National media react to 'sleep-walking' Liverpool's draw v Tottenham - 'No wonder the locals jeered'
A look at how the national media reacted to Liverpool's 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League at Anfield on Sunday afternoon
Liverpool might have moved into the Champions League places they are coveting this season but a 1-1 draw with a beleaguered Tottenham Hotspur did little to calm the noise around their head coach on Sunday.
The ECHO, as always, was at Anfield to provide our exhaustive match-day coverage. Our player ratings, on-the-whistle reaction, big-game verdict, considered analysis and the reactions of both Arne Slot and Igor Tudor were covered in detail.
Our national media colleagues were also on hand to provide their own takes on a deeply disappointing draw for the Reds. Here's what they made of it.
The Daily Mirror's Andy Dunn writes: "One has a single point from his four Premier League matches, one won the Premier League title in his first season. But Arne Slot looked like the manager under pressure when Richarlison mis-hit a scruffy equaliser as the Anfield clock ticked towards added time.
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"Igor Tudor, whose calamitous spell as Spurs manager could still end soon, leapt into and punched the air, while Slot could only shake his head in disbelief. This result was a significant blow for Slot and Liverpool but a bigger issue for the Dutchman is the growing discontent around Anfield.
"The nature of the setback - Liverpool yet again conceding a late goal - was certain to prompt some jeering but there was not a great amount of enthusiasm for the home performance ahead of Richarlison's leveller. In fact, Liverpool had only been ahead through a goalkeeping error.
"This season, Liverpool have now conceded eight Premier League goals in the 90th minute or later and they have dropped seven points from winning positions at Anfield. No wonder the locals jeered."
Mike McGrath, of The Telegraph, writes: "Dominik Szoboszlai fears Liverpool could fall into the Europa Conference League next season after they dropped more points against relegation-threatened Tottenham Hotspur. The Premier League champions conceded another late goal, with Richarlison levelling for Tottenham in the 90th minute, which means Arne Slot’s team missed a chance to climb into the top four and the automatic Champions League places.
"With jeers at the final whistle after the 1-1 draw, there were questions raised about whether Arne Slot is the right man to lead the club forward beyond this season. 'Could a new manager revitalise these players and bring the intensity back to this team? I’m not sure. It goes back to the summer signings,' said Telegraph Sport columnist Jamie Carragher, on Sky Sports.
"Late goals have been an issue for Liverpool this season, with 21 conceded after the 75th minute. They have conceded 90th-minute or stoppage-time winners against Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Bournemouth, Wolves and Manchester City. Leeds and Fulham snatched very late draws and their defeat by Manchester United was also through a late winner."
Over on The Independent's pages, Richard Jolly reflects: "The ends have not justified the means. Arne Slot was considering the various ways he has tried to protect leads this season. He brought on Joe Gomez against Fulham, he remembered. The result? 'We conceded'. Then there was the method that worked last year, of using Wataru Endo 'to have that midfielder that picks up all the second balls'. Yet, in each of the first two times he brought the Japanese on as a defensive impact substitute, they conceded. That ploy was abandoned.
"Slot has gone for the counter-intuitive approach. 'I've done attacker-for-attacker substitution, not to bring a defender in,' he said. 'We've tried many things but the way we are conceding goals is also constantly different. It hasn't led yet to us not conceding in the last minute.' Slot cited a deflection at Wolves.
"Others have been set-pieces. Tottenham scored in open play on Sunday. Liverpool dropped two points in the 90th minute, a third costly late equaliser to add to the five injury-time winners that have gone into their net. The problem, as Slot ran through the things he has tried, is that it made him sound a manager struggling for solutions; if that is true in a wider sense, a lack of answers would bode badly for him and them.
"But the broader issue of Liverpool concede late goals reflects a host of problems. The fact is that they do: 12 after the 80th minute of league games this season, the joint most in the division. Those conceded in the 90th or later have cost them 11 points. A theme is that even their supposed inferiors are empowered to attack, perhaps by a sense Liverpool’s fragility means they might concede."
The Times' Paul Joyce writes: "Cry, Igor Tudor had said, or fight. The sight of the Croat, fist raised as he celebrated on the touchline, showed Tottenham Hotspur opted for the latter and, for now, the sob stories can be cast aside.
"It appeared that the spirit and resilience summoned by a team, shorn, remember, of a host of senior players, would go unrewarded and their interim manager would be left to resemble a dead man walking.
"Tudor may well remain that in the eyes of many, but Richarlison’s perseverance on an afternoon when he waged a one-man assault on Liverpool’s back line eventually paid off.
"Perhaps it will earn his coach a stay of execution. Maybe it will prove the moment to revive Tottenham’s fortunes. For now, all that is certain is that this precious point keeps them above the relegation zone with the crunch Premier League game with Nottingham Forest to follow on Sunday.
"How much of Tottenham’s competence was down to Liverpool’s insecurities can be debated, although the boos from the home supporters spoke volumes and confirmed the paucity of the hosts’ offering. No-one inside Anfield was surprised at yet another late sting in the tail, or the calamitous defending that preceded it, with Arne Slot’s side sleep-walking to another terrible result in their pursuit of Champions League football."
And the ECHO's verdict reads: "Richarlison's 90th-minute equaliser means Liverpool conceded another deeply damaging late goal and their inability to manage games in the closing stages is maybe the biggest problem of the myriad of issues Slot and his players have been made to work through on the pitch.
"Add Spurs to the list that includes Wolves, Manchester City, Fulham, Leeds, Bournemouth, Chelsea and Crystal Palace for goals shipped after 90 minutes. Eight, unsurprisingly, is new record for the club across the course of a season. The 'game-management' has been horrendous.
"And how galling it should be for the Premier League champions to become the first side not to beat Igor Tudor's Tottenham, a tragicomedy team who are perilously close to playing Championship football in August themselves.
"Somehow Spurs find themselves scrapping to stay afloat in the top flight after a torrid term and they came into this game following the debacle at Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night, which led to legitimate and widespread calls for Tudor to be immediately removed from what is only a temporary post.
"But outside of another Dominik Szoboszlai free-kick, Liverpool failed to break down a side who had conceded 21 goals to their hosts in the previous six games. That list includes the match from 11 months ago, when a 5-1 win at Anfield preceded some of the greatest scenes ever witnessed at this famous old venue as the title was confirmed in front of 60,000 fans.
"That feels a like a lifetime ago now for everyone concerned but the flickering of those joyous memories has maybe kept Slot's job safe from serious, internal scrutiny this long.
"Liverpool insiders have always insisted their head coach is the right man to lead this team forward after a chastening season, much of which has been beyond the control of those in the technical area.
"But when results suffer and performances become this chronically ordinary, it opens the door to genuine questions that cannot be dismissed as knee-jerk reactions or the immediate outbursts of a reactive social media."