Liverpool returned to winning ways in the Premier League with a generally good showing and plenty of goals as they beat Tottenham 4-2. Oh, and we scored first!
Liverpool 4-2 Tottenham
Premier League (36), Anfield
May 5, 2024
Goals: Salah 16′, Robertson 45′, Gakpo 49′, Elliott 60′; Richarlison 72′, Son 77′
One of our better ‘slow starts’
Five or six minutes into this game it was looking marginally ominous.
Tottenham hadn’t created anything dangerous exactly, but they had had all the possession in our half, were committing players forward and were looking the more progressive side.
Given our propensity this season to concede first and need a big response, fans could be forgiven for thinking this would be more of the same – especially those watching at home.
TV broadcasters quickly delighted in showing up Spurs’ lead in touches in the box, passes in the final third and so on, yet by the halftime break it read 14-1 in the Reds’ favour for shots, 8-0 for on target and 2.27 – 0.04 for xG.
In this instance, despite a slow start in tempo terms, the Reds did actually look in control of the situation, settled themselves…and blew the opposition away.
Salah serves an end-of-season reminder
After a handful of games where it looked as though he’d never seen, let alone kicked, a football, Mo Salah looks back.
The Egyptian King scored, was at the centre of at least one potential penalty incident, hit the bar, hit the post, had one saved on the line and had another saved for our second goal – all before half-time.
OK, the crossbar was probably more of an intended cross, the post was offside and the two shots saved led to better chances for others – Harvey Elliott and Andy Robertson – but Salah was nonetheless at the heart of everything.
As our best forward, he should be the one we’re seeking to get in the best positions with the most frequency, but for weeks it’s been scuffed chances, pointless shots and wasted, inaccurate, half-hearted attempts.
This time around he was in dangerous areas with regularity, we gave him service and he consistently either made it count or was very close to doing so.
That said, a three-yard miss with an attempted right boot was pretty bad!
Young gun runs and Bajcetic is back
It’s end-of-season stuff perhaps, meaning teamsheets aren’t neccesarily as notable as they would be a month ago or midway through the campaign, but it is impressive all the same how Jarell Quansah has made himself a go-to in defence.
Only involved originally due to Joel Matip‘s long-term injury, the centre-back has become first choice of late – also in part due to Ibrahima Konate‘s poor form, it must be said.
Quansah’s involvement this term has been far more than expected, generally excelling as a rookie and was good again here.
Even so, moments have exposed his lack of seniority – see his failure to recognise Richarlison’s run for his goal for 4-1 as a good example.
Harvey Elliott continued his recent glut of starts to impress far more from the first whistle than he has done previously, including a glorious goal from range.
And, finally, the long-awaited return of Stefan Bajcetic is to be celebrated; he was briefly excellent last term in a desperately bad Liverpool team, but his future progression will now be for a new manager to enjoy, not the boss who gave him his breakthrough.
That said, Bajcetic’s introduction and one or two of the others’ definitely hampered the pace and flow of Liverpool’s play – and the young Spaniard looked a long way off the pace.
The two Tottenham goals came soon after and our own chances mostly dried up – almost as though this game was, as a whole, an irrelevance.
Season in a nutshell
Well, if you were away travelling, living under a rock or just decided not to watch Liverpool until the end of the season, there’s no need for the 2023/24 review DVD. This 90 minutes will do you just fine!
A fairly strong start, some flowing football, some decent goals, then a bit of a collapse near the end.
As mentioned above, substitutions were a part of this.
The cohesion of the team looked good in spells, non-existent in others. We were solid in the first half, ragged in the second. We had almost 2.3 xG by half time and 2.74 by full time.
A few players kept going; Cody Gakpo deserves a positive mention, Trent Alexander-Arnold was definitely better in this game than any other since his return and Alisson made a save or two.
However, this was largely a game of two-thirds good, one-third poor, in a season of exactly the same.
As if we didn’t have enough season parallels, a late goal being ruled out because Darwin Nunez was offside just about summed things up.
Two games left
Alright, we all know we’ve blown it and the title isn’t really happening. But Liverpool are, mathematically, still able to win the Premier League with two matches remaining.
But, the fact is all we’ve really managed here is to lift the gloom a bit, gloom we imparted on ourselves through dismal showings against Everton and Crystal Palace in particular.
Still, it feels relevant, if not of vital importance now, that Jurgen Klopp‘s tenure does not end in relentless disappointment and ill-feeling.
And there was a danger of that after the above games and those against Atalanta and Man United, the manner of our cup exits and the fact we were close to four potential trophies but will end with only one.
Perfection is sought, not demanded, so missing out on trophies would have been understandable if we had been beaten by better teams rather than ourselves being so poor.
But that’s at an end for now. Three more points are on the board and Tottenham won’t be in the Champions League next season as a result of this win, more than likely.
So let’s continue, finish strong and wrap up the end of an era on a lesser, but still positive, note.
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