Barclays Premier League – October 7th 2007
Liverpool 2 Tottenham 2
Reaction:
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez: “Of course we are disappointed. The character was fine, we worked hard but we conceded two very bad goals, the sort we do not normally let in. We made two bad mistakes and both goals were easy to defend against. Those two mistakes cost us. They were so clear, so easy to stop. It is not normal to see us concede goals like that.
“We were much better than them in the first half, we could have scored a few more. We controlled the first half and should have been 3-0 up but we didn’t take our chances. Then we made some mistakes defensively and that left us with a difficult second half. I always say when you are 1-0 up and you have good chances you have to take them.
“We showed character to come back and get a draw in the end but we must be disappointed not to have taken the three points.”
Spurs boss Martin Jol: “I do not know about the future, I do not pull the strings and I do not have any control over the scenario. If I did, everything would be quiet. But see my team, they want to fight and they fight every game. The players always stay the same, it is very positive.
“We could not get the third, we had the breaks and that would have ended it. I just couldn’t understand how we didn’t achieve that. Everyone has said we deserved to win, and that is how we feel. In particular in the second half we were on top of them and caused a lot of problems.
“That was good. They had suffered a bad defeat against Marseille in midweek and we knew they would want to do better and we expected a difficult match, then we conceded a goal like that at the beginning, which didn’t help.
“I felt we did well to come back into the game. We raided quickly, were strong in midfield and Robbie Keane scored a couple of good goals, but in the end it was a bad result for us. But we have got a great spirit, everyone can see that, we have done a lot of travelling in midweek to Cyprus and then up here to Liverpool. It has been a difficult time for us. But we took a lot of confidence from this.”
Teams:
Liverpool: 25 Reina, 3 Finnan, 23 Carragher, 4 Hyypia, 17 Arbeloa (19 Babel, 63), 16 Pennant (18 Kuyt, 69), 20 Mascherano, 8 Gerrard, 6 Riise, 10 Voronin (11 Benayoun, 77), 9 Torres
Unused subs: 30 Itandje, 21 Lucas
Goals: Voronin 12, Torres 90
Tottenham: 1 Robinson, 2 Chimbonda, 20 Dawson , 5 Kaboul, 3 Lee, 6 Tainio (15 Malbranque,75 ), 8 Jenas, 4 Zokora, 16 Bale, 10 Keane, 9 Berbatov
Unused subs: 12 Cerny 18 Defoe, 22 Huddlestone, 30 Gardner
Goals: Keane 45, 47
Bookings: Dawson 63
Stats: (Liverpool – Spurs)
Possession: 56% – 44%
Shots on target: 9 – 6
Shots off target: 12 – 5
Corners: 5 – 3
Fouls: 19 – 10
Referee: Mark Halsey
Attendance: 43,986
Half-time: 1-1
What is it with foreign managers and the Premiership? They have one good season soon after arriving then the team fades into mediocrity. The only exception to this is Arsene Wenger, so he really is something special. And I dont count Houllier as he had lived here as a student and knew something about the way we play the game, and he had had a couple of years with uncle Roy to get to know the ins and outs of the English game.
However, once they use the success to try and impose their continental values, it all goes pear shaped. I bet the same will happen to Sven at Man City. Why?
Because English football is technically bereft but played at 100 mph, because that is the way we like it. We dont want central defenders knocking the ball about at walking pace and waiting for an opening to slide the ball in front of whoevers turn it is to dive near the penalty area and score from the free kick, then put 10 men behind the ball.
We dont want rotation of five players for each position, so that every time we watch we see a completely different team, who have never played with each other before, and possibly not even met each other before. If Carra can play 60 matches a season with broken ribs and a punctured lung, I’m sure that a couple of strikers can do the same.
A team is not going to win the Premiership unless their manager understands the English game, and how to keep that understanding going through the whole season. Much as I hate ManU, Ferguson has this spot on.
Mourinho is an unfair comparison, as any manager should be able to do something with £200m worth of players, even if he doesn’t like most of them.
So, please, please, please can we next time pick a manager that is British?
A simple message to John. Any match in the Premiership is going to be intense, difficult and very much about what truly motivates each player on any particular day to produce a favourable result. Spurs bought big in the summer too, and have had rotten luck since – how else can you explain their season thus far?
That said, I do agree, that a lack of continuity in the team this early on is not helping matters. What we need is a solid dependable front line, that can be changed during a match if need be. If at least until all are comfortably sorted into this team. Great Red sides were always this way, with a new guy being eased into an already well-functioning team. True, we havn’t reached those levels of greatness for too long, but perhaps the side that beat Derby should have been used a the basis.
Anyway, I definately feel Rafa will steady the ship, and never forget, Torres is simply awsome 😉