Tottenham Goals: Aaron Lennon (8), Gareth Bale (16)
Liverpool Goal: Gareth Bale O.G (72)
In the end I'm not sure what to think. Should I be mad for the way in which the game started and the predictability of the situation we found ourselves in or mildly pleased with the way in which we fought back from that point on. Either way, it won't do anything to change the fact that this was not only the end of an eight game unbeaten run but also shines a light on the fact that we have only won once in the last six games. However optimistic you want to feel, we need to get back on track.
Despite the worries over Downing's positional sense or Steven Gerrard needing a rest there were to be no changes from the same eleven that started at Swansea on Sunday. The game started with both teams very keen to get onto the front foot as the pre match predictions of it being a high tempo affair were to be instantly vindicated. The pitch at White Hart Lane is a very big one and though we passed the ball around carefully and neatly in the opening minute or so, the pressure applied by the home side made it especially important that the movement was good. Steven Gerrard received the ball just inside his own half and within seconds was closed down by three Spurs players. Up top, Jose Enrique was drifting from left to right, making sure to run in behind whenever Suarez would drop deep. It took a couple of minutes for Tottenham to look threatening but when they did it was a case of "blink and you'll miss it" breathless pace from Aaron Lennon as he took the ball a long way only for it to get ahead of him at the crucial moment and allow Martin Skrtel to clear. The game had barely started and already the fuse was lit.
One of the certainties I will take away from this game that hadn't really entered my conciousness before is that Clint Dempsey is someone who makes my blood boil. His first dive of the evening was one that led to absolute mayhem in the penalty area. Gareth Bale hit the valve with his free kick and Reina could only punch it, the ensuing scramble was eventually ended when Glen Johnson managed to tuck it behind for a corner. The danger was there for all to see as Spurs continued to play at an electric pace, something that wasn't helped by the fact that we had no way of playing around it or the intelligence to try and slow it down. Steven Gerrard gave the ball away first, it was simple as he tried to link the play between midfield and attack but dallied on the ball and very nearly saw Gareth Bale score from the left hand side in the resulting counter. If this was to be a warning sign, it wasn't one we'd pay any attention to.
When Glen Johnson tried to force one forward and played it into Michael Dawson, he then laid it back to Bale. What happened next was both excruciating and inevitable in equal measure. With Johnson leaving a gap behind him, Bale made a direct purposeful run forward. Gerrard's attempts to tackle him were easily brushed aside and when he got into position to cross his ball along the back line was perfect. What was the opposite of perfect was the marking of Stewart Downing, who had let Aaron Lennon run twenty yards unopposed to allow him the simplest of finishes. Spurs a goal up within the first few minutes of the game, exactly the way you'd expect them to score and exploiting the very weaknesses that had been muted prior to the game. If this is being right, I'd much rather be wrong.
Whether it was our sense of urgency or simply playing into their hands, there would be no let up in the tempo with which the game was being played. Almost immediately after the goal, out of absolutely nowhere Suarez had the ball bobbled to his feet on the edge of the box and forced a save out of Lloris. Whatever the way in which we were going about it, it was clear that we weren't at all upset by the goal but rather fully ready to roll with whatever punches they could throw at us. The problem with that was whereas they were able to finish their chance when it presented itself, we couldn't. Gerrard had been outmuscled by Sandro but still had enough to battle back and win the ball in midfield. He passed it off to Suarez who played a ball through intended for Jose Enrique. Hugo Lloris comes storming out of his goal and the ball arrives at the feet of Jordan Henderson with the goal gaping, who then lashed it wildly into the stands. Once again it was a missed opportunity, once again we would be made to pay.
It was the same combination that had reeked havoc in our penalty area at the start of the game. Clint Dempsey has had an absolute shocker - going down at the feel of Henderson's breath on his neck - and allowed Gareth Bale to have a shot on goal. His free kick wasn't quite of the same quality of the previous one, but this one had that ever redeeming tangible about it; luck. Brushing the head of Jordan Henderson, this in turn wrong footed Pepe Reina and had him helplessly diving away to his left hand side while the ball settled in his right hand corner. Just over fifteen minutes had been played and Tottenham were already two goals to the good. At this point I feared the worst, that we would be in for a similar style mauling that we suffered on this ground last year. All over the park Spurs players were brimming full of confidence, with Sandro brushing aside Joe Allen before Gareth Bale was the first I've seen in a long while get the better of Glen Johnson.
