George Gillett may have a strange take on the definition of a blip, his considered analysis of a moribund season for Liverpool, but at least there is some respite for Rafael Benítez. His team could not afford to fail against Tottenham Hotspur if their prospects of a top-four finish were to retain more life than their Champions League, FA Cup and Carling Cup campaigns and a resolute display kept Harry Redknapp’s team in sight in that contest last night.
For all the rancour and recrimination Liverpool are now just a point behind Spurs after Dirk Kuyt’s early goal lifted the tension around Anfield and his late penalty after Sébastien Bassong had brought down David Ngog heralded a determined response from Benitez’s men. It is now Redknapp with cause for alarm in the race for Champions League qualification.
This was never likely to be a Liverpool XI to enrapture with its quality but the spirit shown since that abysmal FA Cup defeat by Reading a week ago suggests the threats to reputations and employment have galvanised Benítez’s team. A siege mentality has grown not only on widespread criticism but the loss to injury of Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard, Yossi Benayoun, Glen Johnson and Daniel Agger – the combined source of 58% of Liverpool’s goals this season – and a change in tack from Benítez himself.
The Liverpool manager rarely strays into emotive, soundbite territory in press conferences, or at least not on the topic of his team’s prospects, so his admission that Tottenham represented “make or break” for the season demonstrated the seriousness of his side’s plight. A reaction from a demoralised squad was more pressing than the Spaniard’s usual diplomacy, and from every player on display, whether accustomed to the pressure like Jamie Carragher, or desperate to fill the injury void and answer their many detractors, such as Philipp Degen and Sotirios Kyrgiakos, he received one.
Carragher called the Liverpool team into a huddle before kick-off and led by zealous example throughout, manically so at times. Tottenham were made to look subdued by contrast and resembled another of those European scalps stunned by Anfield’s hostility until finally beginning to pass their way dangerously around the Liverpool midfield late in the first half.
Liverpool pressed from the off with Carragher, captain in the absence of Gerrard, flying into both Wilson Palacios and Niko Kranjcar to concede a blatant free-kick that he protested against with a creditable impression of innocence. His next challenge was also illegal, although the visitors could not benefit as it was inflicted on Javier Mascherano, while a rampaging pursuit of a lost cause brought Anfield to its feet at the end of the first period when it resulted in a Liverpool corner. From Albert Riera’s delivery, Kuyt had a goalbound header hacked clear by Gareth Bale and Martin Skrtel sent the subsequent rebound wastefully high over Heurelho Gomes’ crossbar.
A goal at that point would have given Liverpool the rare luxury of a comfortable two-goal lead, after Kuyt had taken only six minutes to atone for the miss that cost his side a precious victory at Stoke City on Saturday. The breakthrough came via route one with a polished touch. José Reina saved a low cross from Bale at the third attempt with Kranjcar closing in and, from his launched clearance, Kuyt chested the ball expertly into the path of Alberto Aquilani, who rolled possession back to the Dutchman. Kuyt seized his rare opportunity to lead the Liverpool line with a measured finish from 18 yards into Gomes’ right-hand corner.
Tottenham took more than 30 minutes to shake off their lethargy and match Liverpool’s endeavour, although their approach was unlikely to brook many complaints from the home side. A central defence of Kyrgiakos and Martin Skrtel offered an open invitation to the pace and movement of a Jermain Defoe or Luka Modric but, as they showed at the Britannia Stadium, that pairing was more than comfortable with an aerial assault. For the majority of the first half Redknapp’s team barely troubled the Liverpool defence, with too many hopeful long punts presenting Peter Crouch with a forlorn task against his former club.
It was the 45th minute before Spurs displayed the invention required to unsettle Liverpool, Jermaine Jenas and Wilson Palacios combining to release Modric who was unable to beat Reina with a low shot to the goalkeeper’s left. That opening shaped the visitors’ tactics after the interval and the improvement was marked, with Jenas testing Reina from 20 yards, although Liverpool engineered the better chances.
Riera, making his first start since the goal-less draw at Blackburn on 5 December, headed against Gomes’ bar from a Carragher cross and Degen should have doubled the advantage only to lose his nerve completely with just the Brazilian to beat. Kuyt was again at the heart of the Liverpool threat, seizing on a defensive error to burst clear and release Degen into acres of space on the right. As soon as Anfield realised it was the Swiss full-back with the game at his mercy the noise dropped. They clearly knew what was to come, as Degen declined to shoot and sought out a return to Kuyt instead, only to play the ball behind his aghast team-mate.
Premier LeagueLiverpoolTottenham HotspurAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk
