Author Topic: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0  (Read 21019 times)

Online Corkboy

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Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« on: March 30, 2014, 08:26:16 pm »
After the minor wobble against Sunderland in our last home game, this was a routine win against a side who were occasionally threatening with the ball and invariably supine without it. Reflect, for a moment, on our selection for this game compared to the last game. Exit Joe Allen, a "conventional" midfielder and enter Raheem Sterling, a winger/attacking mid. Our midfield diamond went to a three and Allen made way. That's offensive (in a good way). That takes balls. That takes Jordan Henderson. And the reward was four goals from four different players, with apologies to Kaboul.

They talk about our lack of depth but we were able to bring on Allen and Lucas. When the latter came on, Alan Smith remarked that Lucas could do "the Gerrard role". How quickly we forget it used to be the Lucas role.

So, Suarez goes top of our PL list of season's tallies, Small Phil bags himself a goal and Johnson continues his long running impression of Dani Alves. Oh, and a clean sheet. Such a perfect two days in football.

Finally, on examination of the league table, it would appear that Liverpool Football Club currently occupy the line at the top.

Offline Juan Loco

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #1 on: March 30, 2014, 09:40:59 pm »
I'll be more in depth in a bit. For now I just want to laugh at the absurdity of this Liverpool team going forward. We're currently the 5th highest scoring team in the Premier League era, and have 6 games left to play. We've now scored a goal more than the 87-88 team. In 8 games less.

What do you say, really? Never known anything like it.
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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #2 on: March 31, 2014, 07:47:37 am »
When will I see you again?
When will we share precious moments?
Will I have to wait forever?
*Checks fixture list again*

Imprinting update: my son asked, "Dad, who's John Arne Riise?" this weekend - turns out he'd been sneaking the telly onto LFC TV.

Anyway, to the matter at hand, 20 minutes before kick off I had an almost biblical bowel movement (you know the parable of Caracticus and his bowel problems, naturally)  which took me to roughly 10 minutes before the start, with no sign of my mate and lucky charm, grantybaz off here. We never seem to lose when we watch a game together. I'd parked the car in the exact same spot. I'd sat in exactly the same spot at the bar. Same t-shirt, same jeans, same everything. No sign of grantybaz. It's different. This can't be good.

And then Glen Johnson races in behind their line, hands off his man like Jonah Lomu in his pomp, and that's that. I think to myself, "Sod the superstition, this lot can take care of it themselves."

grantybaz arrived a minute or so after. Normal service resumed. The game seemed like it was about Suarez's record and the 100 goal target. Spurs looked shot. Their team selection was curious, as was ours, with a reprise of our attacking options from the Everton game supplemented by Johnson's muscularity, but when Vertonghen went off (I wonder if we could sneak him out of White Hart Lane) I turned round to Grant and said, "This means Dawson - they're stuffed." A simple ball forward what seemed seconds later, an ill-advised first time ball from Kaboul, and Suarez ably illustrated the point, a finish reminiscent of Owen in the 2001 FA Cup final. It could have been 4-0 by half time. How Loris kept the wee man's header out I have no idea. A lovely keeper.

But then we have one of those of our own. Yesterday, Mignolet demonstrated the improvement with his feet from start to finish I felt. One thing that leaps out is our increasing comfort in lengthening the pitch (because yes, we pressed, and yes, they were collectively compact and conscious of where they needed to be out of possession, but this was a game about what we did when we had the ball). When we play it around the back six, including the keeper, playing balls of the type that used to spark threads on here in themselves (remember Downing's square ball across the 6 yard box in Europe last season - was it Zenit?), the pulse doesn't flutter too much these days. And Flanagan, with one drop of his shoulder, showed why the approach opens things up for us, the ball taken past his mark, a simple ball to Coutinho, and a rampage up the nice long open pitch to daisy cut it into the far corner.

This is a football team you never tire of watching, adding veneer upon veneer of belief and problem solving ability with every challenge thrown at it. I can't wait to watch them play again. The stuff we always talked about on here - the stuff people said was geeky shoe-gazing nonsense, and Level 3 cobblers? Well, we're seeing it properly played out in front of our eyes. Here's to the first trophy being a big one.

Offline Yorkykopite

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #3 on: March 31, 2014, 09:03:12 am »
The third goal should define the Brendan Rodgers era at Liverpool. Rodgers has every right to put the thing on his coat of arms when he retires. If anyone asks him what Liverpool FC is about he can just point to this goal.

For once Tottenham decided to press us high up the pitch. Skrtel received the ball in an unpromising position inside his own penalty area. "Get rid" said the non-believer inside my head. He didn't. He squared instead to Agger who was just as deep as he was and with two Spurs players bearing down on him. "Get rid" said the voice again. But he didn't. He stroked the ball out to Flanagan instead who was hugging the line. He had a Tottenham player swooping on him too. "GET RID!" But Flanno pirouetted, left the bloke for dead, charged up the line and placed a sweet path inside for Coutinho. That sentence doesn't do justice to the awareness of movement of Coutinho. The little Number Ten started his off-the-ball run by sticking to Siggurdson and then with a sudden drop of the shoulder peeled off and retreated into the yawning chasm in the middle of the pitch. Why was there a yawning chasm there? Because Skrtel, Agger and Flanagan had possessed the calmness and skill to neither panic nor stumble and had effectively taken four Tottenham players out of the game by NOT 'getting rid'. You press Liverpool at your peril these days.

