Liverpool destroy hapless Spurs 5-0

With Steven Gerrard out of picture until the New Year, the responsibility fell on Jordan Henderson, but even more so on the shoulders of the much maligned Joe Allen to come to the party and boss a powerful Spurs midfield containing Dembele, Sandro and Paulinho and justify the faith of his manager.  The captain’s duty fell to Luis Suárez.

For the creativity lost in the absence of our club captain, we gained younger legs able to press high up the pitch for long periods with Lucas the oldest midfielder at 26 and Skrtel, enjoying his 29^th birthday the eldest Liverpool player in the starting eleven.  We dominated from start to finish controlling the game on all fronts, with Jordan Henderson leading from the front and emanating composure.

Philippe Coutino had a glorious early chance in the first minute from a Luis Suarez knock down, but his shot barely gave Lloris cause for concern.  Being that as it may, Sterling set the tone giving Naughton a torrid time and with our movement and rotation causing problems constantly in the last third it seemed only matter of time before the first goal.  Even after being clipped on the edge of the area,  El Pistolero still managed to squeeze off a shot from a prone position.

Minutes later we went ahead when Suárez through ball to the marauding Henderson was cut out by the sprawling Dawson.  Henderson recovered more quickly than the Spurs captain, springing up to nip the ball  into the path of Suárez reacting faster than the surrounding Spurs midfield and driving into the area to twinkle past the sliding Walker's desperate tackle to brilliantly slide home the opener.  It was another in the long list of stunning goals from Liverpool's number 7.

Liverpool were now completely on top pressing high up the pitch.  Sterling slid through a sharp pass to Suárez who had his shot blocked by Lloris.   Suárez then found himself out wide-left and dinked a chipped pass to Coutinho at the edge of the area.  The Brazilian shot into the ground and against bar with Glen Johnson follow-up left-footed drive just wide of the upright.

Spurs was barely threatening and in one of the very rare forays saw Chadli’s header flash just over the top from a corner.

A long ball up the pitch from Johnson saw Suárez anticipate the situation with Lloris failing to gauge the bounce, the Liverpool striker looped round the keeper, manoeuvre the ball on his right, only to see his shot blocked once again by Lloris and only just failing to get a pass off to Coutinho.

 

Such was Liverpool’s dominance that one felt that if a second didn’t come soon Spurs as the home side would eventually get a footing in the game.  The thought didn’t last.

Sterling picking the ball up on the right of midfield, showed his not just one-trick pony, picking out Coutinho with glorious a cross field ball, Coutinho brilliantly cushioned the ball past the defender and onto the onrushing Henderson.  His shot was parried by Lloris, who was having a fine game, the ball found its way to Suárez, whose shot was pushed away again by Loris, but not very far to Henderson who showed excellent technique to volley low into the corner of the net.  It was no more than Liverpool deserved as our dominance was all encompassing.

El Capitano

Liverpool enjoyed a bit of luck with Soldado having his goal wiped out after being adjudged to have shoulder barged Mignolet unfairly, after he miss-controlled a back pass.

With the potential of a Spurs onslaught, it was Liverpool who almost killed the game early in the second-half.  Sterling enjoying his best game in a Liverpool shirt, having seen Spurs left-back Naughton substituted after a  torrid first-half, continued his mauling by ghosting down the right to stand the ball up only for Sakho to head against the post from barely two yards out.

If Spurs walk down Elm Street looked a frightening prospect, it became X-rated when Paulinho’s raised foot connected with Luis Suárez chest and with his sending-off went any chance of Spurs mounting an unlikely fight-back.

Suárez was once gained denied by Lloris in yet another one and one situation.  Spurs were in no position to stop the irresistible red-tide sweeping all before them and it was Suárez who this time turned provider, finding Flanagan with a lovely floated pass which the twenty year old clipped in with remarkable composure in to the top of the net.  The South Stand housing Liverpool’s away fans exploded with the realisation that one of its very own had put the game to bed.  Flanagan was engulfed by his teammates.

Liverpool were by no means finished and an excellent move was topped off with Luis Alberto, having replaced Lucas, providing an inch perfect pass for Suárez to lift over Lloris for his second of the game and 17th Premier League goal of the season.

Suarez reverted to  provider sending Raheem Sterling through for his second goal of the season and topped of an excellent performance for the youngster.

Man of the Match: Jordan Henderson – A brilliant performance by the Sunderland born youngster, who gave his most complete performance of his Liverpool career and played as if the shackles was thrown off.  He drove the team forward and linked brilliantly with Luis Suárez.  His short passing was excellent and led midfield colleagues in pressing so high up the pitch that it forced Spurs backwards and like his club captain does so often he led by example scoring his first goal of the season.

Raheem Sterling was not far behind, producing a classy and mature display.  He gave Kyle Naughton and his replacement Fryers no rest bite.  But, what was more noticeable in this performance, was his use of the ball as he kept his head up finding colleagues with his short passing and showed vision to release a stunning long-range cross field ball which set up the second goal.

It says a lot for Jordan Henderson, that Luis Suarez who scored two and had a hand in the other three goals was not man of the match.  But, he was pure and simply the class act on the pitch.  His first goal was stunning, the way he let Walker slide across him before curling the ball in with left foot was pure genius.  His work rate is often spoken of, but he creates chances for his teammates with his unselfish running and his assists are invaluable to the team many of whom raised their levels today under his captaincy.

Joe Allen was excellent. Holding on to possession and keeping the ball moving in the time honoured Liverpool tradition of “pass and move”.  Flanagan was excellent defensively against Lennon and took his goal with aplomb while Skrtel and especially Sakho were imperious in the air.

Critical analysis:  Any team would miss the creative force that the great Steven Gerrard brings to the team, but did the younger legs in midfield enable Liverpool to keep up our pressing game for longer periods and provide support in forward areas from Henderson and Allen?

Team: 22 Mignolet, 2 Johnson, 38 Flanagan, 21 Lucas (Luis Alberto – 79 mins), 37 Skrtel, 17 Sakho, 24 Allen, 14 Henderson, 7 Suarez, 31 Sterling, 10 Coutinho (Moses 90 min)

Substitutes: 1 Jones, 4 Kolo Toure, 5 Agger, 6 Luis Alberto, 9 Iago Aspas, 12 Moses, 34 Kelly

Tottenham: 25 Lloris, 2 Walker, 16 Naughton (Fryers – 45 mins), 19 Mousa Dembélé, 15 Capoue, 20 Dawson, 7 Lennon, 30 Sandro (Holtby – 30 mins), 9 Soldado, 8 Paulinho, 21 Chadli

Subsitutes: 11 Lamela, 14 Holtby, 17 Townsend, 18 Defoe, 22 Signurdssen, 24 Friedel, 35 Fryers

Referee: Jonathan Moss

Attendance: 36, 069