Match Threads Tottenham Hotspur vs Liverpool FC

[rossdapep]

Agree not to push on from such a strong position is and was a scandalous decision but levy knows best so we have to trust him that the decision he took not to invest in the squad will pay off in the long run, I have my doubts about it and I think the players also along with the manager suspect the same.

That's the problem, I don't trust him. I have sympathised and understood many of his decisions in the past but his brinkmanship doesn't half cost us as well.

 

[Thewobbler]

They were not better than us, we handed them the win. Never seen so many mistakes from this team or so many players off form.

 

[joelstinton14]

Just woken up after a 22 hour round trip to Wembley and back. After reflecting on the game yesterday i'm feeling more indifferent than angry. I think the game yesterday was more about our own failings rather than anything else. For the first 70 minutes all the chances liverpool made were through our own mistakes rather than carving us apart aside for the first few minutes.

The worrying thing was how easy they neutralised us in the second half tactically, we really struggled and they never really got out of second gear. If they decided to they could have put a few more past us but i think they were actually a bit wary of us themselves especially after Moura's chance just before they got the second.

First half they edged it, the difference being they were more incisive with what they were doing and when we kept presenting them with chances through giving the ball away we were going to get punished. The whole first half was cagey from both sides and the momentum of a first goal was crucial. Who ever got it would go on to probably win the match. It is fine lines at the top, we made those fine lines like chasms with our own mistakes. I've never seen it as bad as that.

Yet to see the highlights or match re-run, i don't particularly want to, but i seen Vorm get a lot of stick online but from where i was sat it seem he kept us in the game at some points, certainly in the stadium it felt like the fans were appreciative of his efforts. So was surprised to read it, but he always has been disposable in some fans eyes.

A lot of work to do. But poch as always got the players to bounce back after lows, and i suspect the same will happen again. Onwards and Upwards.

 

[worcestersauce]

The biggest surprise for me yesterday was how relatively unaffected I was by the result and I can't help but wonder if that's because I just feel we are in limbo until we can go home.
As for the game, Liverpool were fired up and at it like terriers yet it was when we had time on the ball that we gave them their chances, poor sloppy and just badly executed passes, and dare I say, headers, although prior to their first goal we had gradually pushed them deeper and deeper and they were defending on the edge of their box.
At the start of this thread I posted:-

Christian Eriksen had a good game for Denmark in the week but funnily enough that doesn't fill me with confidence that we'll see the best of him tomorrow, on the other hand our Sonny is back and I think he'll be absolutely flying.
I also think this is Liverpool's first real test of the season.
The word of the day should be "clinical"

I think the first point played out as I thought, the second I hold firm to and think Son ought to have started and the third I was wrong, it wasn't a real test for Liverpool, they were better than us but that doesn't mean they were very good.
As for "clinical" well I don't suppose many people will say we were that.
All that said I am absolutely convinced that had the roles been reversed the whole narrative across the media today would be how Liverpool were robbed by an incorrect refereeing decision in the last minute not to gove a blatent penelty and the Liverpool faction would be screaming about a conspiracy against them.

 

[gerishep]

Where did you get this info, because all I heard was that he wanted to stay at CP?

Obviously you move in the wrong circles.

 

[1882andallthat]

I've stopped paying attention to what fans and pundits of other clubs have to say, it's better to just ignore them as they do tend to go OTT and gloss over things.

Having said that, what does that say about us? Liverpool weren't great but still beat us! And it could have been worse!

What it says about us is that we put in a sub par performance and deservedly lost, as we did against Watford, the point I was trying to make is that Liverpool are not as great as they are being hyped up to be, and and equally we are not as bad as many are claiming just because we have lost two in a row I.e the truth tends to lie somewhere between the two. Liverpool were gifted 3-4 gilt edge chances by us on top of the two goals and failed to take any of them, and very nearly ended up losing 2 points, so you could also say, what does it say about them. Before these two games we beat Utd at OT without hitting top gear so what does it say about Man Utd, Watford put as much pressure on Man Utd as they did against us and on another day it could just as easily have been a Watford 2-1 against Utd and a draw or a 2-1 away win for us or two draws in both games, margins are fine.

It has often been said and I think that it has some truth in it that when Eriksen doesn't play well for us we struggle overall more often than not, although it's not all down to him but he a chance on Tuesday to quickly transfer his form for Denmark of late to an excellent performance for us and its up to him and a few other big name players who have underperformed for us to step up to the plate.

 

[parj]

This summer saw clubs like west ham and Fulham to name a couple who spent big although hammers are yet to get going, I think it shows that the days of levy trying to find a bargain and getting a stiffy over it are gone.
You either pay the money for what your after or go without this summer fiasco with grealish showed exactly to the rest of the premier league that we refused to compete and will suffer those consequences as a result of a short sighted view.

