When the season kicked off, there would have been hope that Tottenham Hotspur could make a decent fist of things in the cup competitions, with a reasonably deep squad and limited fixture congestion with no European football. Those hopes were dashed with regards to the EFL Cup as Spurs visited one of their graveyards in the form of Anfield, as they went down 3-1 to Liverpool in an exciting and hard-fought match.
There was heavy rotation from both sides, with both Roberto De Zerbi and Andoni Iraola
already conscious of the potential for injury to players; De Zerbi especially so given Spurs’ recent history. De Zerbi made eight changes to his XI from the goalless draw against Everton, while Iraola made ten following Liverpool’s matching scoreline against Fulham.
The volume of changes briefly appeared to manifest as a lack of cohesion and quality for both sides, with neither initially able to string multiple passes together, but Spurs were the side to adjust earliest. They were soon on the front foot, culminating in a massive early chance for Lucas Bergvall. Conor Gallagher played a well-placed through ball to the path of Destiny Udogie down the left, whose square ball found the late run of the Swede, who had ghosted in towards the penalty spot. A goal looked guaranteed but for the outstretched leg of Giorgi Mamardashvili, who somehow pulled off a save despite diving the wrong way.
Liverpool soon had a chance of their own, as Rio Ngumoha fed a pass through to Lewis Koumas, who ran off the back of Marcos Senesi. His attempt was saved by Martin Dubravka, but Ngumoha was soon involved again as Liverpool opened the scoring. Ngumoha dribbled at Udogie, with a piece of bad luck as the Italian stuck a foot in to make a tackle causing the ball to squirt out in Alexis Mac Allister’s direction. The Argentine struck it first time from the top of the box and Dubravka was left stranded as the ball sailed into the top right corner.
Further chances followed for both sides: Mohammed Kudus could have done better with an Udogie square ball, skying his attempt, while MacAllister could have doubled the lead after Spurs gave the ball away in their own half and Koumas cut the ball after receiving the ball from James McConnell. Despite the numerous chances, though, there remained a solitary goal in the cup tie with Liverpool taking their lead into the half.
It didn’t take long for Liverpool to increase their lead in the second stanza with the simplest of goals. The ball found its way to Cody Gakpo on Liverpool’s left, and he took one touch to create the smallest amount of space between him and Archie Gray before striking the ball firmly into the side netting with Dubravka once more unable to do much about the goal.
Changes for both sides followed as Spurs kept pushing for a goal. A mazy run by Omar Marmoush should have resulted in more, as the ball fell to Kudus who shot with Mamardashvili saving, but with nobody on hand to knock home the rebound. Marmoush should have done better with a chance of his own when fed by Bergvall, but took an extra touch and went down under contact. On replay, it could have potentially been a penalty, but instead once more Spurs walked away from a dangerous attack with nothing.
That soon changed though as Spurs opened their account with a goal from Gallagher. It was an excellent delivery by Mateus Fernandes on a corner kick, with the ball dipping over the outstretched arms of Mamardashvili, who had been smartly blocked off by Senesi. It was a simple headed finish by Gallagher, with Spurs back in the match with the score at 2-1.
Spurs were heavily on the front foot, but Liverpool still had chances of their own, with one coming thanks to a poor Tosin Adarabioyo giveaway just outside his own penalty area. The ball came to substitute Dominik Szoboszlai who wasted the chance, shooting straight at Dubravka. Spurs continued to be similarly profligate: A deflected Marmoush shot looked like it would sneak in, but Mamardashvili reacted brilliantly to palm the ball over; and Savio beat Milos Kerkez easily before dragging a shot wide.
It momentarily looked like Spurs could find the equalizer, but all their effort was for naught as Szoboszlai struck a killer blow with a sumptuous strike. The ball bounced out to the Hungarian around 30 yards out, as he volleyed a rocket of a strike into the top corner and secure the 3-1 result for Liverpool.
Reactions
- Hey, Spurs scored a goal, and against a Premier League opponent!
- Look, the result is disappointing, but there are a lot of positives to take from this in what was probably Spurs’ best performance of the season.
- Would it even be reasonable to say that Spurs got #football’d? xG was 1.53 to 2.34 to Spurs, with Spurs creating three big chances to Liverpool’s two, but the ball just wouldn’t go in the net for the Lilywhites, while Liverpool were just lethal with some unbelievable finishes.
- Lucas Bergvall had probably one of his best performances of the season, and part of that was being paired with Bentancur in the first half and Fernandes after the Uruguayan was subbed off. He looked a million times more comfortable as the more dynamic role in the double pivot, as opposed to when he’s played alongside Sandro Tonali with that matchup just not really working.
- Another who has looked to have taken a step up this season is Archie Gray. He’s not a right back, and it’s hard to blame him too much for Gakpo’s goal, but the pseudo-inverted role he played in this match suited him well, with some excellent runs and good passing into space. He’s getting better and better.
- That was a nasty piece of contact from Cody Gakpo on Rodrigo Bentancur early in the second half. It was clearly unintentional, but one of those follow-throughs that VAR might have been tempted to look at, if VAR had been available, similar to Marmoush going down; was he clipped without a touch on the ball?
- I’m not sure it’s going to work for Mathys Tel at Spurs. The guy is fast, and strikes the ball well… but every time possession comes out to the young Frenchman play just completely stops. He has very little awareness of his teammates or the defense, and that sort of game intelligence isn’t something that just appears out of nowhere. I really want it to work for him, but it’s getting harder to say it will.
- Fernandes HAS to play in central midfield. He was fantastic after coming on, and Spurs went up another level thanks in large part to his passing. In fact, all of Spurs’ best performances so far this season have been with him in the double pivot.
- Look, it’s disappointing, but it’s just one of those games. Regardless of the result, it was a strong performance and De Zerbi will be hoping the team can build on that against a struggling Aston Villa side this weekend.
- COYS.
