Whatever lingering hope there may have been of us catching Man City for 4th has now finally gone after we could only draw with Spurs. Not that it’s a bad result, far from it. Spurs are excellent so this was a decent enough point. The damage was done with other pitiful results, not least the one last time out at Southampton.
This was a good, close game between two sides who play a very similar style going at each other with no quarter asked or given. It would have been nice to win it, but the draw was a fair reflection of an enjoyable game and I’ve got no complaints about the result or performance.
There was a lot to like about some of our play but we also made a lot of what looked like unnecessary mistakes too. The first half was particularly strange. We did a lot of good things and had Spurs reeling at times, yet we often looked like we were going to shoot ourselves in the foot and do something stupid. Can was doing some dopey things, Sakho was at his erratic worst and there was a bit of uncertainty with Mignolet not coming out for things he should and then coming for things he shouldn’t. Moreno wasn’t filling me with any confidence either, but then he never does.
When we weren’t making daft, needless errors, we looked half decent and it was an entertaining half I thought. We had the better of it in terms of chances and Lloris had to make two great saves to deny Lallana, as well as a fairly routine one to foil Sturridge. That was the best chance of the half and one he normally buries without even thinking.
Coutinho had played him in with a perfect pass and in that situation Sturridge always side foots the ball wide of the keeper into the corner. He’s scored tons of goals like that but for some reason he went for the Benteke approach of just hit it at the keeper and hope it goes through him. I couldn’t believe he missed that, it was just so un-Sturridge like.
Lallana has been in good form lately and he played well again. A particular highlight was him Cruyff-turning the shit out of Dembele and putting him on his arse in the middle of the park in the second half. Johan may no longer be with us, but his spirit lives on!
Lallana was involved in anything good we produced in the first half. It felt like he was playing a one man pressing game at times, as he’d chase people down and then look behind him to see no-one else had followed. A couple of times he looked exasperated about it but it never stopped him from continuing to do it.
On one occasion he won the ball in the final third and then played a precise pass to create a chance for Milner that went begging. I’ve mentioned this before, but Milner seems to be at full stretch with every single thing he does, whether it’s tackling or shooting. He had to stretch to control the pass and by the time he’d reset his feet to get his shot away a defender had gotten over to block.
Lallana was unlucky not to get a goal himself after a delightful - yeah you guessed it - Cruyff turn and shot from the edge of the box that Lloris turned around the post. The French keeper then clawed away a mis-hit shot from Lallana that looked like it would loop over him.
Spurs didn’t really create anything themselves in the first half and their most dangerous moments were usually as a result of us giving them the ball in dangerous areas. Mignolet made a straightforward enough save from Eriksen and Kane had two sights of goal after mistakes by Sakho. Lovren was the covering defender on each occasion and he did enough to put him off. The first one Kane dragged a shot wide and the second was blocked superbly by the Croatian, who seemed to spend most of the first half covering for the hapless Sakho.
No-one sums us up more than Sakho. He’s a microcosm of this team. When he’s good, he looks fucking great. The problem is that just like the team as a whole, he’ll play well for three games and then inexplicably piss down his own leg in the fourth one.
He was an absolute train wreck in that first half, every time he did something good he looked like he’d go and ruin it by doing something mental. The crowd loved one back heeled flick pass he played on the edge of his own box, but it pissed me right off. Yeah, it came off and it looked great, but what happens when it doesn’t come off and it goes straight to the other team and they score?
I have no problem with some of the high risk high reward passes he pings into the feet of his attackers, but completely unnecessary shit like that is going to get him into trouble. He settled down in the second half and I don’t remember him doing too much wrong, but that first half…. *shakes head*.
Can was the same. Him and Sakho played each other into trouble with underhit passes a few times and he took a step back in this game after some really good performances in recent weeks. He was better in the second half but in that first period Henderson had to do an awful lot of work covering for mistakes of his team-mates. Hendo was a positive, he looked more like himself I thought, even though he had his hands full trying to go toe to toe with the monstrous Dembele.
We took the lead six minutes into the second half and it was a lovely goal. Coutinho played a one two with Sturridge and then just rolled it into the corner from just inside the box. The little Brazilian was dazzling in the second half and Kyle Walker was repeatedly left embarrassed. He couldn’t get near Coutinho and if it was boxing match it would have been stopped. Unless it was the same ref as the Eubank Jr fight last week.
Spurs aren’t the soft touch they once were though and responded really well to going behind. Both teams had their chances as the game really opened up. Mignolet made a great save to deny Eriksen and then Son volleyed inches wide. For us Coutinho was looking menacing every time he got the ball and he produced an inch perfect cross for Sturridge who couldn’t keep his header down.
It felt like Spurs were beginning to get on top though and we ended up dropping deeper and deeper. That’s fine if you can play on the break, but that wasn’t happening and we were struggling to get out.
The equaliser felt like it was avoidable. It looked like the ball was going out of play and maybe we switched off for a second because of that. Eriksen kept it in and prodded it hopefully towards Kane. The danger still seemed minimal but then all of a sudden Kane had turned and drilled a shot into the bottom corner. A momentary lapse from Lovren had contributed to it but it was only a marginal error. You can’t let Kane get on his right foot as he’s lethal, but Lovren oversold himself for a split second and allowed the turn. Still, I’d say that was more about great striking play then bad defending and overall Lovren was excellent again.
Kane didn’t even celebrate the goal, he just ran back to the centre circle and wanted to get on with looking for the winner. Spurs were all business and I was impressed with them. Fair play to their fans too, who bucked the trend of coming here and singing about Gerrard falling over and how we’re all on the dole (perhaps the most stupid chant in football, I mean as if anyone on the dole could actually afford to go the match these days) and instead just supported their own team. If they do win the title they’d be worthy winners and the least unlikeable Champions since Blackburn. I still hope Leicester do it, but I bear Spurs no ill will and give them a lot of credit.
