Topic: Round Table Liverpool 0-0 Tottenham Hotspur

[Hinesy]

Be fair 'Arry, you must have bunged us a few quid of tax free lovelies to stop us from doing that basic of footballing skills, crossing the ball...

0-0. Is that progress from our last game with them?

Was the ref right to book both Luis and Martin for high tackles.

Should Carroll be told to watch his repeated dissenting 'Fuck off's at the refs?

Should we have won or would 1-1 be a fair result given Bale's miss.

Is Scott Parker knackered from appearing in Downton Abbey's Cigarette Card Player's of the 1940's?

Does Luis get as much blame as Andy for his late header straight at the keeper?

Kelly had a great game, Bellamy less so this week. Reina was impressive, more than usual and Carroll remains an improving threat for me. But without proper and dangerous crosses, he's going to carry on looking not the player we were supposed to have bought....


Thoughts?

[BabuYagu]

Will probably need to rewatch than game before giving a more balanced opinion on what I saw.

Our crossing is poor at times. I wonder if Kelly needs targetted training for his attacking play? Enrique could join him perhaps. They both get into the right places and then offer nothing of value. In a way I miss Finnan´s crossing ability with either foot. We just don´t seen to have a full back who can cross the ball. Johnson is hit and miss with his right but seems to prefer coming inside instead of going outside.

Spearing had his worst game in I don´t know how long. Again I probably need to watch this back as I´m sure he did the defensive side of the game well but I lost count of how many times he passed it straight to a Spurs player. And it wasn´t that a Spurs player cleverly read his intentions.... he just passed it to the Spurs player. Not really sure what is up there, he´s not jaded from being overplayed, I doubt nerves got to him. Was strange though, happened so often though and in dangerous places too. What a shot though, unlucky I´m not praising his goal instead here.

Carroll does seem to be getting more involved every game. Almost as if he finally understands what he can offer to our system of play. I would LOVE IT if he stopped appealing before the ref has given something. Happened a few times tonight where he thinks he is fouled and stops to appeal while the ball is being fired into the box. Fuck that. Get in the box, try to score. Refs don´t like you. Get over it. That said must be frustrating as fuck getting fouled as much as him and being expected to just take it because you are built better than Lionel Messi. Oh yeah, the dissent is annoying too. We all think Rooney is a twat for his constant mouthing off at refs and I would prefer Carroll didn´t go the same way. Or is that how you get decisions your way? Pressure the refs. Let them know they owe you one for fucking up the previous?

Oh and lastly thank God for Pepe Reina. That was impressive stuff on that 1on1. I remember Rafa talking about Goalkeepers in Britain and how they don´t appear to be coached on how to avoid being nutmegged in 1 on 1 situations. So maybe thank you Xavi Valero?

The yellow cards.... At the time they happen my instinct is "fucking never a card that".... so will need to watch it again. What is interesting is Suarez was booked for literally the first "wrong". Is that a sign of what is to come? Will he be singled out? Also Spurs only had 2 yellows for twice as many fouls as us. Including several instances where they blatently blocked off a runner after the ball was player. Yeah, we got the advantage.... except for the disadvantage of that runner not appearing in the box and therefore we only had 1 body in there instead of 2. Counted 4 or 5 of those today and they dont even count in the foul count. Gotta start clamping down on that. Stepping in front of someone when you are getting the ball played around you should be a yellow in the same way shirt pulling is.

[Ada069]

Final third once again poor.

We had the majority of control of the ball. Spurs probably had the best chance of the game though.

Our defence was a bit tidy but Johnson is really weak if his forced to cut inside and cross.

Speaking of crossing, It was shite.

Carroll once again gets alot of the ball and lays it off but doesn't get many people running off him

Kuyt screwed up quite a bit, misplacing passes and slowing down the game too much instead of trying to be a bit risky.

Spearing did well

Adam and Gerrard played together quite nicely.

Suarez probably shoulden't play vs United. I'm more worried that the idiotic chants ect might put him off and he will do something stupid with the frustration. (he did it with fullham as well) and get him banned for longer but this opinion might just be me.


Edit:
Any chance of us signing the cat?

