Football News: Spurs v Liverpool Match Review - A Liverpool Perspective

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Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool

First off, let's not take anything away from Spurs, they were excellent and made sure that Liverpool's deficiencies were fully exposed and that they profited from them. Against a team not playing as well as Spurs did, the defensive errors do not happen, as the defence is not under as much pressure. On the flip side, Liverpool did nothing to expose their weaknesses, with Aurier at left back being a liability right now and Sanchez being a real weak link in the backline who will cost them goals during the season. Even with those two weaknesses, they are a better team right now, further down the line in their building process, more settled and in a great place.

All four goals given away were just that, given away. If you put Spurs backline in the same position, those goals do not happen 99 times out of 100. The first one is the worst as it set the tone for the game and gave them a lead to defend and build from. They no longer needed to open up, they could just sit and hit on the counter, which is something LFC struggles against. Liverpool then end up overcommitting as they chase a way back into the game and concede more. Criminal from the team as a whole.

This should never have happened because Mignolet and Lovren should never have been near the team, they have proven themselves time and time again to be an accident waiting to happen. It is time for Klopp to do what he is paid for: make the big decisions. Though that is not going to fix the invisible midfield when it comes to defending, at least it gives him a platform to build from. Unless something changes, it will cost him his job, as results like this have to be aberrations and cannot be accepted as the norm, which they will be if Mignolet and Lovren continue to play.

Klopp - got the selection and tactics wrong at the start, tried to make some changes in the first half, which did not really work, but at least he tried something. However, his continual messing around with goalkeepers is not helping. Just pick one and stick with him, cup, league and Europe. Just one keeper for all. That is the most vital position of all, it can breed confidence like Lloris, De Gea and now Ederson are doing or it can cause panic like Mignolet and Hart. Klopp has to be decisive now and stop with the softly softly crap. Yes there will be people upset and those who disagree with the decision, but the important thing is to make the right one for LFC.

That is to get rid of Mignolet, if we have to pay someone to take him, do so, but you cannot continue to pick a player that every man and his dog, including Mignolet, knows you do not want. It breeds uncertainty. Choose your man and back him, give him your full support. Until that is done there will always be a problem defensively. The keeper should be the one organising and running the defence, if you have the wrong one there, then the whole thing falls apart.

Mignolet - truly awful, again. At fault on all four goals. Not the sole fault, but still at fault. There is no part of his game up to the level expected. His shot stopping is appalling, he flaps at crosses, he cannot organise a defence, his decision making is dreadful, his distribution is terrible, he has no command over his box. The only thing he does well is save penalties. That is his one quality. He really should not be playing in the top flight of a top 5 professional league. I am sick of saying it, but this has to be his last appearance in a Liverpool shirt.

What on earth he thought he was doing on the first goal I will never know. It was clear that Matip was coming over to reach Kane, so just concentrate on preparing for a shot to come in. No point dissecting the rest, it is the same old failings of flaps, not even attempting to flap at an easy take and reacting with all the speed of a 95 year old geriatric on copious quantities of valium.

Gomez - did ok. Not his best game but far from a bad game, there were good points to take from it. He coped well with being moved to the centre and took it all in his stride. However he does need to develop more of a defensive mindset. Why is it Firmino is able to react to get back on the line but he is not able to?

Matip - Lovren and Mignolet will get all the stick, with good reason, but he should not escape criticism too. Once again he was found wanting, once again he lacked effort chasing back. On the first goal he should have reacted to Mignolet's stupidity by sprinting onto the goal line. I am not sure the word sprint is in his vocabulary to be honest. The lad is a hopeless defender. He takes no responsibility, makes poor decisions and his positioning is awful. Matip is as much of the problem at the back as anyone.

The header straight to a player in the centre of the box says everything about him as a defender. Matip has time and space to direct his header and he chooses to head it in the direction of the goal, rather than back the way it came or behind and safety. There is just no defensive nous about the lad at all.

Lovren - I have no words. What was that? I mean really, what was it? I have seen players accused of match fixing for less than that! Not that I am suggesting that was the issue at all, as I do not believe it was in any way shape or form anything to do with that. Lovren can defend, we have all seen him play much better than that in the past, but he is just so inconsistent. Wildly inconsistent. We would be better off with a worse centre half who is reliable, than this.

How did he end up wrong side of Kane for the first goal? Was he not looking to see where his team mates where positioned? There was no awareness there of the situation. Then that second goal, how could he possibly misjudge it so badly? It was simple, under no pressure, no one challenging him, just a free header and he completely missed the ball by a large margin. Hopeless. Best thing he did was going off. We all have bad days, but he has more than he does good days, sadly.
He clearly needs some kind of change to happen, in his head, as he is unfocused on football. Maybe he just needs a holiday or a change of scenery I have no idea, but he is struggling badly.

Moreno - does what he is asked to do and is doing it well. Whatever my feelings on that subject are, and my belief that you need midfield cover to play attacking wingbacks, it cannot be denied that he is having a decent season in the role he has been asked to perform. He needs to improve his delivery from wide areas, though he needs to also be given better balls to deliver from. A number of passes he was given were overhit and left him stretching just to reach them and put them across. Just getting a ball into the box was as good as could be expected in those positions. Overall, he had a decent game, though there is still a lot of room for improvement.

Can - was having a poor game in midfield, then got shunted over to right back, where he was ok. His versatility is ruining his Liverpool career. Every game his role is changed and he is not able to settle into a position and role in the team. No wonder he never signed a new contract, it is not a good situation for him to be in. He played well midweek so why change things? Leave him there and let him play.

Henderson - Spurs had too many players floating around him, leaving him overrun. Alli, Eriksen etc are all operating there and no one helped him. He did play the ball through for the Liverpool goal though.

Milner - sad to say, but Milner is just not up to the job of playing in central midfield against a quality team. He runs here, there and everywhere except for where he is needed 90% of the time. Defensively he is as useful as a chocolate tea pot, offensively his crossing and set pieces are terrible. It is also frustrasting to watch him make runs out wide into an area there is already an overload on. All he then succeeds in doing is confuse matters and block the space someone else could have used to run into. Someone who could actually achieve something when they got there.

Moved to right back late on when Grujic came on, but the game was pretty much done by that point. Never really got to see if he had anything to offer there.

Salah - the only real threat in the team, he was once again causing havoc with his pace and movement. He fully deserved his goal.

Firmino - not his best day, he was well shepherded by the Spurs' defence.

Coutinho - he was weak on the ball and tried to do everything himself. I lost count of the number of times he lost the ball. Not so much an issue in the attacking third, but he was doing it in the defensive third too, trying to dribble around players only to lose the ball looking for a free kick. Coutinho was not helped by the midfield around him providing him with options, but he has to stop looking to run with the ball every time he gets it. If he varies it then it creates uncertainty in the opposition, creating himself more time and space.

Subs:

Oxlade-Chamberlain - Klopp is making his subs earlier and earlier it seems! Ox was brought on in the 31st minute to replace Lovren. Had a few good runs and caused them issues, certainly had the beating of Trippier. Never saw enough of the ball to really create anything though.

Sturridge - replaced Firmino in the 77th minute and offered nothing. A few nice touches but barely got the ball and never did enough to put their defence under pressure.

Grujic - arrived in the 83rd minute in place of Can. The game had petered out by then and he was unable to show anything of note.

Written by Tris Burke October 23 2017 11:39:31