Trying to steady things up would have been the first priority and with a decent passage of play that was the first real patient build up by either side, at least we kept the ball. There were some twenty passes that saw the ball go back and forth between defence and midfield before eventually Raheem Sterling played Glen Johnson in down the right hand side and he took on Gareth Bale. The chance unfortunately never quite materialized for either he or Suarez and Enrique that were following up as Tottenham were always quick to get a block in. Spurs were quite content to play on the counter now and as such had a lot of players behind the ball when we'd be in control of it, so much so that Daniel Agger was able to break free and stride forward with the ball, albeit with no real end product. As ever our play was being dictated to by inches and the passes which we were making being close but not close enough. Gerrard played a ball over to Downing and his ball was agonisingly behind Jose Enrique and moments later Suarez held off Dawson and forced Lloris into a sharp save at a difficult angle. Despite being two goals down we were starting to boss the game.
Having a two goal cushion should allow a defence room to breath and coupled with how devastating they are on the break, you could see that Spurs were confident in their ability to defend whatever we were throwing at them. Once Tottenham did eventually get the ball back however, they tried to show us that they could play neat passing football as well as we could and held onto it for a long period of time, really making us work without ever overexerting our defence and it was mainly played around in the middle with Dembele linking it all together. Our energy was good all over the park, working hard in terms of movement when we were on the ball and work rate when we didn't. As such they didn't really carve out any chances of note but did alleviate the pressure that we had built up.
With the team looking for a response before half time, again we took full control of possession and tried to squeeze them. It mostly came down the right hand side as Raheem Sterling and particularly Glen Johnson took a real grip of the game. His direct run into the box led to a chance for Enrique and moments later nearly found Henderson with a cross from deep. Then came what could have been a game changing moment and just reward for all our hard work. Suarez had the ball on the edge of the penalty area and threaded a ball through for Steven Gerrard. The ensuing challenge was clumsy to say the least but there was no response by the referee. Suarez even could have had a goal in the aftermath as he followed up and poked it toward goal and would have were it not for Kyle Walker's intervention, who cleared it off the line.
The chances continued to arrive in their number. Suarez was played through by Downing and isolated Dawson but was only able to win a corner. From that set piece there was real trouble for Spurs in the penalty area but after a series of frantic shooting and blocking they were eventually able to get it clear. There was a certain edginess about their defending that belied their goal-line superiority. It looked like they were the team desperate to cling on to something and we were the ones full of confidence and trying to add to our advantage. Having not been able to make it count however, Spurs were able to get some control back in their game and had a few half chances of their own. Vertonghen and Lennon combined with Defoe before the ball was eventually cleared and moments later the Belgian defender had a wild effort of his own.
Perhaps then our best chance of getting back into it - especially given what happened later - was an error out of nowhere from the Tottenham defence. Stewart Downing's cross at nobody in particular was hit against Gallas by Michael Dawson and narrowly behind for a corner instead of an own goal. Half time came after another couple of wild shots from distance, this time by Kyle Walker and Gareth Bale with the latter forcing Reina into a good save. Other than that, it's hard to remember a time when you've been so impressed with the side that's two goals down.
If the fear was that half time would allow Spurs the chance to regroup and we wouldn't be able to have quite the same dominance then I needn't have worried. The second half started as if there were only one team playing. It began relatively calmly with a period of easy possession, that led to Suarez playing Jose Enrique in behind the defence. Had he been able to sort his feet out better then there were people waiting in the box but Jose then scuffed it. The stress we put them under - understandably so at 2-0 down - was incredibly intense and Tottenham couldn't deal with it, constantly giving it away. It should have led to more, especially when they gave the ball up right on the edge of their penalty area and Suarez's cross found Enrique perfectly. He decided to head it back across goal when the right move would have been to test Hugo Lloris. The chance had gone but the momentum was there in abundance.