We were after Grealish, Martial and Zaha. Villa new owners didn't sell, Man Utd didn't want to sell to PL and Zaha was apparently going to Chelsea but he still at Palace, right?

Clubs don't have to sell. Sissoko is an example of buying for the sake of buying.

 

[shelfboy68]

We were after Grealish, Martial and Zaha. Villa new owners didn't sell, Man Utd didn't want to sell to PL and Zaha was apparently going to Chelsea but he still at Palace, right?

Clubs don't have to sell. Sissoko is an example of buying for the sake of buying.

If we wanted grealish then we should have done the deal earlier but instead chose to try and wait until deadline day to get him on the cheap the new owners coming in only served to show how incompetent we were, and as for zaha did Chelsea really want him Im sure if the money was offered he would be there now it was most likely agent talk again as i say to buy no-one was a terrible decision.

 

[shelfboy68]

Just woken up after a 22 hour round trip to Wembley and back. After reflecting on the game yesterday i'm feeling more indifferent than angry. I think the game yesterday was more about our own failings rather than anything else. For the first 70 minutes all the chances liverpool made were through our own mistakes rather than carving us apart aside for the first few minutes.

The worrying thing was how easy they neutralised us in the second half tactically, we really struggled and they never really got out of second gear. If they decided to they could have put a few more past us but i think they were actually a bit wary of us themselves especially after Moura's chance just before they got the second.

First half they edged it, the difference being they were more incisive with what they were doing and when we kept presenting them with chances through giving the ball away we were going to get punished. The whole first half was cagey from both sides and the momentum of a first goal was crucial. Who ever got it would go on to probably win the match. It is fine lines at the top, we made those fine lines like chasms with our own mistakes. I've never seen it as bad as that.

Yet to see the highlights or match re-run, i don't particularly want to, but i seen Vorm get a lot of stick online but from where i was sat it seem he kept us in the game at some points, certainly in the stadium it felt like the fans were appreciative of his efforts. So was surprised to read it, but he always has been disposable in some fans eyes.

A lot of work to do. But poch as always got the players to bounce back after lows, and i suspect the same will happen again. Onwards and Upwards.

We are so easy to stop as we lack creative options and any real pace dembele only ever goes around in circles then passes sideways and backwards, so to stop that doesn't really take much tactical nous we do not play with the speed and intensity that city or Liverpool do.

 

[shelfmonkey]

The optimal time to eat a pregame meal is three hours before kick off. The meal would be catered at Wembley, players get there and avoid the traffic. Hour to eat. Hour for treatment, rub, walk the pitch, etc. Final hour to get ready, do the warm up and kick off.

Worked a treat!

 

[shelfmonkey]

Do you honestly believe we will be able to compete with City/United/Chelsea/Liverpool when the stadium is paid up? Look at Arsenal right now.... Thats what we will become if we wait. As it stands i cant think of a single Arsenal player who gets into our team..... Not one player. The way i see it Arsenal are fast becoming a mid tier team. This is a result of not investing season on season with quality additions.

So many posters in the TW bemoaned our lack of ambition our lack of signings and not because they just wanted too. We dont want to become another Arsenal/Everton/Leicester etc.

Waiting to pay the stadium off is not the answer. Its scouting NOW, identifying targets NOW and most importantly getting them at the START of a transfer window and not at the end of it.

We did not freshen up the squad nor did we sell some average players, who i will not single out. We all know that CM was a glaring area of weakness... It required 75-90 million of outlay on 2-3 players in this area to give us every opportunity to stay relevant and compete in that top 4 bracket.

No point having a shiny new stadium which only benefits Enic.... I want to see us compete not just make up the numbers, because thats what waiting to pay off the mortgage will do.

No, we'llnever compete with the money clubs because Levy doesn't give a shit about trophies/glory, it's all about the money, nothing more nothing less!!

 

[Deleted member 27995]

For a squad of players, the nucleus of which has carried us to our most successful finishes over the past few years, it's almost as though half of them have forgotten how to play together.

They lack direction.

Not good enough, the second half we looked even more devoid of ideas than in the first.

 

[ajspurs]

We were after Grealish, Martial and Zaha. Villa new owners didn't sell, Man Utd didn't want to sell to PL and Zaha was apparently going to Chelsea but he still at Palace, right?

Clubs don't have to sell. Sissoko is an example of buying for the sake of buying.

