REDS KEEP THE FAITH
Desire? Wanting it more? No, Liverpool’s title bid was kept on track by another goalkeeping clanger as Lloris sets up winner
IF Jurgen Klopp’s team win the title, there will be acknowledgement of the crucial role played by Alisson.
And very honourable mentions for a couple of his goalkeeping brethren.
Jordan Pickford and now Hugo Lloris.
You can talk until exhaustion about how Liverpool won this game because of their desire, because of the wonderful encouragement that cascaded from the stands, because – according to Trent AlexanderArnold – they ‘wanted it more.’
And you would be talking absolute nonsense.
Liverpool had no more desire than Spurs, their opponents were not fazed by a belting atmosphere, no one ‘wanted it more’ than the other.
Liverpool won this game, they returned to the top of the Premier League table, because Lloris – just as Pickford had done in the 96th minute of the Merseyside derby in the same stadium, in the same goal – gifted them victory with a late aberration.
That is the bottom line but this set of high-quality players can rightly respond with a sowhat shrug.
Virgil van Dijk and Andrew Robertson apart, they were not great here but, over the course of 32 matches, they have been mainly excellent.
That they have been given two precious gifts by Pickford and Lloris feels like some sort of reward for their endeavours, fortune favouring the brave and all that.
And how they celebrated their good fortune after a contest in which Spurs were, after an unconvincing opening half-hour, marginally the more accomplished team. Even by his own slightly manic standards, Jurgen Klopp’s airpunching celebration was particularly violent.
A neutral might have wondered if a trophy was about to appear. But that should not be used to sneer at the Anfield crowd, that is to their credit.
They made this game feel like a final, like a title decider, they will make every game here between now and the end of the season feel exactly the same.
And that is the sort of lift a team can only appreciate. That is how it should be.
The fans certainly reminded Liverpool of their responsibilities as Tottenham
took a grip of a game they really needed to win to re-establish themselves as favourites for a top-four place.
After Roberto Firmino met Robertson’s early textbook cross with a textbook header, the customary attacking home brio never materialised.
Maybe that is because Klopp’s decision to keep Fabinho on the bench for the best part of 80 minutes meant Liverpool laboured with a yeoman midfield featuring Jordan Henderson and James Milner.
And it was no great surprise when, 20 minutes from time, Harry Kane’s clever free-kick
allowed Kieran Trippier and Christian Eriksen to shuttle a chance Lucas Moura’s way.
While Moura accepted it gleefully, Moussa Sissoko subsequently sent a glorious opportunity to put Spurs ahead into the punters.
Van Dijk’s was a very good performance but giving him credit for that miss – because he cut off the pass to Heungmin Son and forced Sissoko to strike with his left foot – is generous in the extreme.
It was a sitter. Sissoko should have scored. And the insult to follow the injurious miss arrived as the added-time buttons were being punched.
A headed clearance was returned unthreateningly by Alexander-Arnold but Mohamed Salah was left unattended in the far-post region.
Still, his header is how you would expect a Salah header to be and should have been routinely gathered by Lloris.
Instead, he shovelled it on to the leg of Toby Alderweireld and even had an air-swipe as the ball rebounded and limped over the line.
Cue bedlam and a win that could yet mean Liverpool will need to mint more than one goalkeeping medal this season.