With the first two decent chances of the half falling to a makeshift winger, moments later we finally managed to get it the right way round with Enrique putting Suarez through on goal. The ball forced him much wider than he would have liked and allowed Lloris to smother it well as Luis tried to cut it back. Tottenham needed to take a breather and yet the game continued to move at a rapid pace. Out of nowhere we nearly shot ourselves in the foot completely - not for the first time this season - when Skrtel's bad touch allowed Defoe to go through on goal but Clint Dempsey took it off him and the chance quickly dissipated. After Jose Enrique nearly barrelled his way through five defenders at the other end they finally did have the chance to slow the tempo down a little. Despite having the chance to counter, Tottenham instead chose to hold onto the ball and pass it around for the first real time.
They were getting back into the game and looked to have survived the worst of it. Gareth Bale's impressive running with the ball couldn't be halted until three players came to deal with him before Clint Dempsey fell over once again and won a free kick, all the time our impetus had started to wane. Brendan Rodgers took this time to call for one of his substitutes and brought on Jonjo Shelvey in place of Jordan Henderson, hoping that the young midfielder would be able to add a much needed goal threat. Of those we already had on the pitch, Jose Enrique was continually making a nuisance of himself whenever the ball would be played anywhere near him and the Tottenham back four. Constantly chasing and not giving up on any lost cause, it helped in making sure that they weren't allowed to simply waste time by knocking it around at the back.
One of the things that makes it easier to play at White Hart Lane - in spite of all the good players that they have at their disposal - is the crowd's ability to get on their own teams back. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly fear can be transmitted from stands to pitch side and a side that really should be in total control might suddenly be up against it through no fault of their opponents. Spurs had not really been comfortable for any real part of the game after those first fifteen minutes and after the way in which they'd begun the second half it was really starting to tell among the fans. Mistakes were beginning to appear which weren't even being brought on by ourselves. We just needed to take full advantage of them.
Time was against us and it looked almost like we were starting to run out of ideas a little. The concession of a few soft free kicks allowed Tottenham the chance to come on to us some more and even though they weren't able to produce any real quality it still broke the game up and made sure we couldn't put anything together. A long shot by Suarez seemed to underline the fact that maybe this wasn't going to be our day but then something changed. Steven Gerrard had already played a wonderful crossfield pass to Glen Johnson some moments earlier but no-one was there and he was unable to make anything happen. On the second occasion however, Johnson was able to combine with Suarez and put in a very good ball which saw Jose Enrique's effort just about blocked. The resulting corner was our way back into the game as the ball flicked off Agger's head and then Gerrard's. William Gallas tried to clear Stevie's header off the line but only ended up smashing it against Gareth Bale's not so handsome face and into the Tottenham net. It was the one thing we'd not had any of in the game up until that point. Luck.
As you'd expect, following the goal there was a clear effort to get right into their faces and as had been the case all game, it didn't take long before we had the ball back and looked to attack once more. They tucked their fullbacks fairly narrow and as such allowed ours to push on, with Gareth Bale doing little to track Glen Johnson and making him an easy outlet - although whenever he did get it Bale was quick to close down the space and not give him a chance for further progression. When our attacks fizzled out and Spurs had the ball back, they were a little confused as to what to do with it. There was no such confusion among our players and though Tottenham had spells where they connected with a few passes, there was always a Liverpool player coming in to make the interception. As such the game was becoming increasingly more frantic and it felt like a matter of time before a fourth - and decisive - goal would be on it's way.
