Digging Deeper Into Liverpool’s Victory Over Tottenham Hotspur

Liverpool did the thing! Their first win away since May, Liverpool defeated Tottenham Hotspur after a Mohamed Salah brace in the first half put them ahead. Things went sideways in the second half and while Harry Kane was able to halve that deficit, Liverpool held onto the lead and came away with the all important three points. The past few league matches have been rough to say the least, so a little bit of joy here is a balm for the weary fan’s soul.

Now join us as we examine some of the narratives, tactics, reactions, and questions Liverpool will be dealing with and the fans will be talking about in the aftermath.

Dissecting The Narrative

Frankly, this writer hasn’t been watching a lot of Liverpool football. They have not played well according to the current narrative around them, as decimated by an ageing midfield (as much as it pains me to say), and injuries across the board. So covering this spot for our Gabe came with the begrudging admission that I would have to actually watch the match all the way through.

Thankfully, the players took it upon themselves to not be beholden to this narrative and played a fine half of football. Mohamed Salah moved fairly effortlessly, and the budding relationship between him and Darwin Nuñez was something to witness as the Uruguayan assisted that opening goal early on.

The other side of the narrative was that this is a very big match for both teams if they want to stay relevant. Commentary mentioned relevancy often enough to be noticed, and it felt a weird way to go about this. Sure, Spurs and Spurs and will likely always be Spurs, but insisting that Liverpool’s bad form will make them entirely irrelevant when they’re one of the biggest clubs in the world felt a little overdramatic.

Anyway, their commentary became irrelevant when Liverpool held onto that win by the skin of their teeth.

Giving Credit To The Opponent

Tottenham didn’t put up much of a fight in the first half. Liverpool’s second goal came from an Eric Dier error that was, pun intended, dire for him, and that’s fine.

The second half they came out as a completely different team and really made things difficult for Liverpool. They encouraged mistakes, picked up on missed passes, and forced Jürgen Klopp into switching systems to protect their lead.

I don’t generally like to give credit to Spurs because... well, they’re Spurs, but they did make things hard when it looked like this would be a fairly easy victory, all things considering.

What Happens Next

Liverpool have two matches before everything goes dark for the anti-human rights World Cup. They face Derby County in the next round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, and then Southampton (who might be losing their manager?) on Saturday, November 12, back at Anfield.

Following those two matches, there is no club football until Boxing Day, when they visit Aston Villa and their new manager Unai Emery.

So really what comes next is a whole lot of nothing for us (unless you’re actually interested in the World Cup) and a whole lot of rest for players whose countries didn’t make it - like Mohamed Salah. Liverpool could and should very well take this time to reassess and come back ready to swing big for the second half of the season.