What a disappointing night for Spurs fans. Not only did we lose, but Arsenal won which put them into 1st place (for now). This was our chance to put some space between us and Liverpool for the 4th spot, as well as psychologically driving the final nail into their already miserable season of a coffin. We didn't, and now there are 4 teams including us and Liverpool within 1 point of each other for the last Champions League spot.
My thoughts on the game can really be grouped into 3 categories. Although they may sound like excuses, they really aren't. Liverpool outplayed us and deserved to win. They played with the hunger you'd except them to play with given their current situation in an important fixture in front of their own fans.
1 - Personnel
In general, I'm a bit disappointed that this match had to be played now considering the injuries on both sides. I know that's just the way things are, but it really changed the game. Liverpool were missing their two superstars, Gerrard and Torres. I'm not sure if they had anyone else out with a recent injury or not. Spurs had to play this match without 3 of their regular starters...Lennon, Huddlestone, and Assou-Ekotto. Although only one of those 3 players (Lennon) is arguably a superstar, all 3 were clearly missed for the same reason: they create opportunities for us. Without them we don't have the continuity from the back and through midfield to feed our talent or create space for them up front.
Assou-Ekotto was replaced by Bale, who I actually like as a player but who is still fairly young. Only this year did Bale end his record streak of being the player who had played in 20+ straight games for Spurs without a win. The biggest issue for me with Bale is that he isn't as good of a defender or possession back as Assou-Ekotto. Even in previous games, I noticed that Bale would boot the ball forward in situations where Assou-Ekotto could make a move and retain possession. This is key when building the attack and controlling the game. A lot of our chances start from maintaining possession at the back and building up the play to a scoring chance.
Huddlestone, before he was sidelined, had started every game up to that point. Although he isn't the best player, his passing is sublime. He is able to make that difficult pass that no one else can make. Not only that, but 9 times out of 10 he makes the right decision. As I said above, he's not the best player but seems to fit given our current squad. He's almost like our quarterback in the sense that he decides which way the ball should go. He usually takes the first pass that starts a play and that eventually creates a chance or two. Without him, it seems like we're unbalanced or players don't know what to do with the ball in the center of the field one they get it.
Of course, we really missed Lennon again tonight. He would have been able to run up and down the field all night long against who Liverpool had to offer. Liverpool aren't the fastest team on the planet. Lennon is the kind of player that causes defenses nightmares because of his speed. As such, he's the main person who creates most of our chances in my opinion. Without him to worry about, life is much easier for the opposition's defense. The point is, he causes so much confusion, chaos and panic, that usually that alone is good for a goal or two even if he doesn't score it or assist himself. He creates space or allows other players to create their own space just due to his presence.
Considering all of our injuries, we had to play Modric out of position on the right side of midfield. He was obviously not his best on that side. So, in essence, we had no wide threats and no one in the middle to link play between the forwards and the defense. Everyone except Palacios seemed out of their element. It's not surprising that we didn't create any real chances and we failed to score for a 3rd time in our last 4 Premier League matches.
2 - Desire
We clearly didn't want this win as much as Liverpool did. I didn't see much hunger out there coming from anyone in a white shirt. As with any sport, that's usually enough to decide who wins and who loses.
Defoe was particularly lazy today. I was disappointed not only in his choices and touch but the fact that he was called offside numerous times mainly just because he decided to walk the 3 steps to get back onside instead of jog. You just never know what could have happened in some of those situations if he would have hustled. For example, Crouch controlled the ball in the box and appeared to be fouled - only it was after Defoe was called for offside. I'm not saying it was a definite penalty but that we never know what would have happened had Defoe gotten back onside. Maybe we would have been awarded the foul and a penalty. We'll never know. The point is, Defoe killed off a few plays like this before they even got started because he was walking it (in my opinion). You just never know what could have happened on a few of those plays.
Corluka, Modric, Jenas, Krancjar - didn't find what I was looking for from these guys either. Corluka and Krancjar were eventually subbed. It's not that they had particularly poor performances. I just didn't get the feel from them that this was an important game...either from their attitude to their urgency to their hustle to even the way they reacted to certain plays or calls. Nerves perhaps? Them showing they've never been in this position before? Who knows. Maybe it was just the simple fact that this was only our second league match in almost a month. That's an explanation, but not a good excuse when you consider every other team is in a similar situation. As I said above, Liverpool just wanted it more and were rewarded for their effort. Maybe that can explain why Liverpool scored in the first 6 minutes from a goal kick (essentially) - lack of concentration.
3 - The Blown Call
I'm not one to talk about the referee much since they make mistakes in every match. However, this was a call that changed the game. Only two things could have been called, offside or a foul on the goalie. However, neither happened.
Long story short, the ball was played through to Defoe who was offside. However, he wasn't "actively" offside. That is, he didn't attempt to play the ball or the defensive player who collected the ball and came back onside. Left alone without any pressure applied by Defoe, the Liverpool defender collected the ball and then decided to pass it back to Reina, the Liverpool goalie. This was after Defoe had come back onside and had allowed the defender to choose what to do with the ball. Defoe charged at Reina, who tried to dribble out of the situation. Reina lost possession of the ball which was kicked into an empty net. Confusion ensued on the field.
First of all, Defoe was not offside in this situation. I'm pretty sure the linesman did not raise his flag to signal offside - which was the correct call. For those who need help determining whether a player is in "active play", here are the rules. FIFA issued new guidelines for interpreting the active offside law in 2003 and these were incorporated in law 11 in July 2005. The new wording seeks to more precisely define the three cases as follows:
- Interfering with play means touching the ball passed or touched by a teammate (that didn't happen - Defoe didn't touch the ball)
- Interfering with an opponent means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent's line of vision or movements or maintaining a position which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent in any way (this didn't happen either. Defoe clearly didn't not try to play the defender/jump back into the play until after the defender had decided who to pass to)
- Gaining an advantage by being in an offside position includes playing a ball that rebounds to the player off a post or crossbar or playing a ball that rebounds to the player off an opponent having been in an offside position (again, Defoe never touched it until the shot)
So, that leaves us with the referee judging Defoe fouled their keeper, Reina. This is the easier of the two possibilities for the referee to claim happened. Neither the commentators, nor I, nor most people would call it a foul though. Essentially, when Reina tried to dribble away from Defoe and then realized that he was in trouble, Reina tried to box him out like a basketball player with his rear end and arms. If anything, Reina could have been called for obstruction on Defoe. Since Defoe was trying to get around Reina, Reina essentially leaned on nothing but air and just fell over since Defoe wasn't there to hold him up. Of course, Defoe got to the ball first and put it into the back of the net.
Neither of these infractions happened. Thank you Howard Webb. Even though Liverpool deserved the win, the best team on the day doesn't always win in football. It's a cruel sport in that way. If the goal would have been correctly awarded in the second half, the game would have been changed completely. We'll never know what the game would have been like. This is the issue with calls the affect goals. They completely change the way the rest of the game would have been played out. So, with all the Spurs attacking options on, Liverpool won a penalty kick in injury time on a counter attack. That wouldn't have happened if the goal was awarded. That's just the way things go though.
In the end, it was a big chance wasted and a disappointing one considering how it happened. The race for 4th is now wide open. On a Spurs podcast the other day, the outcome of this game was summed up nicely. The winner or this game won't necessarily finish 4th, but the loser probably won't. That might be a strong statement, but for Spurs it'll probably prove true. The last 3 out of 5 games of the season see us play the teams that are currently in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in the league. If we had thoughts of finishing 4th, we needed to build up a lead before those games hit back to back to back in April. Without any lead, we'll slip out of contention at the end of the season if not sooner.