Brendan Rodgers used his last roll of the dice to bring on Assaidi in place of Stewart Downing, moving Jose Enrique back into defence in the process. Though their commitment on the ball was torn between whether to stick or twist, off it Tottenham were very keen and working hard to press us sufficiently in order to keep us at bay. While we were able to pass the ball around, it seemed like there was no real forward momentum in the play. That was until the right gap would appear and it looked to have been found when Skrtel slipped in Suarez down the right hand side, catching the Spurs defence on their heels and erroneously claiming for offside. Bearing down on goal, their defence did just enough to push him out wide and then cut out his attempted cross. Suarez wouldn't have to wait long for another chance, this time it was a little more hopeful and increasingly more difficult. A high ball played into the penalty area saw Agger challenge with two defenders either side of him. When it bounced they fell asleep thinking it would go harmlessly wide only for the Dane to get there and hook it back across goal, whereby Suarez had to take it early and ended up blazing over. Though Spurs were angry at the linesman for not suggesting the ball had gone out of play, they would then be grateful to Moussa Dembele, who went down to kill some time after colliding with Steven Gerrard. Time that was very much against us.
As the tension mounted and the game edged ever near it's close, still the chances came. Suarez was able to hold the ball up and then play in Raheem Sterling but his cross was cut out and then William Gallas was in the right place at the right time to cut out a ball from Suarez to Shelvey that would have seen him all but through on goal. As more risks were needed to be taken we had a succession of corners the second of which Tottenham had a chance to counter but Jose Enrique who was virtually the only line of defence was able to deal with it and knock it safely back to Reina. He would be involved again moments later after another set piece this time a long Agger throw only half cleared which Enrique met on the volley with the curl sending it agonisingly wide. He would continue to be a central figure in what was left of the game, firstly with a ball over the top that a great first touch looked to have put Suarez in between the two centre halves but Gallas was there again to clear. Enrique then fell victim to Aaron Lennon's quickness as the winger looked to hold onto the ball and waste some of the precious few seconds that remained.
Though no-one in the stadium could have begrudged us an equaliser, the storm that we managed to brew up wasn't enough to blow them down. Lloris was relatively untested in the Tottenham goal and even though we fought very hard, as the final whistle blew and put an end to our unbeaten streak the simple fact remained that you can't start a game two goals down, no matter how hard the effort. Perspective has now completely switched from a team that was unbeaten in eight but in spite of the loss our heads shouldn't drop after this performance but the mistakes have to be cut out. The fixture list does get kinder to us for the next couple of weeks and we'll be going into much more winnable games than we have over the last few days. That being said we still have to play well enough to win them.
Liverpool Goal: Gareth Bale O.G (72)
In the end I'm not sure what to think. Should I be mad for the way in which the game started and the predictability of the situation we found ourselves in or mildly pleased with the way in which we fought back from that point on. Either way, it won't do anything to change the fact that this was not only the end of an eight game unbeaten run but also shines a light on the fact that we have only won once in the last six games. However optimistic you want to feel, we need to get back on track.
Despite the worries over Downing's positional sense or Steven Gerrard needing a rest there were to be no changes from the same eleven that started at Swansea on Sunday. The game started with both teams very keen to get onto the front foot as the pre match predictions of it being a high tempo affair were to be instantly vindicated. The pitch at White Hart Lane is a very big one and though we passed the ball around carefully and neatly in the opening minute or so, the pressure applied by the home side made it especially important that the movement was good. Steven Gerrard received the ball just inside his own half and within seconds was closed down by three Spurs players. Up top, Jose Enrique was drifting from left to right, making sure to run in behind whenever Suarez would drop deep. It took a couple of minutes for Tottenham to look threatening but when they did it was a case of "blink and you'll miss it" breathless pace from Aaron Lennon as he took the ball a long way only for it to get ahead of him at the crucial moment and allow Martin Skrtel to clear. The game had barely started and already the fuse was lit.
One of the certainties I will take away from this game that hadn't really entered my conciousness before is that Clint Dempsey is someone who makes my blood boil. His first dive of the evening was one that led to absolute mayhem in the penalty area. Gareth Bale hit the valve with his free kick and Reina could only punch it, the ensuing scramble was eventually ended when Glen Johnson managed to tuck it behind for a corner. The danger was there for all to see as Spurs continued to play at an electric pace, something that wasn't helped by the fact that we had no way of playing around it or the intelligence to try and slow it down. Steven Gerrard gave the ball away first, it was simple as he tried to link the play between midfield and attack but dallied on the ball and very nearly saw Gareth Bale score from the left hand side in the resulting counter. If this was to be a warning sign, it wasn't one we'd pay any attention to.