A word on Coutinho just before he collected the ball. See what he does in slo-mo if you can. His head is up (of course) but, in green-cross code fashion, he checks in front of him, behind him, then in front of him again to make sure he's got the geography of situation down to the last detail. What he sees are three fast and willing forwards breaking ahead of him on different trajectories making the pitch massive, and a retreating disorganised defence. He's scored from that moment I think. Of course it still takes three sublime touches to score. The first - in characteristic Coutinho fashion - slightly alters the direction of the ball and effectively kills off Eriksen's attempt at a recovery run; the second puts the ball sufficiently ahead of him to tempt the centre backs into coming forwards while allowing him to gain momentum for a shot; the third sticks the bastard in the back of the net.

We re-play the 7th goal v Tottenham from 1978 time and again to show what the Paisley era was about. From one end of the pitch to another it went. This one, I feel, will be similarly hallowed in years to come.

It was the perfect game, as Rodgers said. Sherwood's attempt to talk up 'nerves' proved to be a bad joke, although I thought there might be something in it after seeing Chelsea's stuttering performance at Palace on MoTD. But the boys weren't nervous. They'd done the rehearsals at Melwood, they knew what their roles were, they grasped their own strength and they understood Tottenham's weaknesses. They also had a proper captain leading them and not the dilettante cockney glove puppet who pretends to lead his team at Chelsea (great goal by the way John). With Anfield in booming mood too it led to the most complete performance - and spectacle - of the season so far. 

Every single Liverpool player played superbly. There wasn't a blemish really. But two performances stood out. We're so used to raving about Suarez and Sturridge that we sometimes forget the incredible football being produced by the two other 'attackers', Coutinho and Sterling. Coutinho had that weird adhesive on his boots again that allows him to run at pace with the ball stuck to his toe and permits him to hand-brake turn at stuntman speed. Throughout the game he sought the ball, sending poor Siggurdson who was trying to mark him off on fool's errands. On the rare occasions he lost the ball he fought like a demented Viking to get it back. They don't teach you that in the Italian league - and it's why he must thank Brendan Rodgers every morning for bringing him to Merseyside. Should Scolari want him, he has the midfielder - in Coutinho - which will allow Brazil to play their traditional game on home soil in the World Cup. I suggest the world deserves no less.       

And then there's Sterling (Rodger's Sterling as he should be known). What an effing player! That's twice now he's caused a collective nervous breakdown in the Spurs defence. He played three separate positions yesterday. Right wing, left wing and - towards the end - attacking central midfield. The default move in the last 20 minutes was Agger getting the ball, giving the eyes up the line and slotting the ball inside for Sterling in space in the centre circle. Three times it happened, three times the Redmen were on the front foot and going forward. And give Sterling a little pocket of space to run into and he'll use it. Not even John had such acceleration from a standing start.

And who's going to get the ball off Sterling once he's got it. Dembele tried. Remember Dembele ("We can't compete in midfield these days unless we have a 'monster' like Dembele")? Well Dembele gave it his best shot down by the right corner flag soon after he came on. But he simply wasn't tough enough, strong enough or clever enough to knock Sterling off the ball. I was embarrassed for him. Strength is balance of course in football. Sterling is a ballerina and that's why you can't knock him over, no matter how long you spend in the gym lifting weights.

All told, a command performance by the Pool. A throwback display by the Kop too. The global football world will have seen that and remembered (if they'd ever forgotten) what a temple to football Anfield is. How proud the current crop of Liverpool players must be to wear the Red. And how proud we are of our team again.

On to the next one. Everyone focussed on West Ham. Just West Ham. 
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Offline No666

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #4 on: March 31, 2014, 09:13:43 am »
Back in 1977 I'd just met the missus. I remember a beautiful sunny Saturday and her hurling her mug of tea against a wall and I thought, 'I'm marrying this one.' Liverpool had just lost the FA cup final and she was steaming angry. Then of course, it was ecstasy on the 25th on a black and white telly. I mention this now simply because I was thinking yesterday, watching this team dispatch Spurs, how much of your life and how many of your memories are seen through a prism of Liverpool results. Where were you when…?
That's what it's beginning to feel like. The momentum's ours and it's going against gravity. We set out to improve this season and we were all hoping for top four but knowing it might be a stretch too far in this team's development. And yesterday we just swatted Spurs aside ('Top Four's their everything.') and basically made sure of that initial goal. But tell you what, win that big vulgar long-lost trophy or not - we'll all remember this season, not just the swagger and the eye-popping goals but odd little moments - such as a plug ugly novice kid at left fullback powering into tackles and bellowing at his seasoned team-mates. We've got the style and yes, we've got the mentality, Tim Sherwood.

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #5 on: March 31, 2014, 11:06:39 am »
Lovely stuff Yorky and Roy.

I's such a privilege to be watching this team at the moment. The confidence levels are through the roof and every player has an assurance about them and are comfortable in both their own abaility and the fact their team mates are there to help them out. Yorky has written about that 3rd goal far better than I can but the role of Agger is crucial. Skrtel is pressed quickly and has two men on him but didn't panic knowing that Agger will be making himself available. If Agger doesn't offer himself there then Skrtel probably has to just launch it out of play. That looked to me like hours of training ground drills coming to fruition.

Scoring so early always helps keeps the butterflies at bay. We won't do it every game (though it's starting to feel like it!). I watched the 2nd half in a state of total relaxation. Very odd!

