Spurs 2 v Liverpool 1: Match Statistics, Manager Reaction and Head-to-Head results

Match Statistics

Attendance: 35,935

Stadium: White Hart Lane

Teams:

Tottenham: Gomes, Assou-Ekotto, Corluka, King, Bassong, Palacios, Huddlestone, Modric (O’Hara ’84), Lennon, Defoe (Pavlyuchenko ’92), Keane (Crouch ’62)

Liverpool: Reina, Carragher, Insua, Johnson, Skrtel (Ayala ’75), Gerrard, Mascherano, Lucas, Babel (Benayoun ’68), Torres, Kuyt (Voronin ’79)

Referee: Mr Phil Dowd

Referee rating: 5. Not a great day for Dowd. He was involved in three big penalty decisions, and the general consensus is that he should have given two of the three, instead of just the one. The first penalty was a cast iron penalty, and Dowd dutifully awarded Liverpool the spot kick. The second remains the controversial penalty; many felt Assou-Ekotto shoulder barged Voronin off the ball in the area. I personally think Voronin can feel hard done by as I was in two minds over whether it was a penalty or not. Needless to say Benitez was furious when Dowd waved play on. The third shout was never a penalty, a cross hit Assou-Ekotto on the hand but it was definitely ball-to-hand rather than hand ball. Aside from these penalty decisions, Dowd had a reasonable game, though many will fell he was slightly card happy, handing out 6 yellows (three for each team) in total.

Yellow Cards:

Tottenham: Gomes, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon

Liverpool: Carragher, Skrtel, Mascherano

Red Cards: None

Manager Reaction

Harry Redknapp:

I thought we deserved the win today. We were much the better side and could have been two or three up by half-time with a couple of great opportunities. Liverpool had a few chances- a few penalty shouts but I did not think Liverpool’s shout for a second penalty was right as Assou-Ekotto had just eased Voronin off the ball. It is the kind of bread-and-butter stuff that defenders do week in, week out. The ball was also running away from Voronin, so no penalty in my eyes. No penalty.

We have a much stronger team than last year and we can do well. Bassong, Palacios, King- all fantastic players and we will strenghten again if we can.

We want to put a team out here that can finish in the top six. We need to push on and if the right player became available that would improve us we would have a go.

Rafa Benitez:

The decision were very poor. Everyone could see the first one was a penalty. The second one was handball but we knew that would not be a penalty. With this referee, I knew another penalty was impossible.

Head to Head Results

#1. Robbie Keane v Jamie Carragher

In my match preview, I identified the possible battle between Peter Crouch and Jamie Carragher. In the end, Redknapp decided to partner Defoe with Robbie Keane instead, a decision I’m sure Carragher would have been pleased about. Crouch’s size and aerial threat make him a tough striker to defend against, so I can imagine Carragher breathing a sigh of relief when he realised Crouch was on the bench. In his place stood Robbie Keane, another good striker but a striker suffering from a lack of goals and a (apparent) lack of confidence. The game had barely begun for Carragher when he was off the pitch receiving treatment for a nasty clash of heads with teammate Martin Skrtel, and his afternoon didn’t get a hell of a lot better. Keane had numerous chances in the first half and, had he been in a more clinical mood, could have had a hat-trick.

WINNER: He might not have scored, but Robbie Keane had a number of chances and Carragher struggled to stop him breaking into the Liverpool box.

#2. Ledley King v Fernando Torres

On paper this looked as if it would be one of the closest fought battles, in reality there was no contest. King had Torres in his pocket all day and never looked as if he was struggling against one of the best forwards in the world. Torres definitely wasn’t in top form and looked out of fitness. Numerous reasons for his lack of energy have been cited, ranging from his Confederations Cup involvement to a niggling injury he picked up during pre-season. Either way King was in tremendous form and barely put a foot wrong. We’ll miss him for the Hull game when he’s out (in accordance to the one week one game rule he has to abide by).

WINNER: King, no question. Torres wasn’t in great form and will need to improve if he is to help fire Liverpool to the top of the table.

#3. Sergeant Palacios v Steven Gerrard

This was always going to be a closely fought battle. Both men are vital to their respective teams and the outcome of this head-to-head was always going to influence the result. Gerrard was in good form and converted Liverpool’s penalty to get the game back on level terms, but the Liverpool captain looked as though he was missing the skill of Xabi Alonso playing behind him, and Liverpool seemed slightly toothless without him in midfield. Alonso’s replacement, Lucas, wasn’t in the same class and was anonymous for most of the match. Palacios meanwhile was in devestating form, and showed a new side to his game by bursting forward on numerous occasions ad testing Reina with a stringing long shot.

WINNER: Palacios. Gerrard had a good game, but Palacios was fantastic throughout, and picked up the man of the match award after the game.

#4. ‘Arry Redknapp v Rafa Benitez

Benitez opted to play Babel on the wing instead of Benayoun- a big mistake. Babel was awful and Liverpool also suffered from the loss of Xabi Alonso, Lucas just isn’t good enough to replace him. Tottenham’s new signings all fared well and Redknapp’s 4-4-2 formation worked well with both Modric and Lennon getting forward well on the wings. Huddlestone and Palacios added some steel to the midfield, whilst the presence of Seb Bassong alongside Ledley King strengthened our defence no ends.

WINNER: Harry Redknapp got his tactics right whilst Benitez will be cursing the loss of Xabi Alonso.

The Match Preview can be found here, the Match Report can be found here and my thoughts on the action can be found here.