When Glen Johnson tried to force one forward and played it into Michael Dawson, he then laid it back to Bale. What happened next was both excruciating and inevitable in equal measure. With Johnson leaving a gap behind him, Bale made a direct purposeful run forward. Gerrard's attempts to tackle him were easily brushed aside and when he got into position to cross his ball along the back line was perfect. What was the opposite of perfect was the marking of Stewart Downing, who had let Aaron Lennon run twenty yards unopposed to allow him the simplest of finishes. Spurs a goal up within the first few minutes of the game, exactly the way you'd expect them to score and exploiting the very weaknesses that had been muted prior to the game. If this is being right, I'd much rather be wrong.
Whether it was our sense of urgency or simply playing into their hands, there would be no let up in the tempo with which the game was being played. Almost immediately after the goal, out of absolutely nowhere Suarez had the ball bobbled to his feet on the edge of the box and forced a save out of Lloris. Whatever the way in which we were going about it, it was clear that we weren't at all upset by the goal but rather fully ready to roll with whatever punches they could throw at us. The problem with that was whereas they were able to finish their chance when it presented itself, we couldn't. Gerrard had been outmuscled by Sandro but still had enough to battle back and win the ball in midfield. He passed it off to Suarez who played a ball through intended for Jose Enrique. Hugo Lloris comes storming out of his goal and the ball arrives at the feet of Jordan Henderson with the goal gaping, who then lashed it wildly into the stands. Once again it was a missed opportunity, once again we would be made to pay.
It was the same combination that had reeked havoc in our penalty area at the start of the game. Clint Dempsey has had an absolute shocker - going down at the feel of Henderson's breath on his neck - and allowed Gareth Bale to have a shot on goal. His free kick wasn't quite of the same quality of the previous one, but this one had that ever redeeming tangible about it; luck. Brushing the head of Jordan Henderson, this in turn wrong footed Pepe Reina and had him helplessly diving away to his left hand side while the ball settled in his right hand corner. Just over fifteen minutes had been played and Tottenham were already two goals to the good. At this point I feared the worst, that we would be in for a similar style mauling that we suffered on this ground last year. All over the park Spurs players were brimming full of confidence, with Sandro brushing aside Joe Allen before Gareth Bale was the first I've seen in a long while get the better of Glen Johnson.
Trying to steady things up would have been the first priority and with a decent passage of play that was the first real patient build up by either side, at least we kept the ball. There were some twenty passes that saw the ball go back and forth between defence and midfield before eventually Raheem Sterling played Glen Johnson in down the right hand side and he took on Gareth Bale. The chance unfortunately never quite materialized for either he or Suarez and Enrique that were following up as Tottenham were always quick to get a block in. Spurs were quite content to play on the counter now and as such had a lot of players behind the ball when we'd be in control of it, so much so that Daniel Agger was able to break free and stride forward with the ball, albeit with no real end product. As ever our play was being dictated to by inches and the passes which we were making being close but not close enough. Gerrard played a ball over to Downing and his ball was agonisingly behind Jose Enrique and moments later Suarez held off Dawson and forced Lloris into a sharp save at a difficult angle. Despite being two goals down we were starting to boss the game.
Having a two goal cushion should allow a defence room to breath and coupled with how devastating they are on the break, you could see that Spurs were confident in their ability to defend whatever we were throwing at them. Once Tottenham did eventually get the ball back however, they tried to show us that they could play neat passing football as well as we could and held onto it for a long period of time, really making us work without ever overexerting our defence and it was mainly played around in the middle with Dembele linking it all together. Our energy was good all over the park, working hard in terms of movement when we were on the ball and work rate when we didn't. As such they didn't really carve out any chances of note but did alleviate the pressure that we had built up.