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #6 on: March 31, 2014, 01:17:13 pm »
From twitter, YNWA before kick off: http://t.co/8ZRZ3KtHzc

Offline MichaelA

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #7 on: March 31, 2014, 01:53:12 pm »


On Sunday 30th March 2014, Tottenham Hotspur came to Anfield, Liverpool. LI-VER-POOL, LI-VER-POOL. That afternoon forty four thousand, seven hundred and sixty two folk came, too. Forty four thousand, seven hundred and sixty two folk locked inside Anfield, Liverpool, LI-VER-POOL, LI-VER-POOL. Ten million more in the country, watching on television, locked outside Anfield, Liverpool, LI-VER-POOL, LI-VER-POOL. Several hundred million more in the world, locked outside Anfield, Liverpool, LI-VER-POOL, LI-VER-POOL, singing and shouting, inside Anfield, LIV-ER-POOL, LI-VER-POOL, LI-VER-POOL, singing and shouting, outside Anfield, Liverpool, LI-VER-POOL, LI-VER-POOL.

In the second minute, Glen Johnson took a pass from Raheem Sterling, and Kaboul scored an own goal. Twenty three minutes later, Michael Dawson of Tottenham Hotspur misplaced a pass inside his own half. Suarez gave chase, and Suarez shot low and Suarez scored again for LIV-ER-POOL, LI-VER-POOL, LI-VER-POOL. And at half time Liverpool Football Club lead 2-0. In the second half, coming from deep, John Flanagan passed the ball to Philippe Coutinho, and Philippe Coutinho shot low in to the back of the net. And in the seventy fifth minute, Tottenham Hotspur conceded a free kick. And Jordan Henderson scored from that free kick.

And that night Liverpool, LIV-ER-POOL, LI-VER-POOL, LI-VER-POOL, Liverpool Football Club had seventy one points, and had played thirty two games, Chelsea Football Club had sixty nine points and had played thirty two games, and Manchester City Football Cub had sixty seven points and had played thirty games. That evening, LIV-ER-POOL, LI-VER-POOL, LI-VER-POOL, Football Club were first in the Premier League. For now. There were still six more games to go, still six more games to play -
« Last Edit: March 31, 2014, 01:54:52 pm by MichaelA »

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #8 on: March 31, 2014, 05:45:54 pm »
That was pretty comfortable wasn't it? Well, as comfortable an afternoon as one can expect. I'll admit I was more nervous than usual before the game, not being used to being in this position much and Saturday's results, with Palace beating Chelsea and Man City and Arsenal drawing, meaning we could go top of the league. But the team didn't look like they felt it and the crowd was unbelievable. Credit to everyone for that. And all the players played well, I could pick each one of them out for their contribution.*

But then we have one of those of our own. Yesterday, Mignolet demonstrated the improvement with his feet from start to finish I felt. One thing that leaps out is our increasing comfort in lengthening the pitch (because yes, we pressed, and yes, they were collectively compact and conscious of where they needed to be out of possession, but this was a game about what we did when we had the ball). When we play it around the back six, including the keeper, playing balls of the type that used to spark threads on here in themselves (remember Downing's square ball across the 6 yard box in Europe last season - was it Zenit?), the pulse doesn't flutter too much these days. And Flanagan, with one drop of his shoulder, showed why the approach opens things up for us, the ball taken past his mark, a simple ball to Coutinho, and a rampage up the nice long open pitch to daisy cut it into the far corner.

That was absolutely brilliant. And yeah, the players seem more and more comfortable with that now and we saw yesterday how it paid dividends. No enough credit given to that goal and there's been more of a focus on the space Coutinho had but it was obviously created by Spurs pressing us and us dealing with it in the best way possible.

This is a football team you never tire of watching, adding veneer upon veneer of belief and problem solving ability with every challenge thrown at it. I can't wait to watch them play again. The stuff we always talked about on here - the stuff people said was geeky shoe-gazing nonsense, and Level 3 cobblers? Well, we're seeing it properly played out in front of our eyes. Here's to the first trophy being a big one.

Yep and it feels just wonderful watching this team.

*Ok I'll pick one out. Coutinho for the last three matches has been superb, probably too early to tell whether he's starting to find that consistency that would put him amongst the very best in the league but I felt he was the best player on the pitch against Sunderland (and one of the best against Cardiff) and would have been my personal man of the match yesterday had he not been substituted after 60 odd minutes. From the first minute he was on his game (of course playing it wide to Sterling which led to the first goal) and topped it all off with a goal.

Watching him in full flight is a joy and like the very best players, he puts a big grin on my face when he moves with the ball, away from defenders, twisting like a twisty turny thing and then sliding the ball on to a team mate. He makes me happy.
« Last Edit: March 31, 2014, 05:58:55 pm by Hazell »
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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #9 on: March 31, 2014, 05:52:31 pm »
I think the game is pretty much beyond analysis. The game speaks for itself and there's nothing to add that hasn't been said. That third goal was pretty much a barometer of how people view football. It was one of, if not the goal of the season but far too many will prefer a one-off hit-and-pray that the GK sees too late.

I'll say this though, for the lack of another description, we were simply much much smarter in this game. Every single opportunity that was there for the taking, we took. We must've taken at least 10 throw ins which caught Spurs out of position. They booted it out to try and catch a break and all of a sudden Henderson, Sterling, Suarez and Sturridge were gone behind their marker. When Sturridge releaseed Sterling for Henderson's unfortunate miss it was still obvious to all of us what was happening but the Spurs players, Rose and Bentaleb iirc, were both recovering the flank when Raheem was through on goal. Similarly on the counter. When they hoofed it to Soldado and he got the edge over Agger and won the ball (the funniest moment of the match, too) it was the game summed up. Eriksen, the Ajax schooled playmaker had no idea what was happening and before he took a step inside our box Agger had won the goalkick.

