Match Report: Liverpool 1 Spurs 1 (Woolwich 2 Leeds 1)

 

Match Report: Liverpool 1 Spurs 1 (Woolwich 2 Leeds 1)

As it says in the headlines… we drew, but Woolwich won, which means there is a 4-point gap between the Plastic-Gunners and us. So, not only do we need to beat them on Thursday, but Woolwich need to drop points after that.

  After the battle of North London, their next games are against Newcastle and Everton, while we face Burnley and Norwich City. It is going to be close.

In my previous article, I predicted that we would win 2-1; sadly, I was wrong. But watching the game, it wouldn't have been impossible as we came close many times to nearly winning the match. But alas…

The travel for Mel and myself took just over 3 hours, with a stop in a friendly pub for a nice meal on the way. Then back on our travels. We parked on a council estate, where somebody was letting their drive out (at a price, of course). Then a five minutes walk to the stadium.

We passed the famous gates on the walk to the stadium where it read, "You'll never walk alone," so I stopped to ask a security guard (a scouser, of course) if this area was safe. He looked at me puzzled and said, sort of angrily, what do you mean? I pointed to the sign, "well," I said, "it says up there '" Never walk alone,"' puzzled…  then it suddenly dawned on him… anger turned to a smile (probably followed – in his head – "what a count!" if only they could spell right… even in their minds, the sewage would flow more evenly!). I thought I would try that out a few more times (as one does when they are bored), including to Lisa, our Tottenham Security/ liaison office, but to the consternation of Mel. Well… why not? If it works once, flog it to death, that is what I say...

Once in, we met Terry and Ian and chatted for a while, finally finding our seats.

On the subject of our seats; it is the first time I've come across – at away matches – seats with railings for protective standing… and even though I am not in favour of standing (you have no choice at times), they are a marked improvement on just solely standing. When you just stand, you have no support, and trust me, when you've got a bad leg (or have some other disability), you need support… with bars; you can lean on a bar or sit on the back of the seats with the railing as support. People stand anyway, so why didn't they roll them out years ago?

I've written about this before. Going to away matches and just standing in your seat area is a tragedy waiting to happen. If you get people pushing forward, it will cause many injuries or even deaths. But… only casualties fine-tune the mind to getting something done… just look at the Hillsborough disaster. But it does cause many years of headlines for the people in the know… so probably worth it for some…

Anyway… a little sidetracked there… back to what really matters… not deaths and tragedies, but football results.

Mel wasn't supposed to sit next to me as it was somebody else's seat, but when the guy came to claim his seat, he kindly went to Mel's place.

Liverpool manager Klip-Klopp said after the game that he couldn't see Manchester City slipping up in the Premier League title race after his side dropped precious points at Anfield for the first time since October in a draw with us. What a Wayne Kerr… this is just verbal banter between Saudia Arabia and the Yanks. Everybody knows it isn't over until the fat waddling penguins come home to roost. Klip-Klopp is just playing mind games.

The result did take Klip-Klopp's team top on goal difference, but Pep Guardiola's side leapfrogged them when they beat Newcastle United 5-0. And now have a better goal difference. Fingers crossed! So… it looks like Klip-Klopp could be right after all. What a count… sorry for any miss-spelling!

Tactics, dear boy, it is all about tactics…

Son swept our counter-attacking style in front after 56 minutes following a link-up between Harry Kane and Ryan Sessegnon and with the Liverpool defence disorganised.

Liverpool swept forward for an equaliser, but it took a deflected shot from Luis Diaz 16 minutes from time to rattle our cage and draw level. We continued to defend with steadfastness after the equaliser and were also a threat on the break as we fought to take something from the game and augment our top-four challenge.

Of course, you've got to give the scousers credit; at least they maintained their unbeaten Premier League record - which now stretches to 16 games, including 13 wins and three draws - but time will tell how damaging this failure to beat us will be as the title race reaches its peak ejaculation. My heart bleeds!

Liverpool tried to swarm over us from the start. Still, once the early storm blew over, they could not carve out many clear openings against our resolute defence, in which, I must give credit,  Cristian Romero was unquestionably outstanding.

We showed who had the biggest cocks

Our must need-keep manager, Conte, once again showed his nous as a coach as he organised his players to execute a game strategy that irritated the scousers and almost brought us an impressive win.

Thoughts

Standing on the balcony watching us play, the team showed that we were fiercely well-disciplined. Our ability to rise to the occasion is proved by the fact we have now come through our four league meetings with Liverpool and Manchester City undefeated this season. And if we had only beaten the teams on the lower levels, it could have been us, not them, that was fighting for the league title. We need a bomb firing woodworks display to get rid of that horrible word, "Spursy", and finally stand amongst the elite of football, not the clowns of Bubble-blowing-Woolwich-Rent-Surfers of anonymous laughs. But that is for another day… but are you listening, Mr Levy? Keep Conte and give him the resources.

We showed two sides to our game as we were stupendous in defence and carried a serious threat on the break, creating enough chances to regret not getting three points. Son's goal showed precisely what we were all about as Kane controlled the ball brilliantly, passing up the opportunity to shoot instead of playing in Sessegnon, whose cut-back was finished off by Son.

Our performance will give us fortitude going into Thursday's north London derby at home. As I said right at the beginning, we are now in fifth place, four points behind the Woolwich-Gunners.

But saying all that, we were happy we got a draw… many loyal Spurs supporters thought we would get fuck-all from this game. Instead, we ended up denting the scousers' chances and creating a wabble in our hopes of overtaking the Woolwich-Dial Square-Gunners… but we live in hope and dreams. Shit happens… it is called Arse-anal… just hope that shit is pointing in the right direction come the end of the season, and the Uranus-Woolwich-Arse get covered in it.

… and now to something completely different…

When I woke up this morning, I read on my phone that the Tottenham trust have come out with a statement that the crowd singing "Sign on" at the Liverpool stadium, must stop. Like the "Yid” word, they were advised to stop it by the powers that are; instead, the singing of the word intensified. There is nothing like telling Tottenham fans not to do something, for them to do something. Rightly or wrongly, football supporters are a law upon themselves… and when you get such a statement, it makes things worse, not better. And it isn't just Tottenham supporters doing the singing…  other teams were/ have been at it.

The chant is an adaptation of Liverpool anthem You'll Never Walk Alone, which features the line "walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart", changed to "sign on, sign on, with a pen in your hand – and you'll never get a job".

The Tottenham Trust said, "… we were disappointed to hear the 'sign on' chant at Saturday's away match at Anfield. Poverty and joblessness are not fair game for banter. There is a cost of living crisis throughout England, including in London."

The club said they "fully endorse the statement made by our official supporters' group".

The song dates back to the 1980s when rival fans used it to taunt both Liverpool and Everton about soaring unemployment in the city. The two clubs have also been targeted with the "Feed the Scousers" chant.

What are your thoughts? Should the fans continue with their chants, or do we revitalise the Liverpool area and update such songs to things more appropriate… whatever that appropriateness is?

Until next time… support your local food banks!

COYS!

Glenn