With the team looking for a response before half time, again we took full control of possession and tried to squeeze them. It mostly came down the right hand side as Raheem Sterling and particularly Glen Johnson took a real grip of the game. His direct run into the box led to a chance for Enrique and moments later nearly found Henderson with a cross from deep. Then came what could have been a game changing moment and just reward for all our hard work. Suarez had the ball on the edge of the penalty area and threaded a ball through for Steven Gerrard. The ensuing challenge was clumsy to say the least but there was no response by the referee. Suarez even could have had a goal in the aftermath as he followed up and poked it toward goal and would have were it not for Kyle Walker's intervention, who cleared it off the line.
The chances continued to arrive in their number. Suarez was played through by Downing and isolated Dawson but was only able to win a corner. From that set piece there was real trouble for Spurs in the penalty area but after a series of frantic shooting and blocking they were eventually able to get it clear. There was a certain edginess about their defending that belied their goal-line superiority. It looked like they were the team desperate to cling on to something and we were the ones full of confidence and trying to add to our advantage. Having not been able to make it count however, Spurs were able to get some control back in their game and had a few half chances of their own. Vertonghen and Lennon combined with Defoe before the ball was eventually cleared and moments later the Belgian defender had a wild effort of his own.
Perhaps then our best chance of getting back into it - especially given what happened later - was an error out of nowhere from the Tottenham defence. Stewart Downing's cross at nobody in particular was hit against Gallas by Michael Dawson and narrowly behind for a corner instead of an own goal. Half time came after another couple of wild shots from distance, this time by Kyle Walker and Gareth Bale with the latter forcing Reina into a good save. Other than that, it's hard to remember a time when you've been so impressed with the side that's two goals down.
If the fear was that half time would allow Spurs the chance to regroup and we wouldn't be able to have quite the same dominance then I needn't have worried. The second half started as if there were only one team playing. It began relatively calmly with a period of easy possession, that led to Suarez playing Jose Enrique in behind the defence. Had he been able to sort his feet out better then there were people waiting in the box but Jose then scuffed it. The stress we put them under - understandably so at 2-0 down - was incredibly intense and Tottenham couldn't deal with it, constantly giving it away. It should have led to more, especially when they gave the ball up right on the edge of their penalty area and Suarez's cross found Enrique perfectly. He decided to head it back across goal when the right move would have been to test Hugo Lloris. The chance had gone but the momentum was there in abundance.
With the first two decent chances of the half falling to a makeshift winger, moments later we finally managed to get it the right way round with Enrique putting Suarez through on goal. The ball forced him much wider than he would have liked and allowed Lloris to smother it well as Luis tried to cut it back. Tottenham needed to take a breather and yet the game continued to move at a rapid pace. Out of nowhere we nearly shot ourselves in the foot completely - not for the first time this season - when Skrtel's bad touch allowed Defoe to go through on goal but Clint Dempsey took it off him and the chance quickly dissipated. After Jose Enrique nearly barrelled his way through five defenders at the other end they finally did have the chance to slow the tempo down a little. Despite having the chance to counter, Tottenham instead chose to hold onto the ball and pass it around for the first real time.
They were getting back into the game and looked to have survived the worst of it. Gareth Bale's impressive running with the ball couldn't be halted until three players came to deal with him before Clint Dempsey fell over once again and won a free kick, all the time our impetus had started to wane. Brendan Rodgers took this time to call for one of his substitutes and brought on Jonjo Shelvey in place of Jordan Henderson, hoping that the young midfielder would be able to add a much needed goal threat. Of those we already had on the pitch, Jose Enrique was continually making a nuisance of himself whenever the ball would be played anywhere near him and the Tottenham back four. Constantly chasing and not giving up on any lost cause, it helped in making sure that they weren't allowed to simply waste time by knocking it around at the back.
One of the things that makes it easier to play at White Hart Lane - in spite of all the good players that they have at their disposal - is the crowd's ability to get on their own teams back. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly fear can be transmitted from stands to pitch side and a side that really should be in total control might suddenly be up against it through no fault of their opponents. Spurs had not really been comfortable for any real part of the game after those first fifteen minutes and after the way in which they'd begun the second half it was really starting to tell among the fans. Mistakes were beginning to appear which weren't even being brought on by ourselves. We just needed to take full advantage of them.