We just wanted it more and it showed the entire time. Contrast our response to theirs. When Sterling got called for the foul against Eriksen most players his age would've gone after the ref. Not Sterling though. He planted himself flatfooted 3 inches from the ball and denied them the quick free kick and also blocked Eriksen's view to pick out an open man. Henderson does this too. When there's a foul on us he runs up to the kicker, waits for any of the front 3 (or 4 depending on the line-up) and when he sees them back he steps away.

Sherwood tried to play on our nerves and it backfired like a Dick Cheney hunting trip. This was strength of will as much as it was tactics and personnel. Pure, unadulturated testicular fortitude and it was amazing.
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Offline E2K

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #10 on: March 31, 2014, 10:35:08 pm »
If the last visit of a north London club to Anfield resulted in a flurry of knockout punches landed in an opening round which ended with Arsenal being held up by the ropes and taking an 8-count, yesterday’s game against their neighbours Spurs was somewhat different. We landed another crushing early blow, true, but what came afterwards was a level of total control to an extent that we hadn’t yet seen from this team and was more akin to keeping our opponents at arm’s length as they hopelessly swung at thin air. In some ways, it was like we had taken the opening 20 minutes against Arsenal (after which we led 4-0) and stretched it out over a full 90 minutes (after which we led 4-0). Tottenham were awful, you’ll get no arguments from me there, and Tim Sherwood’s post-match comments that “at 2-0 and the game going away and then 3-0, I am going to learn more from my players from sitting up there and having a good look at it, rather than getting involved and maybe getting myself in trouble of the touchline” illustrated their biggest problem and one which, in truth, meant that they never had a chance yesterday, namely a manager abdicating responsibility and throwing the focus solely onto his players. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it done to quite that extent before, at any level, and if I was a Spurs fan I’d be livid with that. You can’t control yourself? What are you, 5? Anyway, with all of that said, they’re still the 6th best team in the League for the time-being and yet Liverpool treated them like relegation-fodder. I must admit, as big a believer as I am in this team and its manager, I still didn’t expect that. This Liverpool side goes from strength to strength and is writing a story that seems to demand a happy ending with more and more ferocity as the weeks go by. It’s not a humble suggestion or a respectful request anymore, it’s getting to be an outright decree, and it’s looking more likely that they’ll get it with each and every passing game.

That story begins in goal with Simon Mignolet, more specifically his penalty save against Stoke in August. In the moment of truth where lesser men wilt, he instead seemed to grow in stature, smacking the crossbar as if daring Jonathan Walters to beat this, less a man now than a fucking entity that simply would not be beaten.  Walters shrank in the moment, Mignolet thrived on it, feeding on his opponent’s fear and the hopes of 45,000 men, women and children. He shook the crossbar but, in truth, he shook a lot more along with it: he shook Walters, he shook Anfield and he shook the monkey called Stoke City off our collective back. Tell me this: in retrospect, even if you doubted yourself along the way, did that moment not feel significant? Does it feel even more so now, Stoke, the thorn in our side for so long thwarted, a harbinger of what was to come? It all started with Mignolet. There was a moment in the first-half yesterday where Bentaleb (I think) hit a rasper from all of 30/35 yards that flew towards goal. It was more or less straight down the middle but it was powerful and it was dipping and swerving. An image of the ball being spilled into the path of the onrushing Soldado briefly flashed across my mind such was the punch packed by it and the scars of seasons past, but I needn’t have worried: our young Belgian ‘keeper stooped and took it into his arms like a mishit daisy-cutter. From a 10 year-old. I’m honestly not sure anymore if there’s a safer pair of hands in the Premier League in those kinds of situations than Simon Mignolet. A little while later, he punched a Spurs effort away from his goal like some kind of Greek god smiting a world that had accidentally come into his orbit. This lad grew in stature before our very eyes on the opening day against Stoke as Liverpool embarked on this beautiful journey and he hasn’t stopped since. Even the odd mistake hasn’t knocked him back, he just keeps growing and growing (he looked 10-feet tall facing that Walters penalty, he must be up to a good 150 now). There are still one or two rough edges to his game but he’s learning all the time (e.g. I thought his distribution, nominally a weakness, was excellent yesterday), and when the moment of truth arrives again during the next six games, as it no doubt will in some shape or form, I’ll take our young Belgian over Joe Hart, I’ll take him over Peter Cech, I’ll have him over the lot because he absolutely reeks of old-school Liverpool and, as such, I know he’ll rise to meet that moment head-on without so much as an inch of a backward step.

Then you move forward, you move into the back four. Has any individual on this team had a more unlikely journey than Martin Skrtel? Once, he launched anything that came within a five-foot radius of his boot or head; once, he was so uncomfortable with the football at his feet that he turned around rather than play a pass off his left during Brendan Rodgers’ first game at Anfield against Manchester City and left his backpass to Pepe Reina horribly short and in the clutches of Carlos Tevez; once, he was dominated by Oldham Athletic and looked like a man on his way out of the club. These days, he brings balls down on his chest effortlessly and immediately turns to attack; these days, he passes to teammates surrounded by two opposition players; these days, he’s become a latter-day Sami Hyypia from set-pieces, keeping this train rolling with the opening double-salvo against Arsenal and two superb finishes when his team was struggling against Cardiff. Suddenly, the big Slovakian who’s been a leader and justified every little bit of faith placed in him by his manager seems like the last player who should be losing his place in the team. What a turnaround from even two, three months ago, but hey, just like Mignolet, cometh the hour cometh the man. Not only does Skrtel look like he’s enjoying his football right now, he looks like he’s revelling in the heat of this furnace where history is forged and legends are made. Did you see his block against Eriksen yesterday as the Spurs man threatened to make it 2-1 before half-time? Did you see his block at Old Trafford as Rooney looked certain to equalise before half-time? Skrtel may still be prone to errors but he’s been a colossus this season, and especially in the last few weeks. As the stakes have risen, this man has shone.