We were supposedly after them, Grealish is the only one we knew we were after for sure or at least to an extensive degree. Personally, I don't think it would have taken a whole window to know whether Zaha or Martial were out of range for us or not anyway. I honestly think there was just a stage where we realised for whatever reason, that we weren't going to spend a certain amount of money and that it was going to be a bargain deal for Grealish or nothing.

We are so easy to stop as we lack creative options and any real pace dembele only ever goes around in circles then passes sideways and backwards, so to stop that doesn't really take much tactical nous we do not play with the speed and intensity that city or Liverpool do.

This is why the team setup from the start felt so wrong. Once we were in possession, what were our options? A long ball to Kane to try and hold it up or a long ball for Moura to spring onto. Also, I just don't get it from Poch's perspective, he obviously wanted Trippier and Rose to be offensive options too, but why? Why on Earth would you have our fullbacks high up the pitch as offensive options when you know that Salah and Mane are lurking in behind. Dembele and Winks already nullifies creativity in the team and the way Eriksen is playing right now you're not gonna get much from him either. There was just nothing on when we were in possession of the ball. It's probably what contributed to so many individual errors too, I don't quite think the players were used to the lack of options when they had the ball. I honestly thought it was terrible tactics from Pochettino, just awful.

 

[SpursDave88]

There is some real delusion here about Liverpool not being that good and the margins being fine.

It prob should have been a 4-0 win for Liverpool and it was probably the most one sided home defeat we have had for 3 or 4 years.

I think it's over for this group of players here and they know it.

We are a club with no ambition and we will get nowhere near City, Liverpool or Chelsea. The players and manager know this, so what is the point in them trying anymore. I thought Kane was absolutely pathetic but Poch was the worst, the team and formation was an embarrassment. It was clear after 5 minutes that it wasn't working but he persisted.

 

[SdB]

They were not better than us, we handed them the win. Never seen so many mistakes from this team or so many players off form.

They were miles better than us on the day.
Tactics spot on. They pressed us like we used to press teams which led to breaking fast and cutting through our midfield at will
Whatever happened to our pressing

 

[SdB]

We were after Grealish, Martial and Zaha. Villa new owners didn't sell, Man Utd didn't want to sell to PL and Zaha was apparently going to Chelsea but he still at Palace, right?

Clubs don't have to sell. Sissoko is an example of buying for the sake of buying.

So in the whole world of football there were only 3 players we didn't get that we apparently wanted. In two cases because Levy fucks about trying to get one of his wonder deals and players on the cheap.
I think the fact is we needed to offload before we could buy and we didn't offload.
We now have a squad littered with average players that Poch clearly doesn't want to see/trust in starting X1

 

[Deleted member 27995]

So in the whole world of football there were only 3 players we didn't get that we apparently wanted. In two cases because Levy fucks about trying to get one of his wonder deals and players on the cheap.
I think the fact is we needed to offload before we could buy and we didn't offload.
We now have a squad littered with average players that Poch clearly doesn't want to see/trust in starting X1

I don't disagree with this but on the other hand, as the main man, isn't it his job to get the players he has at his disposal to do a job on the pitch? You get paid to coach or manage or whatever it is they do these days, and even though most of those he may not trust don't seem to be involved, the ones he does aren't currently doing what he asks either.

Not good.

 

[parj]

So in the whole world of football there were only 3 players we didn't get that we apparently wanted. In two cases because Levy fucks about trying to get one of his wonder deals and players on the cheap.
I think the fact is we needed to offload before we could buy and we didn't offload.
We now have a squad littered with average players that Poch clearly doesn't want to see/trust in starting X1

No but they were the 3 players we were linked with the most in ITK. But if you have first hand info on others I'll happily add them to the list of players that clubs didn't sell to us

 

[Sweetsman]

Obviously you move in the wrong circles.

You're right, I don't move inside your head.

 

[Sweetsman]

There is some real delusion here about Liverpool not being that good and the margins being fine.

It prob should have been a 4-0 win for Liverpool and it was probably the most one sided home defeat we have had for 3 or 4 years.

I think it's over for this group of players here and they know it.

We are a club with no ambition and we will get nowhere near City, Liverpool or Chelsea. The players and manager know this, so what is the point in them trying anymore. I thought Kane was absolutely pathetic but Poch was the worst, the team and formation was an embarrassment. It was clear after 5 minutes that it wasn't working but he persisted.

We started playing better after five minutes; most of their chances came when we gifted them the ball and I didn't see much pressing that caused those particular mistakes. What was lacking was bravery on the ball and poor execution of moves. Despite all this, they did not take advantage of their clear-cut chances and got their goals from our mistakes. The main issue was losing control in midfield through mindless positioning and passing, eg Eriksen could have easily taken the ball down, rather than heading it back to no one; once Robertson had the ball, Trippier's job was to defend.