This season will provide its unexpected twists and turns, but already there are some familiar aspects. Had Alex Ferguson moaned about the referee like Rafa did today, not a word would have been said by any journalist like the fella in the article at the start of the previous page. Ferguson gets the benefit of the doubt even when he outright lies, Rafa has a point and he's just straining to do some explaining, right?
I'm not overly concerned by today's game, we lost to Spurs last season at their place, so at least we haven't lost more points than we did last time. We know that when our team is full-strength, we are amongst the best in the League. Today was a sluggish start, true, Torres in particular looked a little off the pace. But we grew into the game as it went on, and though Spurs were good value for their win, you can see the lads getting over this and improving, especially when Aquilani and Riera come in. Three points against Stoke on Wednesday night will be an improvement on last season, and will hopefully allow us to kick on again. We know Alonso is a loss, but to listen to some pundits he's left an unfillable hole. Nonsense. We did ok today once we came out of our shell, and that's something you can say about plenty of Liverpool away games last season when we took 86 points. We were unlucky enough to get a tough opening fixture. United and Chelsea struggled to beat the dregs of the Premier League, but they get the plaudits. Let them. We played averagely today, but it isn't the first time, and no trophies worth a damn are handed out in August.
That’s not to say I wasn’t frustrated, but it was about wider issues. With Chelsea having been given a baffling six minutes injury-time on Saturday to beat Hull at Stamford Bridge, we were reminded once again today of the disadvantages that Liverpool must overcome. Frequently Chelsea and Man Utd will benefit from the small details, a generously-awarded extra couple of minutes of injury-time or the benefit of the doubt on a free-kick. Liverpool get their share of luck the same as most other teams, but the more you watch United and Chelsea games the more little decisions you see them getting that Liverpool simply don’t, and the frustration it brings is unbearable at times.
Today, Phil Dowd called back Pepe Reina’s kick-out twice in the 90th minute in order to go over and send Sammy Lee to the dressing-room for something said to the fourth official. A few seconds after the game restarted, the same fourth official indicated that there was three minutes added time. Three minutes which clearly did not include the time taken (at least a minute) to talk to the fourth official and send Lee off. Time which did include the standard two and a half minutes to cover the five substitutions in the second half (thirty seconds each). So aside from that, only thirty seconds of added time in a second half where Tottenham increasingly took their time over free-kicks and throws?
Now in the three added minutes, we have the delay for Lee’s sending-off (clearly not included in the three minutes), another Spurs substitute (thirty seconds) and a delay of a minute while Dowd called Huddlestone and Torres over for a chat. At least five minutes should have played in the end, yet Dowd blows at 93:15 when Liverpool (so renowned for late goals that Tyler and Gray were joking about it for the entire second half on Sky) were coming forward in possession once again. Now maybe the attack would have come to nothing, but maybe it would. Chelsea got six minutes out of nowhere on Saturday (only four subs in the second half), United got five against Villa last season, yet Liverpool are not even worthy of the correct amount of injury-time? This, by the way, is ignoring the blatant foul on Torres by Huddlestone near the end that should have resulted in a free on the edge of the Tottenham box, and the fair shout we had for a penalty when Voronin was eased out of the way.
I remain convinced, now more than ever, that it is the small details, the soft frees here, the extra couple of minutes injury-time there, that separate the champions from the rest. Liverpool continue to struggle on that score every bit as much as United and Chelsea prosper. I might not be overly worried by Liverpool’s performance today, by the pundits who see the team who apparently only had two players last season (Torres and Gerrard) as now being doomed by the departure of their new, er, old best player (Alonso). But this is a factor that does concern me. Small details win titles, and some small details went against us today.