And then you look alongside him to his long-time partner, Daniel Agger, a player as skilful as any in the team whose presence in that back-four so often leads imperceptibly to authority, calm and, as RAWK’s Juan Loco pointed out on Twitter yesterday, nearly as many clean-sheets in his last 100 starts for Liverpool (46) as Vincent Kompany for Manchester City (47) – and needless to say, one of these teams is not widely noted for its defensive prowess (spoiler: it’s not City). Tell me he’s not taking this challenge by the scruff of the neck? If his team ends up winning the League and finding that aforementioned happy ending, there will probably be dozens of single moments that people will look back on as significant milestones, moments that perhaps had the potential to alter the course of the season had they gone another way. If Steven Gerrard is lifting that trophy come the 11th of May, I’ll almost certainly be looking back on a moment 31 minutes into the game at St. Mary’s a few weeks ago where, with Liverpool nursing a 1-0 advantage and under intense pressure from the home side, the ball fell to Adam Lallana in the box. It’s hard to tell from replays whether Agger got a little nick on the resulting shot that took it onto the post, but he certainly put Lallana off to such an extent that he had to rush his effort. Had that gone in, there’s no telling how Liverpool’s season might have panned out: they may have simply gone down the other end and scored again, or maybe Southampton would have rode the resulting momentum all the way to three points. Agger’s quick thinking that night may have stopped that and kept the journey alive at a crucial moment.

You look at Jon Flanagan and you just laugh at the beautiful absurdity of this young man coming in and playing to a level that none of us expected. You laugh at a Brazilian World Cup-winning full-back following him on Twitter and singing his praises, this young, unheralded local lad with 30-odd appearances to his name. You look at him and you just laugh at the magic of it all, of how he dropped the shoulder at Old Trafford and sent all £37m of Juan Mata on an Antarctic fishing expedition as he rampaged up the field, and yesterday, that turn, those tackles. Pure and utter desire. I wonder if Manchester City have someone like Jon Flanagan? Oh I know, I know they’ve got plenty of talent and ability, plenty of shiny new toys, some of them still in the packaging (if they put Stevan Jovetić up for sale on eBay, for example, the ad would surely read “one Montenegrin international, in mint condition, barely used”). But do they have a Flanagan, a Gerrard, local lads living their dream and playing for more than just medals and money? I don’t care if it sounds gay, Gerrard’s smile this season has been something to behold. He believes, not only that Liverpool can win the title but also in the players around him, something which hasn’t always been the case and that almost gives me more confidence than anything else. You can see it written all over him that he thinks this team is fucking brilliant. There’s no agitation, no sense that he has to stretch himself if this Premier League thing is going to happen before he retires. Two local lads, one of them a legend, one a young lad still feeling his way into a Premier League career, both becoming larger and bolder than life itself right when their team needs them to be. Do Manchester City have anyone like that, I wonder?

And do Manchester City, or Chelsea for that matter, have anyone like Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho, who have known the frustration of watching from the sidelines with successive coaches distrusting their talent, itching to get a chance, a real chance, or players like Jordan Henderson and Lucas Leiva who have been written off and made into scapegoats in the past? Do they have players like that who have clawed and scratched to make it to here, to not only be a part of something real but to be front and centre in making it happen? How could they? When dropping £30m for a readymade, mint-condition superstar seems as easy as taking a chequebook out of your pocket and leaving the amount blank, why would you bother with rehabilitation or redemption? Why indeed. Our title rivals have something in common besides massive amounts of oil money: they both had Sturridge in their clutches, they both let him go, and they’re both wishing they had him now. On a quiet enough afternoon, relatively-speaking of course, he nonetheless almost scored with a back-heeled effort so audacious that I spent a good five minutes afterwards shaking my head in frustration that it hadn’t gone in. It would have broken English football, I think, and maybe it’s a good thing for Daniel that Roy Hodgson was down at Craven Cottage dodging stray(?) footballs like some kind of Carry-On caper because he surely wouldn’t be making the plane to Brazil had the England manager seen that. Seriously, I understand that cultured players like Hoddle and Barnes have had trouble in the England set-up in years gone by because of a tacit distrust of ability and flair. I thought that those days had gone but clearly they haven’t because mentioning this lad in the same breath as Danny Wellbeck and defining him as merely being “in-form” simply doesn’t cut it, I’m sorry. This lad is special and Brendan Rodgers has given English football a wonderful gift by taking him out of the clutches of the wealthy and stupid and giving him the platform to be outrageously brilliant, yet the usual suspects don’t seem to be able to see it. Their loss.

