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Tactical Analysis of Liverpool’s Win Over Spurs

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SOCCER-Liverpool-174086_870-6895696Liverpool went top of the table on Sunday evening after demolishing Tottenham 4-0 at Anfield. An own goal from Younes Kaboul (the ninth in this fixture and the most in the Premier League era), Luis Suarez of course got on the score sheet with his 29th league goal of the campaign and both Coutinho and Jordan Henderson added to their impressive goal tallies in the second half.

Kaboul O.G. – ‘death by football’

kaboul og

An astonishing 25 passes by Liverpool lead to the team going 1-0 up after just 1 minute and 45 seconds. We worked the ball from the centre out to Sterling on the right. Johnson overlapped him and, once he had the ball at his feet, he ghosted past Eriksen like he wasn’t there. He then squared the ball low and hard across the box. Kaboul, his feet all in a muddle, could not deal with it and ended up back-heeling the ball into his own net.

52 – Liverpool have scored 52 first half PL goals this season; 12 more than Spurs have managed in total. Power.

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 30, 2014

Michael Dawson what were you thinking…..

ls spurs

Gerrard who was deep in his own half, played a long, fairly aimless ball down the wing. It landed at Dawson who had just come off the bench to replace the injured Vertonghen he tried to play the ball inside to Kaboul. The pass was short, however, and this gave Suárez the time and space to battle Kaboul for possession. It is a battle he won hands down and he careered off towards the Spurs goal. Once in the box, he fired the ball into the far corner of the net with a neat finish to double Liverpool’s lead on 25 minutes.

Scouse Cafu sets up Coutinho

coutinho goal

Coutinho was unlucky not score in the first half but he got his reward. It all started with Jordan Henderson being put under pressure in his own half, with Tottenham’s midfielders trying to pressure him out of possession. There was no sign of panic, though, and Henderson played the ball back to his goalkeeper, Simon Mignolet.

The ball then zipped across Liverpool’s 18-yard area, with Mignolet, Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger swapping passes until it eventually was ushered out to full back Jon Flanagan. He hoodwinked Aaron Lennon with a back heel before setting Philippe Coutinho free.

Ten seconds later, the gifted Brazilian had thrashed a 25-yard drive beyond visiting keeper Hugo Lloris to put the gloss on a terrific move.

We talk a lot about getting the ball out to pressure zones…….We circulate the ball; take it out, use our goalkeeper and work to get numbers around the ball.’

– Brendan Rodgers explaining his tactical reasoning after Liverpool’s third goal against Tottenham

Game set and match Henderson’s free-kick makes it four

henderson spurs

Suárez won a free-kick for Liverpool wide on the left. Henderson stepped up to take it. He curled the ball into the box, everyone missed it and in it went.

Final thoughts

It was a game in which Liverpool dominated from start to finish and in all honesty it could have been 5 or 6 considering the chances the team had. I was very surprised in how Tottenham approached the match; I thought that they would have been a wounded animal wanting revenge after the result at White Hart Lane. But they looked disjointed and uninterested. For all of their attacking talent, they did not really cause our defense any real danger.

I have to single out a few of our starting eleven for the massive contributions they made to ensure the three points were secured:

Firstly Martin Skrtel played a pivotal role in the centre of our defense He completed nine clearances and two interceptions, whilst weighing in with four successful aerial duels. Furthermore, he completed all but five of his 66 attempted passes, registering an impressive success rate of 92%.

Raheem Sterling who replaced Joe Allen also demonstrated his attacking capabilities with an impressive performance.  He won possession nine times (most) created two chances and both were clear cut chances. Raheem had a pass accuracy of 73%, and won 5/6 of his dribble attempts. Sterling completed 5 take-ons vs Spurs. No player on the pitch completed more.

Jon Flanagan loves playing against Tottenham doesn’t he on Sunday he was solid defensively and his pass for Coutinho’s goal was exemplary. Jon created two chances; he also won the most tackles with five in the match. Flanagan had a pass accuracy of 91 % and won possession three times.

Finally I have to mention the fans and how we are all getting behind the team for the final furlong of the season. The hairs were standing on the back of every neck when the Kop collectively roared their gratitude to the players in front of them when the result had been wrapped up.

Rodgers and his squad drifted towards their adoring fans after full-time, clapping the ground for the unshakeable support provided throughout the entire 90 minutes and before kick-off. Perhaps the most fitting word to describe that crescendo of a growl would be ‘primal’. Resonant and inspirational, the noise was a complimentary bookend to the remarkable ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ sung ahead of the match.

We have to take one game at a time, and treat each one as a cup final. So I urge all fans to will the team on and get us over the line.

Follow me on Twitter @MRSSG

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I am a lifelong Liverpool supporter from Huyton Liverpool just like Stevie G and go all over the world supporting my team I go the games in my wheelchair as I suffer from Cerebral Palsy however that does not stop me having a ball cheering on the World’s Best Team.
I write a weekly column talking about various topics whether that is tactical analysis of matches, opinion pieces, looking through the archives of previous matches, former players and current articles on Brendan and the first team.
It is great being part of the first class writing team at Live4liverpool.com and bucking the trend in being the first woman to write for the site.
Follow me on Twitter @MRSSG to keep up to date with my articles. Y.N.W.A