Anyway, the tide of the game had changed now and Sturridge was replaced by Origi in a move that everybody in the ground saw coming except Sturridge himself it seems. He was offering nothing at that point and the game was getting away from us because we had no pace to play on the break. At one point I watched us trying to counter attack and I looked at Sturridge chugging away, and it was startling just how slow he actually looked. He’s never been an out and out flyer, and his style has always been languid, but he was pretty damn quick and he’d get away from people easily. Now I reckon he’d lose out in a sprint to Per fucking Mertesacker.
Either he’s lost his pace completely, or he’s scared to go full throttle in case he breaks down. If it’s the latter I can’t blame him. None of us trust his body so why should he? It’s let him down so many times it would be understandable if he felt he couldn’t run flat out. What is not understandable is his stinking attitude to being substituted.
Klopp once decided against signing a striker who had been strongly recommended to him by his scouts on the basis that he didn’t like the player’s goal celebration. Instead of celebrating with his team-mates he was milking the glory himself, and Klopp didn’t like it because as we know he’s all about “team first”. Not only does Sturridge do that solo celebration, he also tries to sell merchandise of himself doing it!
In all seriousness I’m sure Klopp isn’t concerned about his goal celebration (and nor should he be), but walking off the pitch like that after being subbed is a different kettle of fish altogether. I reckon Klopp will have hated that as much as many of us did, probably even more. Who does he think he is, the cheeky selfish bastard.
We had some momentum going there, the crowd were into it and we had a corner. His number goes up, but the gobshite took an absolute eternity to get off the pitch and just halted whatever momentum we’d built. It’s usually the opposition manager that looks to do that and Pochettino must have been pissing himself. It’s inexcusable, Sturridge is a self absorbed dick who at times gives off the impression that he’s only in it for himself.
Compare him with Lallana, who was subbed a bit later and just ran off without any messing about or histrionics. I’m not praising Lallana for that as it’s exactly what you’re supposed to do (unless you’re winning and looking to waste some time of course), but it is worth highlighting the difference between a player who puts the team first, and one whose main concern often appears to be himself.
Sturridge knew exactly what he was doing and he knows that shit is unacceptable because every player knows it from when they are little kids. If you do that when you’re an Academy player, the coaches will tear you to shreds and it will be explained in no uncertain terms why you don’t do it. Sturridge seemingly thinks because he’s some big shot he can do what he likes, but he’s wrong. I’ve suspected for a few months that Klopp probably thinks he’s a dick, but I’d put my mortgage on it now. Being unhappy about being subbed is fine, but walking off like a fucking sloth and hurting your team in the process is most certainly not.
A lot of people were ripping him for being lazy and looking disinterested. I’m not going down that road as given his fitness issues I can certainly give him the benefit of the doubt on all that stuff, plus I always think he plays better when he’s got a strike partner anyway. Walking off like that after being subbed though, there’s no defence or mitigating circumstances for that, it’s just the actions of a twat.
There’s a big part of me would like to see him dropped for Origi now, even though I accept that’s probably cutting off our nose to spite our face. I like Origi’s enthusiasm but I wouldn’t back him to score a goal when we need one. He did well when he came on here though and we got a bit more of a foothold in the game with him up there, as he was able to take the fight to the Spurs defenders and trouble them with his pace.
He set up Coutinho for a great chance that he dragged an inch or two wide, while the closest we came to winning it was when the Brazilian turned Walker inside out once again and drilled a shot from a tight angle that would have gone in had it not clipped the heel of Lloris and rolled agonisingly across the face of goal.
It should have been a corner but the Main Stand linesman didn’t give it. Referee Jon Moss was bad, but this clown with the flag was woefully inept and barely got a decision right all day. At one point I thought Milner was going to lay him out after he didn’t give us the most blatant of corner kicks. I didn’t even get worked up about that one because by that stage I was sick to death of our fucking corners anyway. Spurs were more likely to score from one of our corners than we were.
I can’t believe Milner is still taking them, but it’s not just on him. His delivery hasn’t been good but those in the middle are all stood around like fucking statues. There’s no movement in there, nobody attacking the ball, they’re all stood around hoping it just lands on their head. So sick of it now, it’s fucking pathetic. I don’t expect us to be West Brom, but we’ve got to be better than this surely? It’d be nice to get the odd cheap set-piece goal once in a while as it makes things so much easier.
Spurs obviously gave it a right go in the closing stages as they’re in a title race, but we matched them and overall it was a fair result I’d say. They had more of the ball but we had the better chances. They’re a good side but they’re not better than us. By that I mean our best is every bit as good as their best, if not better. They’re much more consistent though and that’s why they’re up at the top while we’re bumming around with Stokes and Southampton in mid table.
We need to find that consistency if we are to get back up there, and I’d like to see us add a couple more physically imposing players this summer as it felt like we were having to give absolutely everything we had to compete with Spurs, especially in midfield where Dembele had people bouncing off him. Him and Dier are a right couple of big bastards, but they’re strong all over the pitch and they’re difficult to play against because of how they combine that brawn with work rate.
Yet despite this, we’d have won this game had Sturridge been up to par. You’re only as good as your strikers and Spurs are flying because they’ve got a great one. We’re floundering because we haven’t. We thought we had, but it’s beginning to look like he’s broken, either physically or mentally, and possibly both.
Star man is Coutinho just ahead of Lovren.
Team: Mignolet; Clyne, Lovren, Sakho, Moreno; Can, Henderson; Milner (Ibe), Lallana (Allen), Coutinho; Sturridge (Origi):
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