I get the feeling that, should these lads face a moment of truth, a gut-check, call it what you will, they’ll face it and stare it down together, as a team, as a “group”. No doubt in my mind. Should Manchester City or Chelsea face similar odds, I’m not so sure your Nasri’s and Fernandinho’s, your Willian’s and Etoo’s, could be relied upon in quite the same way. This team has been forged through wind and rain, through hardship and trial, and now a fanbase glimpsing history is joining in and making itself heard like never before. I’m now convinced that the togetherness, the bond of teammate and fan alike, is what will pull this team over the line and give it that extra advantage to make up for having Victor Moses where City have Edin Dzeko to come off the bench, where Chelsea have Schurrle. Most of all, this team has the best player and the best manager in the Premier League. Suárez’s goal yesterday was magic (how many times have we said that?) The slightest error was seized upon, two touches and he was gone, the finish (on his weaker foot, for fuck sake) sublime. Like the rest of this magnificent team, Suárez has had his bad times. I have zero sympathy with him over the bite or his carry-on in the summer, but he has emerged on the other side as a shoe-in for player of the year and perhaps a record-breaker too. He said he wanted Champions League football; now he’ll have it, the right way. Fortune favours the bold. That’s just one word you could use to describe Brendan Rodgers too. When Skrtel made that howler against Manchester City to deny Liverpool a deserved win over the reigning champions in August 2012, Rodgers stated that “there’s no blame to Martin Skrtel, I’d rather have players wanting to get on to the ball. The courage he has to get on the football and try to play is what is the most important thing”. When City arrive again in two weeks, they’ll be facing the culmination of that kind of vision. Rodgers has held his nerve at difficult times, he’s trusted his players, he’s trusted in his beliefs and the kind of football we saw yesterday is the reward, for both him and us, personified in drawing four Spurs players in before Flanagan’s turn and pass to Coutinho in acres of space, not to mention 19 year-old Raheem Sterling running the show and making an absolute fool of Kaboul in the first-half (leading to Suárez’s header) and Dembele in the second (no Scotty Parker to back you up this time, Moussa?) when as recently as January Rodgers was being asked about the possibility of allowing the player out on loan.

The manager has held his nerve with youth, with his beliefs, with players who had been written off, and it should come as no surprise that his team is holding theirs. It’s built in his image, after all. The smile near the end yesterday told you everything. He’s actually fucking enjoying this, the mad bastard! Well consider me a stark-raving lunatic then because I’m loving it too…
« Last Edit: March 31, 2014, 10:45:58 pm by E2K »
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Offline the 92A

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #11 on: March 31, 2014, 11:47:13 pm »
I've read nearly every 'professional' match report on the Spurs game and not one of them can hold a candle to E2K's report above. As the team improves so does your writing. It really is a treat to read.
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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #12 on: March 31, 2014, 11:48:14 pm »
And to counterpoint E2K's textual stylings in a more graphic mode, this is the table nine games ago.



That's something. Isn't that something?

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #13 on: April 1, 2014, 08:19:52 am »
I've read nearly every 'professional' match report on the Spurs game and not one of them can hold a candle to E2K's report above. As the team improves so does your writing. It really is a treat to read.

In one Albie. It's just amazing to read
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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #14 on: April 1, 2014, 08:28:26 am »


On Sunday 30th March 2014, Tottenham Hotspur came to Anfield, Liverpool. LI-VER-POOL, LI-VER-POOL.
...
There were still six more games to go, still six more games to play -

Love it!

Offline trembles97

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #15 on: April 1, 2014, 08:31:19 am »
Loved seeing Phil grab a goal, it's something he's deserved after some very good performances the past few weeks.

I like to drop in on some Inter forums from time to time to view their grumblings about our little magician (it's not the only forum I've enjoyed popping in on, mind) but I was saddened to see that he's gone back to over-rated and shit, just because he has the same goal/assists numbers as some Alvarez guy they have. Phil's goal on Sunday brought him ahead though, so all is right in the world.

I just wonder who is going to be more butt-hurt in the end, Milan for giving us Phil, or Chelsea for giving us Sturridge? (ormaybeAjaxforFischer) I guess we'll have to wait and see!

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #16 on: April 1, 2014, 08:53:40 am »
There was about a ten minute or so period in the second half, after Allen had come on, during which Mignolet, Skrtel, Stevie and Agger would exchange their usual passes and then the ball would end up with Agger. Allen AND Sterling would drop back and "show" for the ball with Agger doing a "Busquets" and time after time (I think it was 4 times in total) finding Sterling with a nice, 'on the floor' pass, while appearing to be ready to deliver the pass to Allen.

It was as if the Spurs players had been hypnotized . . . it was a beautiful thing . . .

Also, I think Suarez ought to have opted for the spectacular half-volley, a la Coates :-), when he headed the ball only for Lloris to save it. Of course, the fact that he had scored a world-class goal with his left foot earlier kinda argued in favor of him "not taking the piss"; still, when has that ever stopped Luis, eh?

Coutinho's goal was both sublime and extremely difficult to execute. Hitting a shot with that much momentum and pace and it never being more than an inch off the ground all the way is out-of-this-world!

It was nice to see my boy Lucas get a few minutes. He was good, but about 0.02 secs too slow/late. Rusty, I suppose.

Perplexed by the Moses substitution. It ought to have been Aspas "all day long". But, what do I know . . . quite literally.
« Last Edit: April 1, 2014, 09:07:35 am by GrkStav »
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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #17 on: April 1, 2014, 08:53:43 am »
E2K .... Wonderful!

