Football News: Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool - A Quick-ish Liverpool Perspective

Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool

Somehow I have to write a review of that game that is not just a long winded rant full of cursing! One that does not make any kind of accusations against a VAR team that worked that match just after returning from the UAE, where they were working for the UAE league. A league run by and paid for by the UAE's ruling family. The family that just happens to be the owners of Manchester City. So there is a VAR team for a match involving one of Man City's biggest rivals for the title, that were employed doing a side job for Man City's owners just a couple of days ago. I am sure there is no conflict of interest there though. And, luckily there were no controversial incidents involving VAR during the game or people might actually be questioning their integrity...

Anyway, we know there can have been no attempt to influence the result via VAR as the PGMOL put such a strong, experienced and confident man in the middle. If you were intent on using VAR in that way, you would put someone lacking experience and confidence, say a man that was only recently back from a suspension after failing to spot a blatant foul in the box, that would want to lean on VAR for guidance to ensure he made no more mistakes. Especially if he happened to be in his first season with the Premier League as a referee. That would be the ideal candidate to use.

Now, after listening to the audio and reading the transcript I have ripped up the rest of this part and had to start again. I was intending to just move on to talking about the game itself, though with a side mention for some of the major incidents, however I now have to talk about that audio. I am left with more questions over Darren England and Dan Cook and their actions in the VAR room. They clearly claim that Diaz is offside, even though the pictures tell them the complete opposite. It is only when challenged by the replay operator that England reacts. At that point he goes into what can only be described as a blind panic and refuses to take action. That leaves the question of whether he is panicking because he has been caught out cheating or caught napping? Either way, a man that reacts like that when put under pressure is not suitable to be a referee. Not only should (must?) he be immediately removed from the roster of PGMOL officials, but also questions must be asked of their whole selection and training process. Every single decision they make on the pitch is made under huge pressure, something which England is patently unable to handle. How was that not noticed before? The selection process should wheedle out those that cannot handle the pressure. Those that it misses should be trained to handle it. Something must be going wrong as this is not the first referee to flop under pressure in the VAR room. We also have Mike Dean openly admitting he could not handle it and retiring.

But then none of this should come as a surprise when the standard of officials has been falling for years and the job of taking charge was given to one of the worst referees of recent years, Howard Webb. And that takes some doing to be a standout at being bad at your job when every single person you are being compared to is, at best, incompetent. That is if it truly is incompetence. With the money in the game right now, it is hard to believe that every single person involved in the English game is clean of the taint of corruption. Match fixing, spot fixing, favouring certain teams, those are going on all around the world, why is it we are expected to believe that the English game is free of the taint when it is also the place where the most money is available to tempt people? Though, to be honest, it does not even matter whether it is incompetence or cheating, because the effect is the same, it falsely alters the result of a match. No longer are we watching two teams, we now have a third team affecting the result in a massive way.

It is not even just the offside that it was influencing. The on-pitch review which resulted in Jones' red card was blatantly engineered by VAR with their choice of image and angle of replay they showed. Instead of Hooper stepping up to a monitor with a neutral image, he got there to see the worst possible moment of the challenge. Then they followed that up with repeated slow-motion replays of the very worst angle to watch it from. One which failed to show that Jones had actually got the ball, only for his foot to then roll over it onto the ankle of the Spurs' player. Hooper might still have felt that it should be red after viewing all the angles and not being immediately presented with the worst possible shot when he approached the screen, but we will never know. What we do know is that VAR made sure that he would show a red with their choice of replay and the initial picture. That is another thing that needs to be looked at. Why were they not giving Hooper every possible angle and letting him make his own mind up? That is, after all, meant to be their role.

As well as that, what happened to correcting 'clear and obvious errors'? By that I am referring to the moment when Gomez was wiped out in the box by a Spurs defender. The Spurs player never touched the ball, but the referee gave a corner. Now that is a clear and obvious error in anyone's books surely? If he had given a goal kick, fair enough that he has spotted the Spurs player failed to get the ball but he does not feel it was enough to warrant a penalty. But a goal kick? Well that must be an error as the last person to kick the ball was, very clearly, Joe Gomez. So Hooper should have been sent to the screen to decide whether it was a penalty or a goal kick. Personally I felt it was a very certain penalty, but the referee might have disagreed. Again that is something we will never know, what we do know is that the wrong decision was made.

I could go on, picking apart all the decisions made, which do leave you feeling that this set of officials were very favourable towards Spurs on the day, which makes the idea of it just being incompetence seem less likely. The booking of Salah, for example, stemmed from a free kick being given against him which was never a foul. There were a couple of occasions when Liverpool broke on Spurs and the game was called back for a free kick to Liverpool, when the advantage is always played these days. The first booking of Jota where he never made contact, Robertson being booked when he was clearly the victim of two fouls in succession. There are just so many bad decisions in that game that it became almost laughable.

Which is such a shame because it overshadowed a monumental performance from the Liverpool team, well, with one exception. As a Liverpool fan, if you do not feel proud of the team after that performance then you never will. I know this is not yet a Spurs team ready to challenge for the title, but it is a very good and improving Spurs team that they were able to take on with 10 men for most of the game and just 9 men for well over 20 minutes at the end. Not just did they take them on, but they very nearly beat them, only losing to a huge slice of bad luck from a very tired defender right at the death. They gave the feeling that there is the right spirit and desire there to take on anyone and challenge for every trophy once more. This is a team that can make the fans believe once more.

Spurs were incredibly disappointing, about the best thing they did was their over-the-top celebrations after the final whistle, bringing their kids on to the pitch and parading around like they had just won a trophy. That really shows the Spurs' mentality that has kept them from being anything but 'Spursy' for years. Yes, Postecoglou has improved them, but he has a long way to go on this evidence as they were struggling badly against 9 men and needed an own goal and a wrongly disallowed goal to get the win. The first job on his hands is to change the losers mentality that still clearly pervades the club, with this not being seen as just another three points. Can he makes Spurs less like Spurs? I think he will, as he does not strike me as the kind to settle for mediocrity. They look miles away from anything but a battle for a top 4 place, which will not be easy this season. Reaching that top four

Quick notes on the players:

Alisson - simply the best. Possibly even the G.O.A.T. Made two excellent saves and made it all look so easy. He is just an all-time great and seems to be getting better as well. One hell of right hook too at the end when he punched the ball away! What most showed what a good team player he is was his reaction straight after that, when he was straight over to Matip to console him for scoring the own goal. There was no feeling sorry for himself at having conceded a winner so late, it was just concern for his teammate.

Gomez - had a really good game and was unlucky to get taken off as Klopp wanted to get Alexander-Arnold on to provide delivery from the right. He is really growing into the season as it goes on, though he still does not look completely comfortable when inverted into the centre.

Matip - such bad luck for the own goal as he played really well and did not deserve to end up being the one to cost the team like that. He does need to release the ball quicker when he makes his forward runs, too often he ends up losing the ball after taking a touch or two too many. Personally I would like to see, when the line up is like this, him being the one of the back four to step up into the midfield, rather than having Gomez invert. Gomez has more pace and so can provide the cover very easily and Matip is better on the ball.

Van Dijk - had an excellent game and is really starting to look like the pre-injury van Dijk now. There is not much more of a compliment you can give than to say he is returning to that level.

Robertson - another who gave an excellent performance. He must have covered a huge distance as he got forward as often as possible, even late in the game. Though I still have no idea how the referee decided that him being assaulted by first one Tottenham defender and then another was a reason to book him.

Szoboszlai - he is just immense. I knew the guy was good, Ed77 had spent months telling me that, but he is turning out to be incredibly good. Great even. There just seems no weakness in his game. I just wonder how long until we are all told he is just a flash in the pan, then a one-season wonder like we were told about Salah all those years ago? If he carries on as he is, he might just rival the Egyptian king as the best player of the Klopp era.

Mac Allister - had a much improved game in there in midfield. Still not looking like his perfect role, but he is starting to look like he is growing into it. His best work does tend to come when he moves forward though.

Jones - he had started off really well but then was shown a red in the 26th minute. Bit difficult to rate his performance due to that! Was it a harsh red? Yes, but I would have understood and accepted it being given, if it was not for the way VAR dealt with it. That is the bit that leaves a nasty taste in the mouth, though I do understand why it was not overturned, even though I disagree with the decision.

Diaz - scored a good goal, as we all know, played a full part in an excellent team performance before the second sending off required a complete reshuffle of the team.

Gakpo - was looking good and playing well. Sadly he was injured just before scoring and had to go off at half-time. That was probably the worst thing that could have happened to the team to be honest, as he was playing well and his replacement let everyone down.

Salah - another who played really well, he was always a danger requiring making it impossible for Spurs to throw more bodies forward while Liverpool had ten men. Unfortunately he had to be sacrificed when LFC went down to nine. That out ball was badly missed afterwards.

Jota - came on at half time in place of the injured Gakpo. Sent off for a second yellow in the 69th minute. All he achieved was to repeatedly lose the ball before getting himself stupidly sent off. While he never made contact in either challenge, throwing yourself in like that just after getting a yellow was idiotic. He does seem to be playing like an unhappy, grumpy and miserable get at the moment. I am not sure why, but hopefully it is just my mistaken perception or unhappiness at his own performances and the amount of times he gifts the ball to the opposition. It was a mistake to bring him on at half-time, with the team needing to hold onto the ball, but I can understand why Nunez was overlooked, even though I think his pace and link up play would have helped immensely. Though the reasoning I would have given for choosing Jota over Nunez would have been my fear that Nunez might have got himself sent off by doing something stupid. As it turned out, Jota did that anyway.

Konate - replaced Diaz in the 73rd minute. He was solid in defence and helped shore things up in difficult circumstances.

Alexander-Arnold - took Gomez's spot in the 73rd minute. Looked way off the pace and woefully unfit. Struggled to run more than a couple of yards, but did do some good stuff when he got on the ball.

Endo - was brought on for Salah in the 73rd minute. He did what he could under the circumstances, but it was not easy. He did free up Mac Allister a bit to play on the front foot.

Gravenberch - made his appearance in the 80th minute in the stead of Mac Allister. It is still too early to really judge him, and these kind of appearances are not really suited to his skillset, though he did not let anyone down in the time he was on the pitch.

Written by Tris Burke October 04 2023 01:38:45