One of the great things about a Liverpool victory is that we can usually expect some sort of highlight package to filter out in the hours and days after the match has ended. It's no secret that we're quite fond of those videos around here---from the brilliance of Luis Suarez at Fulham to the five goal romp against Birmingham, we've celebrated the opportunity to reflect on quality performances from the squad and its individuals.
What we typically don't do, or rather don't have the opportunity to do, is post any sort of every-touch compilation for losses. Which makes sense, as there's been a few instances in which Liverpool have had sparkling individual performances despite troubles for the squad as a whole. For better or worse, the players in the squad have gone as the collective has gone. And, unfortunately, it was no different against Spurs on Sunday.
LTHD :::SPORTYHUHHHDDD::: by Special2011
Of the few positives worth highlighting from the match was the continued form of John Flanagan, who, after shuttling back and forth between left and right back in the past few matches, played very well. There was little to criticize about the teenager's performance---he was active and aggressive, making a number of important stops defensively and getting forward at every opportunity. There's no sense in bringing up the penalty decision, which should have never been awarded and was arguably just as much of a foul on Steven Pienaar as it was on Flanagan. Six weeks ago we were lamenting an endless amount of injuries to the back line, but without that we wouldn't have been provided with the chance to see Flanagan's emergence, which has been one of the highlights of the second half of the season.
There's also a mention for the newly-sleeved Jonjo Shelvey, who was able to bottle some of his energy and produce a fairly effective display after coming on. He's been improving since he regained full fitness, and after a couple of overly wild substitute appearances, along with a few forays into the back line, he's strung together two quality appearances. His effort from distance was one of the only real chances for Liverpool in the second half, and, even though it wasn't sustained, he provided a spark.
The rest that's worth discussing has already been covered in Noel's post from Monday---both the original work and the fantastic comments it's produced have been great to read. The discussion about Andy Carroll is going to continue well into the summer and the start of the new season, and I think we're all waiting with a sort of anxious curiosity about how things work out. It goes without saying that we all hope it's positive, and while the early signs are mixed, there's plenty of time between now and August for things to get sorted.
And lastly, a couple brief reminders before you head on your merry way:
* Make sure you do the poll thing that's going on here and at Oh You Beauty, Paisley Gates, and Anfield Asylum. Noel's put a tremendous amount of effort into getting this thing going, and it's nice for all of us to see other folks taking part and having their say. Every other day you'll be able to find the polls here, but today things are spread out---Oh You Beauty has the Worst Loss, Paisley Gates is running the Performance of the Season, and Anfield Asylum has the beautifully written Goal of the Season.
* Let us know if you're interested in writing a guest post over the summer; we've already received some contact about getting involved, and we'd greatly enjoy having others participate. Email us at liverpool[at]theoffside[dot]com if you think it's something you'd like to do, and we can talk about the hows and whats and whens.
That's it for Wednesday---we'll be back tomorrow with more polls along with any news later on in the afternoon.