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #18 on: April 1, 2014, 08:57:53 am »
From twitter, YNWA before kick off: http://t.co/8ZRZ3KtHzc
Spine tingling. Watching that, knowing the result now, knowing what the Kop were singing for and seeing the togetherness of the team knowing they were just about to absolutely annihilate the assembly of Spurs players in front of them makes me so, so proud and extremely emotional. Thanks for that Roy.
.... There were still six more games to go, still six more games to play -
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Stunning E2K.
« Last Edit: April 1, 2014, 09:07:31 am by John C »

Offline Desi Kopite

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #19 on: April 1, 2014, 09:10:25 am »
E2K...a great read!!  Really enjoy your pieces on here.


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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #20 on: April 1, 2014, 09:40:04 am »
To think this time last year we were singing about having a party if Suarez wins a pen, and now we're singing about winning the league. Irrespective of how the season ends, everyone associated with the club can hold their heads high and stand proud. What a remarkable 12 months we've had.

Offline Growler2

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #21 on: April 1, 2014, 09:45:43 am »
'You look at him and you just laugh at the magic of it all, of how he dropped the shoulder at Old Trafford and sent all £37m of Juan Mata on an Antarctic fishing expedition'

Pure genius that mate.

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #22 on: April 1, 2014, 10:37:02 am »
I've read nearly every 'professional' match report on the Spurs game and not one of them can hold a candle to E2K's report above. As the team improves so does your writing. It really is a treat to read.

I just wanted to second that, really. Another fantastic post from E2K. I look forward to your write ups more than any other - and that's no disrespect to any of the other great writers we have on here either.
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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #23 on: April 1, 2014, 10:38:21 am »
I would just like to re-iterate again, because my post in the Suarez thread got blanked, that Suarez's first touch for his goal is out of this world. Its something most people probably won't notice but to drag that ball into his path whilst maintaining his stride at full speed is something special. Henry-esque.

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #24 on: April 1, 2014, 10:40:26 am »
I would just like to re-iterate again, because my post in the Suarez thread got blanked, that Suarez's first touch for his goal is out of this world. Its something most people probably won't notice but to drag that ball into his path whilst maintaining his stride at full speed is something special. Henry-esque.

You're absolutely right. It was such a difficult thing to imagine let alone execute. The second touch was pretty good too.
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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #25 on: April 1, 2014, 10:43:44 am »
E2K great great read, the Mignolet and Skrtel paragraphs just so spot on and to include the BR comments from City last year is a great reminder of how the BR story has come along.
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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #26 on: April 1, 2014, 10:53:07 am »
From twitter, YNWA before kick off: http://t.co/8ZRZ3KtHzc

0:40 : definite spine tingling, tried to convince myself that the sofa was just cold
1:20 : legs are literally shaking
1:50 : laughing as I see Danny Rose's 'determined face'. The poor lad has never felt anything like it
2:30 : tear rolls down my cheek as I read E2K's piece and think of Gerrard winning the league
2:50 : Anfield raises its voice one more time for kick off, and I realise how we're going to beat City and Chelsea


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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #27 on: April 1, 2014, 10:54:04 am »
You're absolutely right. It was such a difficult thing to imagine let alone execute. The second touch was pretty good too.
I'll have to have a look at his second touch, I've just been fixated on his first ad infinitum.

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #28 on: April 1, 2014, 11:43:46 am »
We have some really talented writers on this site do we not?

Perhaps all our collective senses are more receptive given that the write-ups are invariably positive this season, but I feel the quality articles by the usual suspects (Yorky, Corky and Roy... I just mention these three in particular cos they'd make a wonderful name for a kid's TV show), etc, is at an all time high.

As for E2K, well you have some serious flair for writing mate, but this one is possibly your best ever. Your narrative about Martin Skrtel is superb, and so accurate. The manager must take huge plaudits for transforming not only young players, but also seasoned pros like Skrtel, and yes, Stevie too.

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #29 on: April 1, 2014, 11:52:11 am »
There are some genuinely moving & brilliant pieces in this thread. I can't write like Roy & Yorky & E2K, fuck my brother's produced a Peace inspired piece of genius.

But I have just have two words to add.

Two words that no one has mentioned.

Two words that I KNOW are having a massive impact.

Two words we must keep hold of.

Exclusively.

Steve Peters.
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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #30 on: April 1, 2014, 12:10:02 pm »
E2K great great read, the Mignolet and Skrtel paragraphs just so spot on and to include the BR comments from City last year is a great reminder of how the BR story has come along.

I was going to post about that save in the Mignolet thread, but realised someone far more eloquent and insightful would do it better.

Football has a weird time relativity thing when it comes to major moments - that header you know is going in, but seems to take an age from crossing the line to hitting the net - so it gives you enough time for thoughts to appear and disappear in your brain.  That Spurs free kick had that effect on me. Once it went past the wall and I could see it about to bounce two feet in from of Simon, I thought 'parry, rebound, 2-1, not another Sunderland endgame'.  But Simon's so confident in his handling and shot stopping that I felt like an idiot for ever doubting him.

People have mentioned 2005 and how it feels similar.  Well it doesn't to me. All I remember from those 2nd legs was slowly losing my mind, shouting at the clock in the corner to 'fucking tick faster, you bastard' (my friends still remind me about this).
But now, I'm so relaxed I'm almost Zen.  Brendan will find a way. Luis will produce some magic.  Stevie's bossing this.  Simon's stopping this.  They'll work it out.
It's so weird for a nervous fan - someone who took off my new Liverpool shirt at half time watching the 2005 final on TV, saying 'that shirt's unlucky' and never wearing it again on matchdays - to be confident and relaxed, as opposed to confident and a nervous wreck.   