Time was against us and it looked almost like we were starting to run out of ideas a little. The concession of a few soft free kicks allowed Tottenham the chance to come on to us some more and even though they weren't able to produce any real quality it still broke the game up and made sure we couldn't put anything together. A long shot by Suarez seemed to underline the fact that maybe this wasn't going to be our day but then something changed. Steven Gerrard had already played a wonderful crossfield pass to Glen Johnson some moments earlier but no-one was there and he was unable to make anything happen. On the second occasion however, Johnson was able to combine with Suarez and put in a very good ball which saw Jose Enrique's effort just about blocked. The resulting corner was our way back into the game as the ball flicked off Agger's head and then Gerrard's. William Gallas tried to clear Stevie's header off the line but only ended up smashing it against Gareth Bale's not so handsome face and into the Tottenham net. It was the one thing we'd not had any of in the game up until that point. Luck.
As you'd expect, following the goal there was a clear effort to get right into their faces and as had been the case all game, it didn't take long before we had the ball back and looked to attack once more. They tucked their fullbacks fairly narrow and as such allowed ours to push on, with Gareth Bale doing little to track Glen Johnson and making him an easy outlet - although whenever he did get it Bale was quick to close down the space and not give him a chance for further progression. When our attacks fizzled out and Spurs had the ball back, they were a little confused as to what to do with it. There was no such confusion among our players and though Tottenham had spells where they connected with a few passes, there was always a Liverpool player coming in to make the interception. As such the game was becoming increasingly more frantic and it felt like a matter of time before a fourth - and decisive - goal would be on it's way.
Brendan Rodgers used his last roll of the dice to bring on Assaidi in place of Stewart Downing, moving Jose Enrique back into defence in the process. Though their commitment on the ball was torn between whether to stick or twist, off it Tottenham were very keen and working hard to press us sufficiently in order to keep us at bay. While we were able to pass the ball around, it seemed like there was no real forward momentum in the play. That was until the right gap would appear and it looked to have been found when Skrtel slipped in Suarez down the right hand side, catching the Spurs defence on their heels and erroneously claiming for offside. Bearing down on goal, their defence did just enough to push him out wide and then cut out his attempted cross. Suarez wouldn't have to wait long for another chance, this time it was a little more hopeful and increasingly more difficult. A high ball played into the penalty area saw Agger challenge with two defenders either side of him. When it bounced they fell asleep thinking it would go harmlessly wide only for the Dane to get there and hook it back across goal, whereby Suarez had to take it early and ended up blazing over. Though Spurs were angry at the linesman for not suggesting the ball had gone out of play, they would then be grateful to Moussa Dembele, who went down to kill some time after colliding with Steven Gerrard. Time that was very much against us.As the tension mounted and the game edged ever near it's close, still the chances came. Suarez was able to hold the ball up and then play in Raheem Sterling but his cross was cut out and then William Gallas was in the right place at the right time to cut out a ball from Suarez to Shelvey that would have seen him all but through on goal. As more risks were needed to be taken we had a succession of corners the second of which Tottenham had a chance to counter but Jose Enrique who was virtually the only line of defence was able to deal with it and knock it safely back to Reina. He would be involved again moments later after another set piece this time a long Agger throw only half cleared which Enrique met on the volley with the curl sending it agonisingly wide. He would continue to be a central figure in what was left of the game, firstly with a ball over the top that a great first touch looked to have put Suarez in between the two centre halves but Gallas was there again to clear. Enrique then fell victim to Aaron Lennon's quickness as the winger looked to hold onto the ball and waste some of the precious few seconds that remained.
Though no-one in the stadium could have begrudged us an equaliser, the storm that we managed to brew up wasn't enough to blow them down. Lloris was relatively untested in the Tottenham goal and even though we fought very hard, as the final whistle blew and put an end to our unbeaten streak the simple fact remained that you can't start a game two goals down, no matter how hard the effort. Perspective has now completely switched from a team that was unbeaten in eight but in spite of the loss our heads shouldn't drop after this performance but the mistakes have to be cut out. The fixture list does get kinder to us for the next couple of weeks and we'll be going into much more winnable games than we have over the last few days. That being said we still have to play well enough to win them.
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