Danny Wright

Mon 2 October 2023 17:00, UK

Liverpool’s red rage has stolen all the headlines since Saturday’s controversial defeat against ice-cool Tottenham.

Although Jurgen Klopp appeared gracious in defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, in which his side lost two players to red cards and had an opening goal by Luis Diaz wrongly ruled out for offside, Liverpool have caused a media storm with their official club statement on the controversy.

Lost in all the noise has been the steady performance of a Tottenham side that is now second in the Premier League, unbeaten in seven games and has picked up seven points from nine available against three of last season’s top five.

Postecoglou’s team selection against Liverpool didn’t raise any eyebrows.

Brennan Johnson, who was injured for the clash against the Reds, was replaced by Richarlison in the only change from the team that drew 2-2 away at Arsenal a week earlier.

While some managers might be inclined to make a few changes after dropping points, especially ahead of a tough game like the one against Liverpool, Postecoglou stuck to his guns.

He did so once Liverpool’s players started to drop like flies, too.

Curtis Jones’ straight red card in the first half didn’t see Spurs’ style of play change too rapidly.

Stats by WyScout show that while Spurs’ possession did increase after the first sending-off, their attacks-per-minute stat stayed rather solid and if anything, they became more stand-offish as the team’s pressing intensity dropped.

Ten minutes after Jones was given his marching orders, Son Heung-min opened the goalscoring after a nice bit of play down the left allowed Richarlison to get in behind the Liverpool defence and play a ball across to the South Korean ace.

It was a just reward for patience but Cody Gakpo’s goal in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time came as a bit of a shock, especially as Spurs’ duels win rate rose sharply prior to the goal.

The above images also show a steady progression of the average formation line as Spurs tried to wrestle back their one-goal advantage.

It took some time before Joel Matip’s 96th-minute own goal won the game for Tottenham but prior to that, a Diogo Jota red card for two yellow cards also didn’t have too much impact on Spurs’ play.

Spurs’ average formation line actually dropped back after Jota’s red card but Spurs’ possession and pass accuracy rose steadily as they sharpened the blade, ready to make Liverpool pay for their ill-discipline earlier in the game.

Matip’s own goal was, admittedly, a lucky break but this was a game where teams made their own luck and the team that kept their cool, didn’t make rash challenges and created two massive chances to win the game from wide areas seized the day and took clinched all three points.

Diaz’s disallowed goal is another story. He was onside and there was no doubting that.

But against a Tottenham side who rose above the occasion, played their own game and controlled proceedings would have probably emerged victorious even if VAR were alert enough allow Diaz’s goal stand.

In other Tottenham news, the Ex-Spurs Scout has revealed three things he learned from the Liverpool fixture.