Brendan will end up adding years onto my life. My future cardiologist thanks him.
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Offline Paul JH

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #31 on: April 1, 2014, 12:15:37 pm »
I know we beat them at their place 5-0 and they aren't the best side in the world … BUT, what had me most excited on Sunday was the way we just went about brushing them to one side. Everyone said it could be tricky, we were 'nervous' etc, the media want to plant ideas of pressure, and yet we went out, and hammered them. Brushed aside the media talk, the opposition managers talk and team and just went out and did a job like we are playing with no fear.

Smiles on the teams faces, team spirit is unreal. And that impressed me the most.

All this talk of pressure beforehand, and we just ignored it and went out and did the job. Which is the single thing that has made me think this could finally be our year.
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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #32 on: April 1, 2014, 12:31:09 pm »
The run of results so far, the pleasure of such assured victories as this Spurs game fills me with a magnanimity that is saying, I hope we now end up with two Merseyside champions league qualifiers, taking one away from that overrated town down south on another river. You think of how our players want to play for Brendan, and contrast that with the potential malaise beginning at Chelsea, where all the strikers appear to either want out or are wanted out by their manager. Why would they give their all for him from now til the season end?. Instead of feeling afraid of City and the plastics, I am more of the "Bring Them On" school of thought. We have never been readier for their arrival at our fortress.
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Offline elbow

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #33 on: April 1, 2014, 12:51:25 pm »
Wonderful, wonderful contributions here.
We are Liverpool!

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #34 on: April 1, 2014, 12:59:52 pm »
Thank you E2K. Superb post. So much better than the tripe that gets written in the mainstream media. I read the post about 4 times and enjoyed it more every time I read it.

I really think we have a potentially legendary gaffer on our hands too. And as was stated above, give Steve Peters whatever he wants. The mentality (as Rafa used to love to say) is like I've never seen it. Positivity just flows through each and every player. His and Brendan's job in convincing these players just how good they are is amazing. Who'd have thought we'd be where we are now back in August. Seeing Luis immediately credit Jordan for the goal and the look on his face, fuck, I almost wet myself. Sheer jubilation for Jordan and a smile that I just love to see. His reaction to his goal and what it meant to him, well what a turnaround from the summer. Surely Peters has something to do with that.

My read on the game is that we were "professional". We really did it easy. I keep reading how shite Spurs were. They were, but they can only play as well as we let them. They just couldn't get a foothold in the game. We pressed at the right times, sat back when we needed to and as soon as we got the ball, we destroyed them. Every player played extremely well. Coutinho seems to be finding form at the right time too. He will be critical in the games against City and Chelsea. If he fires, well I think we are drunk for a week come 11 May. I actually still can't believe how easy that game (and the Arsenal and Everton games at home) was. We really never got out of second gear.

I love the fact that Brendan talks only about the next game. West Ham will be no pushovers and the back 4 plus Stevie will be in for a barrage of long balls. We have the quality to beat them but (just as in every game) we have to be on the ball.

Lastly, being a bit of a Glen Johnson fan, isn't it great to see him flying down that right side again and terrorising opposition defences. Oh we've missed that. Oh and that third goal - a thing of pure beauty.

Keep it up lads.
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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #35 on: April 1, 2014, 01:30:01 pm »
E2K=stupendous writing

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #36 on: April 1, 2014, 01:35:25 pm »
From twitter, YNWA before kick off: http://t.co/8ZRZ3KtHzc
Fuck me!
Don't know what to do after that. Beyond immense.

Offline rafathegaffa

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #37 on: April 1, 2014, 01:38:38 pm »
If the last visit of a north London club to Anfield resulted in a flurry of knockout punches landed in an opening round which ended with Arsenal being held up by the ropes and taking an 8-count, yesterday’s game against their neighbours Spurs was somewhat different. We landed another crushing early blow
.........
The manager has held his nerve with youth, with his beliefs, with players who had been written off, and it should come as no surprise that his team is holding theirs. It’s built in his image, after all. The smile near the end yesterday told you everything. He’s actually fucking enjoying this, the mad bastard! Well consider me a stark-raving lunatic then because I’m loving it too…
Fabulous read E2K.
This is meant to be.

Offline SMacDougall

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #38 on: April 1, 2014, 01:44:48 pm »
Remember when it was Spurs beating us 4-0? United beating us 3-1 with a Berbatov hat-trick? Arsenal dismantling us almost every time we played them? City thrashing us 3-0?

The likes of Blackpool and Fulham beating us at home?

Crazy.

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Re: Round Table: Liverpool 4 v Spurs 0
« Reply #39 on: April 1, 2014, 01:53:28 pm »
The day after the joy's of watching the game I got to thinking how do we improve on that?

It's not easy, and for me, the Spurs game just reinforcing what every game this year, this season, really since January last year has told me! That the lads are pretty darn good. Sure Johnson had a form slump (explained by injury IMO), Skrtel and his partner looked a bit shaky for awhile when the back four was changing every week, since there's been a bit of continuity though he's looked bloody brilliant as has Agger and it's taken a long time to find someone as good as Enrique at LB, though we might have grown ourselves better in Flanagan!

So where then do we improve?

I reckon I can make good arguments as to why we should buy no-one in just about every position. Really the only under performers are loans. People also might mention Aspas but he's played a total of four games worth of minutes this season, he hasn't had a chance.
« Last Edit: April 1, 2014, 01:55:59 pm by DanA »
Quote from: hinesy
He hadn't played as if he was on fire, more the slight breeze cutting across New Brighton on a summer's day than El Nino, the force of nature.