[rafa4eva]

Strange game to be honest, neither team did enough to test the keepers...well apart from the bale chance and Suarez header?

Kyut had some good movement but far more moments when he couldn't control the ball... Good to see gerrard playing in the opponents half but wasn't as effective as I'd hoped... I disagree with posters who thought spurs were for the taking... They looked stretched at times but bale is still a stand out player, the rest of the spurs team did alright... Parker is a right flid and that hairstyle is getting worse... But I can't say we deserved to take anything from that.... Like i said.. It was a strange game... Adam and caroll are still not doing enough IMO ...

But more importantly, seeing Suarez back was brilliant, he's obviously not an angel but the kick at Parker, was unfortuante as I don't think he meant it but he chanced it at parkers expense  .... Having him as one of the front 3 will help and then onto my man skirtel, I laughed hard when he helped bale off the pitch.. He's close if not bettering his previous best "you will not pass gandalf style" performances IMO... With a few dodgy moments accepted in general, him and agger just work or keep on working ... Long may that last....

Onto the next one and I'm not thinking of 4th .. Has to be the aim so let's take each game as it comes now and see where we end up... Accepting its looking unlikely but f it.... It helps when I dont think of what we paid for some players...

[John C]

I get the impression that a lot of people forgot how big a game that was for us. Potentially Spurs could have come and won 2-1 and put us in our place in terms of our estimation of where we place ourselves as a club – they certainly have the ability. But they didn’t and we didn’t permit them. They are a very competent team that under-performed on the night, other posters preferred to say they were shite but that’s unfair on the effort our lads put in for which they deserve credit.

OK, Spurs didn’t trouble Reina, neither were we torn apart by there supposed pacey attacking style, but they were tenacious and battled for every ball. But likewise we were solid and more than matched them. We played as a unit albeit we lacked a penetrable element to our machine, if only 1 or 2 of those cogs could be replaced with top quality components I think we’d press our way up the table. A continuingly more well oiled Adam would become a wider part of the finished item.

Among a number of good performances Johnson was outstanding for me. He won everything at his feet and in the air – is it his ability or is LB his best position? What is amusing is recalling the furore and hysteria over the sale of Insua when many of us stated that if necessary Johnson was a better option anyway. Brilliant Glen.
Having been convinced that SG’s career was as good as over late last year it was wonderful to see him stretch for balls and striding through the midfield inhibited.
Kelly has more than established himself as an excellent RB and its great to see him able to walk off a pitch proud that he has never let us down when called upon.

Speaking of well oiled, Carroll worked as hard as I’ve ever seen him in a red shirt, more fruition came from his flick-on’s than usual. Indeed those that didn’t result in an attack were mainly because the others weren’t anticipating them and so didn’t do his efforts justice. He’s much improved and I’m delighted. However the unavoidable giraffe in the room is his lack of goals and the club are going to have to consider whether its just an unfortunate season for him and there is a strong likelihood that his finishing will improve next year or make contingencies to ensure we are better placed to increase our conversion rate.

I’ve never been Dirk’s biggest admirer but its becoming sad seeing him trying to contribute only to be inevitably and welcomingly hooked.
Unsurprisingly the ref made a few errors, the talking point shouldn’t have been about how “Scottie”  *fucking cringe* Parker got kicked, but why he was even on the pitch to get kicked. Having already been booked he made a cynical challenge for which the ref waved play-on then failed to call him back for retribution at the next dead ball.

Among all of our home draws this season, while Swansea was the most surprising, this will be one of the more welcome. The effort and commitment was there so satisfaction rather than disappointment should prevail.

I really enjoyed the game – well done our lads.

[DanA]

Unfortunately we were matched at every level. Nobody played badly but unfortunately nobody stood out. Carroll was solid but unfortunately Dawson & King did a really good job on. The one thing I will say is he's got to stop this appealing for free kicks while the ball is still there to be won. At one stage Carroll was blocked by Parker just before Kelly puts in a cross and he turn to appeal to the ref. That cross would have landed on his toes in space, instead it makes Kelly look like he's crossing to nobody.

