Liverpool vs Tottenham: Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold reign supreme as Reds dare to dream
Jurgen Klopp’s side found joy through their full-backs against Spurs with the victory taking them back to the top of the table
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Your support makes all the difference.It was the day when it began to feel like Liverpool’s dream ended but it became the day where the circumstances make you believe it might actually happen.
Three moments from the season which make you think, “I wonder…” Moment one: Riyad Mahrez’s penalty miss for Manchester City in the final seconds at Anfield. Moment two: Jordan Pickford incident in injury time with the crossbar, 1-0 Liverpool. Moment three: Virgil van Dijk volleying the ball into the upper tier of the Main Stand in furious celebration because of Toby Alderweireld’s last minute own goal.
Liverpool had not deserved to lose to City but victories over Everton and Tottenham were secured when draws would have been much fairer, an illustration of pure luck coming a team’s way when it really, really matters. You do wonder… how will this end up?
“There will be problems,” Jurgen Klopp had warned on Friday afternoon as he contemplated the challenge in front of Liverpool over the next five weeks.
Not accepting them as a feature of the story, he thought, was a problem in itself – that if Liverpool and their supporters expected a smooth ride from here, they were in the wrong game because that is rarely how football ever works.
Even he could not have foreseen it ending like this, so outrageously; the relief was primeval – the scenes inside Anfield summed up by the sight Tottenham’s players dropping to the floor alone and as individuals having been so together before while Liverpool’s players gathered by the corner flag losing control of their senses. They will hope implausible opponent errors and own goals will be remembered as their version of Federico Macheda.
Tottenham could still be a key presence Liverpool’s title quest, a team that needed beating here before they face Manchester City three times in eleven days across April.
Last season the two legs of a Champions League quarter-final with Liverpool had drained City before they passed on the opportunity to win the title against Manchester United and a similar task will be there this season, with a trip to Old Trafford following the third of their duels at Spurs.
Though Liverpool were fortunate, they did still keep going: knocking balls into the box and putting pressure on Tottenham’s defence. The winner came from a cross by Trent Alexander-Arnold and their opener was delivered by the other full-back in Andy Robertson.
Throughout, the deep passes into the channels from both full-backs helped wear their opponent down, turning defenders towards their own goal and testing their legs as well as concentration. Maybe the drain of this explains why Alderweireld couldn’t adjust his legs quickly enough in those dying seconds, securing Liverpool’s victory.
The relentlessness of Liverpool’s title quest, indeed, meant that the breaking of a little bit of history went unnoticed last month when Watford were dispatched at Anfield, which was partly explained by Alexander-Arnold’s hat-trick of assists.
It meant a new Premier League record had been met for the number of goals scored in one season where the final pass or cross has come from the full-backs, a position which has become key for Liverpool, one which underpins this team’s attacking strategy with 15 assists so far this campaign
If they do go and achieve which no Liverpool side has been able to in the last twenty-nine years, the role of the full-back will have been been essential. To understand the contributions of Robertson and Alexander-Arnold, perhaps, is to appreciate the energy and concentration of the midfield.
If there has been one consistent criticism, it has been Liverpool’s lack of creativity from central areas but maybe that is a part of Klopp’s thinking: Liverpool’s vision instead comes from the wide areas where Robertson and Alexander-Arnold are permitted to stream forward and in the interest of balance and protection, this justifies the German manager’s preference particularly for Georginio Wijnaldum and James Milner who are able to help with the space left behind whenever that happens.
Given the context at the top of the Premier League table, the argument is magnified by the artistry in Manchester City’s midfield who have set up eighteen goals this season compared to Liverpool’s seven. It is at full-back, though, where Liverpool better City with fifteen beating nine.
The standard of the delivery helps keep Liverpool going. Anfield has become the place where the full-back reigns. Will it help Liverpool reign entirely?
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