SALAH’S STRIKE FEELS SO SIGNIFICANT
LIVERPOOL 2 TOTTENHAM 1:
MOMENTUM can be everything in a tight title race, even if it is only late October. After drawing at Manchester United last week, Liverpool were in danger of losing a little of it here and maybe that is what made Mo Salah’s 50th goal at Anfield feel so incredibly important.
When the Egyptian placed the ball on the penalty spot at the Kop end with 15 minutes left, it felt like a significant moment. Manchester City will certainly have felt that. They are due to play Liverpool in 13 days’ time.
For much of the afternoon, Tottenham goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga had been magnificent. Agile and secure, the Argentine had been faultless. But this was not to be another memorable moment for him.
Salah’s penalty was struck low and powerfully to the goalkeeper’s left and in a moment a match was won.
What a test this had proved to be for
Jurgen Klopp’s players. Tottenham rarely give anything up easily at Anfield, even a version as complicated and unpredictable as this one. And from the moment Harry Kane scored after 47 seconds, they provided Liverpool with as stern a test of their will as they will face this season.
Kane’s goal was freakish. A hopeful shot from Son Heung-min struck Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren on the shoulder and hit the angle of post and bar. The ball could have dropped anywhere but Kane was the lucky one, stooping to head in after a single bounce.
In one rather surreal moment, the whole nature of this afternoon was set. The tone of the game shifted. When Liverpool play — especially at home — the opening stages are so important. If they score, they are devilishly hard to stop as the opposition are forced to chase and leave space. When something like this happens, Liverpool find themselves confronted by a wall.
So it went here. Tottenham celebrated their early goal and then preferred to resist. For almost the next hour and a quarter until Salah’s goal, the flow of the game went only one way.
Tottenham did not muster another shot on target until they went behind. Liverpool, meanwhile, surged forwards, driven by the knowledge that anything other than a victory would be damaging.
Gazzaniga was not extravagant or showy. He did everything he was required to — parrying, catching, punching, anticipating.
In the first half, he saved very well from Salah twice and also from Roberto Firmino, Trent AlexanderArnold and then Virgil van Dijk. On top of that was a header from Sadio Mane which went wide.
Liverpool’s football was constructive and patient. There was no panic. The threat from full-backs AlexanderArnold and Andy Robertson was ever-present.
As the pace of Liverpool’s football intensified, so did the occasionally desperate nature of Tottenham’s play. Moussa Sissoko was booked for dissent and Serge Aurier for a foul. Both were understandable.
Somehow Tottenham did reach half-time in the lead. At that stage, Liverpool had enjoyed around 75 per cent of the possession.
Remarkably, Tottenham could have scored at the start of the second half. A punt from the goalkeeper set Son away and after he rounded Alisson, he clipped a shot from an angle against the woodwork.
That would probably have won the game for Spurs. As it was, Liverpool continued to beat against the white
wall and, in the 52nd minute, they finally found a way through. Jordan Henderson drove a cross in from the right and made his way into the penalty area, when it was cleared. Fabinho, excellent all afternoon, picked up the play 30 yards from goal and when his delivery could not be met by Firmino, Henderson was lurking behind everyone to volley leftfooted back across the helpless Gazzaniga and into the far corner of the goal.
The Liverpool captain’s first Anfield goal for almost four years was celebrated wildly by players and manager. With so long still to play, it seemed inevitable that Liverpool would go on and win.
That they had to wait another 23 minutes for their second goal was a surprise and the penalty, awarded after Aurier tangled with Mane, was a little soft.
Tottenham had time to respond — and so they did. Alisson saved well from Son and then from a Toby Alderweireld header and Danny Rose shot wildly over.
It all felt a little breathless for mid-autumn but that only reflects the nature of the challenge that stands before Liverpool.
They have a six-point lead over City but somehow it feels slight. Opportunities, when they arrive, must be taken.