Walker played well on the right and Parker did a good job covering for him when he was beaten. It'd didn't help that we had two right footed players on the left for most of the game who were constantly cutting inside.

Spearing, Gerrard & Adam were all solid but not much more. A great pass by Gerrard to put Carroll through, a cracking free kick by Adam when Kuyt was offside and a good defensive play from Spearing but it was far from any of there best performances.

Kelly did a tremendous job shutting down Bale but a little wasteful crossing. Johnson defensively and solid in attack but cut inside too much a dropped the ball not tracking Bale.

Kuyt did a good job harrassing and support Kelly but didn't provide a lot of threat while Bellamy was a lot quiter today well held by Walker.

I think the ref generally got it right. Another ref might have given Suarez or Skrtel a red so to get away with a yellow was perhaps a little fortunate but at the same time I think they were the right result.

[royhendo]

I really enjoyed the game. We lacked the final wee bit of precision at times but some of our football was great I thought, and that they sat deep said a lot about our level I'd argue. It was surprising to see some of our more leaden footed performers look sharper, too. Carroll, obviously, but Adam was pressing and all sorts. We deserved the win on balance I'd say, but a draw's no disgrace - they are a side choc full of quality right now, and we're that wee bit short of imposing ourselves at will.

Enjoyed it though, but Saturday is massive.

[Shanks1965]

Really enjoyable 0-0 draw, really enjoyable. Created more than enough chances to win the game but once again failed to convert them into goals. Thought we played really well throughout and especially in the 2nd half when we we easily the better side. Skyrtel and Johnson both had good games and even Andy put himself about more than usual and dare I say did some good stuff. Still needs a bit more composure in front of goal but that will come with goals and confidence.... once he gets both back.

[steveeastend]

It was nice watching this game of football and our performance overall was quite good, just like in the majority of our games so far when the players put in 100% workrate.

We still defend very good, we still compete with the best if the players work their asses off. In terms of the quality of football, unfortunately, still there hasn´t changed a lot though. Quality and all that, especially in the final third which is the reason why we don´t score.

I think that with Gerrard, Kuyt and Bellamy playing behind Carroll there was some nice passing football to be seen and I would love to see this with Suarez up front. It makes you realize that there has to be something wrong in our attacking play when the old boys like Kuyt and Bellamy are still ahead and I don´t share the optimism of Kenny that the goals will come sooner or later. It´s a matter of quality, not patience IMO.

Having said that I was very happy to see Adam and Spearing doing such a great job in holding midfield together. I wrote in this other thread that I think that this is the best position for Adam. He adopted to the simply pass, worked on his tackling and his physical strength gives him all what´s necessary to control the center together with Spearing who does his part of the job by closing down the gaps for Adam. They both cover well for Lucas and I think it´s a positive that we finally found a couple of players who can do the job infront of our excellent center backs. I prefer Adam doing the "delivery/holding job" for our attacking player rather then him going forward as he pretty easily falls into some kick and rush style but I know a lot will disagree here.

Oh, and there was some nice football to be seen from Johnson and Bellamy on the left. Exactly the kind of football I would have expected from our signings Enrique and Downing. Crossing is overrated, intelligent passing everything.

[harleydanger]

You can tell Andy's been in the England squad by the way he tells the ref's to fuck off.

[BigAl24]

Thought it was a good game, with us probably slightly more deserving of the win but they definitely had the best chance. Thought the defence (Both defences actually) were solid, but in midfield and in attack, we don't seem to have many players running beyond the ball & giving an option, I think this is what we need to work on as we just seem so static at times, and build up incredibly slowly, it gives teams the chances to get back in numbers. And the fact that we're not really moving a lot off the ball upfront, is to me why we're drawing so many at home and finding it difficult to break down defences.

[Cpt_Reina]

Was extremely surprised at the post match reaction on here. I wasnt expecting people to be over the moon or anything but the widespread hysteria that met this draw was certainly strange. But then we know how much quieter it can be around here when things go well.

Spurs are a very good team, they're not 3rd by accident. And for the main part we were comfortably the better team. Yes we didnt score again, and yes it was hardly a vintage performance, but we did well against a top side and took a point from it.

