Tottenham 1 Liverpool 2: Isak and Wirtz combine as Reds beat nine-man Spurs but £130m striker dealt new injury blow
SIX games since Mo Salah was dropped by Arne Slot… four wins and two draws for Liverpool.
And while the Egyptian’s future at Anfield remains unclear, Slot’s authority will only be bolstered if this resurgence continues while Salah is out in Africa.
On Saturday night, hugely aided by Xavi Simons’ early red card for a shocker on Virgil van Dijk, Liverpool were made to wait before they turned authority and control into three points, despite a late wobble against NINE men.
Alexander Isak thrashed home just 11 minutes after his half-time arrival, although the Swede’s joy at only the second Premier League goal since his British record move was cut short, forced off immediately after his ankle was crunched underneath Micky van der Ven in the act of scoring.
It looked a simple win when Hugo Etitike was allowed to push Cristian Romero in the back before he looped in Jeremie Frimpong’s deflected cross, his fifth in the last three Prem games.
Yet somehow Spurs, furious at John Brooks throughout and even more so after that one, found some spirit.
Richarlison turned home from close range after a Van Dijk miskick before he almost wriggled through to steal a point, as Thomas Frank’s side suggested they are prepared to play for the Dane.
Not enough to get another in the nine minutes added on, especially when Romero followed Simons down the tunnel for a retaliatory kick out at Ibrahima Konate.
Yet for all the home moans about Brooks – and the response to adversity as Frank was spared another public shoeing – the reality is that Spurs only showed anything when the game was gone.
Simons’ foolishness made that task even tougher, his frustrations at a litany of misplaced passes boiling over when he was dismissed, after a long VAR review, for an ugly rake down the back of Dutch team-mate Van Dijk’s left calf.
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Intentional or otherwise, it was an act of pure folly.
As soon as Brooks, who had angered the home fans from early on, was sent to the pitchside monitor, there was only going to be one outcome.
The home fans applauded Simons off – yet they should have known what was going to come.
Indeed, the only surprise was that it took so long.
For Slot, though, able to put the Salah question to the side with his enigmatic Egyptian now in Morocco on African Cup of Nations duty for a month, things are looking up – although there will be concerns about Isak after he hobbled off in considerable pain.
Also, this was far from comfortable, despite facing a Spurs side with little no swagger and no conviction.
It felt it would take just one Liverpool pin to burst the fragile home bubble.
Etitike always looked in the mood to deliver that blow.
The French striker’s movement asked questions the Spurs defence struggled to answer from the outset, while his physicality exposed the blatant lack of anything similar in the home side.
Where Frank’s Brentford could sting, his Spurs are stodgy and clunky, a team lacking direction and imagination, passes rushed and played into touch time and again.
You don’t have to be good to beat them. Merely competent. Especially when they are down to ten with an hour to go.
Liverpool, in truth, were not much more than that, either. They are still emerging from that autumnal slump.
Yet even before Simons’ early exit, Van Dijk, finding space in the box, headed straight at Guglielmo Vicario from the first real chance, while Liverpool were easily able to deal with the threat posed by Mohammed Kudus on the Spurs right.
Alisson did have to gather a Randal Kolo Muani header after Spence jumped high to direct Pedro Porro’s high hanging ball across goal.
But Liverpool were just better, far more composed across the pitch, the extra man only adding to the sense of inevitability although there were sparks of resistance from Spence and Lucas Bergvall.
Vicario denied Florian Wirtz soon after the red card and Spurs, precariously, were still level, Brooks – roundly booed – harangued by Cristian Romero as they walked off at the break.
Enter Isak, Conor Bradley off as Slot signaled his attacking intentions, Wirtz seeing more of the ball as the home side were forced ever deeper.
Still, the goal was self-inflicted as Romero lamped a clearance straight at Alexis Mac Allister.
Etitike fed Wirtz, who rolled forward, with Isak sweeping home before accidentally being caught by van der Ven’s desperate but vain attempt to prevent him firing across Vicario.
Spurs looked to respond, Kolo Muani so close when his driving run and strike ballooned off Milos Merkez to land on the woodwork.
But that was extinguished when Etitike’s header was allowed to stand after Frimpong’s cross diverted off Spence.
It looked a foul, two hands in the back. For all Romero’s disbelieving pleas, Brooks was not for turning.
Spurs, though, refused to give up the ghost and Richarlison’s scuffed finish after a scramble raised the stakes and the temperature, as did Romero’s dismissal.
And when Alisson held Porro’s low striker deep in added time, Liverpool were home.
Just.
