Igor Tudor has been unable to claim many positives in his short reign but he has finally earned the first point of his tenure. Tottenham were a match for Premier League champions Liverpool and after missing a collection of chances, the former Everton forward Richarlison became the most unpopular of villains.
After Guglielmo Vicario failed to keep out a Dominik Szoboszlai free-kick, it felt like a Liverpool victory was inevitable but they could not build on the opener, a regular shortcoming. Tudor was planning for a familiar feeling at the final whistle until Richarlison fittingly scored with a scuffed effort at the end of a match short on quality. It was the Brazilian’s sixth clear cut chance, with the previous misses giving the expectation that Tottenham were set for a familiar feeling.
Tudor had kept his job for another weekend despite the desperate performances and situation the club he inexplicably coaches finds itself in. Injuries have not helped Tudor, who could only name seven substitutes, including two goalkeepers, although that was a sensible policy at the midweek implosion at Atlético Madrid. Thirteen players were unavailable to Tudor, resulting in another formation rotation, as 4-4-2 got the nod at Anfield, creating a coherent unit in the process.
For a team supposedly completely devoid of confidence after five straight league losses and a calamity of a Champions League defeat, Tottenham had a degree of zip about their play. Dominic Solanke troubled Joe Gomez with his running in behind and Souza forced Alisson into tipping a rising thunderbolt over the bar in the opening quarter hour.
Unfortunately, Tottenham are not known for their decision-making and tripping up a marauding Alexis Mac Allister 30 yards out with Szoboszlai on the pitch was an error. With the fragility of the Tottenham goalkeeping situation the Hungarian’s whipped shot only needed to be on target – Vicario got a big hand to it, only to push it into the corner. The Italian’s positioning was questionable because the ball was aimed at the centre of goal. The error was not of the standards of Antonin Kinsky but it was another the visitors could ill-afford.
Tottenham dropped very deep whenever Liverpool earned possession, inviting them to find a path through their yellow wall. It led to a number of half-chances as Liverpool’s domination of the ball and territory did not turn into goals, expecting that victory would find them rather than the other way round.
The visiting side’s defensive discipline was keeping them in the game, having instilled greater composure and organisation, two concepts lesser seen under Tudor. The hosts were not particularly worried about being hurt at the other end, although Richarlison almost scored but he saw one header go wide and another palmed away by Alisson, warnings Liverpool did not heed.
Tudor brought his usual array of head shaking and animated behaviour on the touchline. He received a booking for questioning Chris Kavanagh’s decision to not book Rio Ngumoha for diving after the 17-year-old winger made the most of contact in the box.
The Liverpool fans were more happy to see Ngumoha’s fearless play on another underwhelming afternoon. He had two chances early in the second half, firing one well wide and the other too close to Vicario but he was certainly justifying Slot’s faith in him. Having someone eager to hug the touchline and go round full-backs is a rarity in the modern game, where wingers are trained to cut in. The variety was being embraced at Anfield, who gave a weary teenager a standing ovation when he departed on 64 minutes.
Liverpool lacked the rhythm that made them Premier League champions, as they put in another stuttering performance. While Tottenham were forced to send on two teenagers for Premier League debuts, Slot could call upon Mohamed Salah, Hugo Ekitiké and Curtis Jones when making a triple change but it did not have the desired effect of overpowering Tottenham.
“I think we’ve not been clinical enough throughout the whole season,” Slot said. “Tell me why, it’s not the quality of the players, I can tell you that. We have unbelievable attackers and throughout their whole career were able to score a lot of goals. But it’s not only not scoring the goals, it’s also if you want to have a successful season, if you are not able then to score the second or the third goal then you make sure you don’t concede.”
It was a very competitive and combative game, even if the performances were not of the highest level. Tottenham showed the commitment lacking in recent fixtures, putting in the last-ditch tackles and blocks when it matters. They were effectively playing on the break and Richarlison got the better of Virgil van Dijk but not Alisson after latching on to a pass over the top. The margins between the two teams were becoming finer.
The home crowd were getting increasingly tense as Liverpool failed to find a second. They were right to be concerned as Richarlison eventually found the equaliser that had previously eluded him in the 90th minute, scuffing the ball into the corner to wrongfoot Alisson, to give Liverpool fans a familiar feeling of not killing off a game, while Tottenham supporters were reminded that football can be enjoyable.