The fact that after a game against this Spurs side could feel like 2 points dropped is more of an encouragement to me then it is a disappointment.

As for the lads on the pitch, I thought they did themselves proud in the main. Glen Johnson once again proved that the whole 'good going forward but cant defend' soundbite is a fallacy. And not just because he wasnt all that great going forward (understandable with him being on the left). He was a rock down that left hand side and nothing got past him. The one time a Spurs player did (thanks to a lucky bounce) Glen got back at him in good time and did enough to put him off his shot.

Its a big shame for Kelly that he's got Johnson in front of him in many ways. Because as good as Kelly is, and he is very good, Johnson is just on the next rung right now. Thankfully Kelly has plenty of time on his side, we're very lucky in that respect. We shouldnt have to worry about that RB slot for a long time to come.

The rest has pretty much been covered. Mentions should go to Carroll who continues to improve, Spearing was his usual dependable self albeit his usually astute and accurate passing deserted him on occasion and the entire defence who gave up nothing to the Spurs attack. Apart from the Bale chance, which was expertly dealt with by the baldy between the sticks.

Overall a solid performance against a dangerous opponent. Our form is good right now, and going in to Saturday's match we can be quietly confident about getting a result up the road. Onwards and upwards.

[Rohit]

Thought gerrard was running the show till the game wore on and he tired. He was pulling all the strings but when the ball got to dirk moves kept breaking down. We lacked something going forwards and for me it was the outlets of enrique and johnson who were either not playing or playing on the wrong side. Our passing was too pedestrian at times for me and we let spurs regroup behind the ball making it tough to break them down.

Defensively we were solid as ever and our two stalwarts in centre defense look like the business so far in agger and skrtel and glen was boss too. Another issue though for me is going forward neither bellamy or dirk came of the flanks to support carroll when we had the ball like they did against wolves second half so he was isolated.

Carroll put in a great shift and finally started showing the hunger and desire that has been missing from his game and he showed some nice touches but his movement in the penalty area is still a concern for me. He lacks the strikers instinct for me too see an oppurtunity and make the run for a chance at goal. It was only till suarez came on did we truely have a threat in behind and even with luis not his best he was influencing the tottenham defence just by playing off the shoulder.

I do think kenny got one thing wrong though, when suarez came on it looked like he went upfront with carroll and gerrard wide right. By doing this we gave parker no one to mark and thus allowing him sweep up infront the back four( he should have been sent off for his persistent fouling anyway). I would have liked gerrard to stay in the attacking role and asked suarez to come in off the flank thus overrunning parker with two players to mark.

[socrates the sophist]

I want to talk a little bit about the first five minutes of the game. In the first two minutes we looked to play the ball from feet to feet, with patient build-up. The only problem is there was not enough movement up-front (Kuyt and Carroll). Secondly once the ball got to Reina, Agger and Skrtel spread wide. However Reina asked Spearing to go deep and then played a long ball to Carroll, which the big man lost. Tottenham then managed to keep the ball for about 2.5 minutes, got a corner and a shot blocked. We only managed to win the ball back after Gerard played Carroll through for our first half chance. There are two things or lessons we learn from these opening 5 minutes:
1- We tend to be lazy in possession. Having Carroll in the team seems to make the players look for the easiest option, rather than working a little harder to create an opening.
2- Some would argue that looking for a more direct approach is a positive, that is a discussion for another topic. However for now, this argument cannot be made because our ball retention for a team that plays at home is not hungry enough. It is border line disastorous. No team should be allowed, at least in the opening 15 minutes, to manage to keep the ball from us for three consecutive minutes. This needs addressing and Kenny needs to work on a way to make Anfield smaller in defense.
 

[RedRush]

We managed to contain Spurs and the likes of Modric and Bale were not allowed to threaten. Defensively a huge credit must go to Dirk, Bellamy, Kelly and Johnson, and of course Agger and Skrtel and Reina for that save on a night he was relatively untroubled. Spearing did not have a good day, as he gave away the ball several times, and yet managed a powerful shot that came close. Stevie is getting closer to his best and hopefully that is from this Saturday onwards. Adam played better than his past few games, though I feel something is taken from his game when he is more defensive-minded, and I wish he'd stop those silly tackles. Carroll has improved lots, but I think our players are probably guilty of being surprised when he wins the balls in good areas, because often times nobody is there for the 2nd balls! They will be looking to book him come Saturday the first time he yells 'Fuck Off' at the ref so someone should probably whisper something in his ears.

