twisting runs to create openings, but Dawson and Kaboul were up to the task. Kaboul, to his credit, had kept Torres quiet for almost the entire game, only allowing him to escape once or twice in the first half.

Finnan had a left footed shot from 20 yards as Liverpool pressed for the equaliser—which again Robinson let squirm out of his grasp. He had Dawson to thank, as he cleared the ball out the six yard box with Torres closing in rapidly.

Next to try his luck from distance was Javier Mascherano, cutting onto his right foot and sending a crashing effort just wide with Robinson flying to his left. Babel also had an effort but it was way off target and from a difficult position when there were others better placed. As Spurs looked to counter attack, Berbatov showed his class, attaking down a long high ball with some excellent control on the flank without breaking stride. The attack, however, petered out.

Finally, deep into stoppage time, Finnan did what Riise had not done once since he switched to left back and overlapped his midfielder down the right: received the ball and cut back onto his left foot, and sent a beautiful cross over towards the back post.

Torres had finally escaped the attentions of Kaboul, and he rose highest above Chimbonda and sent a firm header down into the bottom corner past Paul Robinson, for his 7th goal in 12 appearances and rescuing an injury time point for Liverpool.

This was a game Liverpool should have won, and would have won had they taken their chances in the first half—but Spurs showed their quality after their goals and probably deserved all three points in the end. However a draw was the end result, lifting Spurs out the relegation zone and keeping Liverpool in the top 4, and maintaining their unbeaten start to the league season.

Man of the match for me was Andriy Voronin. His work rate was brilliant, and he started a lot of Liverpool's moves by dropping deeper into midfield to pick up the ball. The goal was certainly deserved. He could have had another had he shot instead of passing in the first half—but if the rest of the Red's team had worked as hard as him (and they will have to get anything out of the derby in the next fixture) it would have gone a long way towards overturning our poor performances of late.

So in the end a draw, and if it wasn't the result I was hoping for...at least the rest of the weekend didn't have to be spent in the presence of a sulking Spurs fan.