Oh, and Suarez... hmmm, exciting as usual, though not back to his best yet. Headed direct to the keeper, which is poor by his lofty standards. Still feel Kuyt might have been a better partner for him upfront instead of Carroll because we certainly weren't putting in enough, if any, crosses.
 
As for Downing, I honestly can't remember any interesting play so I probably would have to watch the game again to see what he brought to our game when he came on.

Our buildup generally is too slow, and in almost every attack that we launched, Spurs had regained their team shape by the time the attack reached the final third. So it wasn't just Kuyt breaking down our attacks, as Bellamy was also foiled many times by Walker's superb anticipation. We need to move the ball faster. With Bale and Modric curtailed, I thought Scott Parker was the MOTM, because he was everywhere blocking off any attack that eventually got through. Walker had a very good game as well, as did Friedel. Kranjcar and Livermore were solid, while Adebayor was thankfully piss poor.

I felt we didn't put in the same effort we did against Man City and Man U in the Cups, and the effects from the Bolton game has probably worn off. Gotta be careful about slipping back to the same old patterns.

[fowlermagic]

Amused at the local papers here go on about how times have changed and Spurs did well to get a point from a game that they would have lost a year or two back. Basically game them a well done pat on the back ignoring the fact that this result did them no favours in the race for the title, we looked the better side by a stretch even to a point for 20 minutes the ball was only in our third of the pitch for 6% I think.

Great to see Suarez back and Carroll is looking a lot more like the player he was in Newcastle. Thought SG was subdued and even Bellamy was a little off so no surprise we did not have a lot of clear cut chances. If we can win at Utd take 4 points from these two fixtures then I will be well happy.

[Filler.]

I thought it ended up as a bit of a damp squib. I'd spent the whole weekend working up to it, and the belly was full of butterflies by the time Monday came - more so than it has done all season. To me it was a pivotal match. Win it, and we can head into the rest of the season with renewed genuine belief that we could maybe scrape this 4th spot and carry that alongside a final, and a decent FA Cup run. One of those 'marker' games. And I really thought it was going to be a hum-dinger - a real classic - under the lights, an attacking side coming to Anfield full of confidence and going for a title, Suarez coming back, Bellamy streaking away on the counter. I was all a buzz for it and I had all sorts of high scoring possibilities in my head.

Bound to be 0-0 then.


From the first whistle, right from the off, both sides looked flat. Weirdly flat. Crowd was flat, maybe not enough Bovril? Spurs came for a point - they'd seen the form - and duly came away with it. If any team wants to get a point away from home in the league, I reckon most would pick Anfield as the best place to go get one. With my 'neutral' head on tho, I was disappointed in the lack of ambition from Spurs. OK - a good few injuries at the mo, expressed by their bench, but still - it spoke volumes to me. Realistic perhaps, but nonetheless. A team in zugzwang - not going to push for a title, not going to lose out on 3rd. In days gone by, when only winning the league gets you a seat at the top table in Europe, Spurs would pull out all the stops... now? It's just different. Cash first.

This is not a dig at Spurs at all, just at football. I watched Nuremburg v Dortmund on Friday, and in the crowd, white letters on a red background, was a banner that simply read, 'Against Modern Football'. I've slipped that in for fun.

More importantly, what did it say about us? I haven't got a clue. More of the same really. Against a team prepared to defend and break, we don't have the keys, or even know where the holes are to put the keys. Kenny said we were 3/4 of the way there, but he was being generous.

Tactically I can't see much to 'moan' about. I did think we'd go with Henderson, but other than that it made some sense. The one thing I did want to see tho was Bellamy going thru the middle for a while. Carroll played well enough to stake his claim to stay on, but I just wanted to hook him off and stick Bellamy in the middle. I'm behind Carroll, always have been, but that was my only wish.

Disappointing, and possibly telling.