Liverpool returned from their trip to North London on Sunday with the three points in the bag, after beating Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 to book their first away triumph in the Premier League this season.
Mohamed Salah found the back of the Spurs net twice in the 11th and the 40th minute, and it was Harry Kane who brought a bit of hope for the home side in the 70th, but ultimately to no avail.
The game
Spurs boss Antonio Conte went with his usual back three system, with Clement Lenglet playing between Eric Dier and Ben Davies. Yves Bissouma provided protection for the back line, helped by Emile Hojbjerg and Rodrigo Bentacur, and flanked by Emerson Royal and Ryan Sessegnon as the wing-backs. In the absence of Son Heung-min, Kane was joined by Ivan Perisic upfront.
Liverpool are still missing a large chunk of their squad, but manager Jurgen Klopp was still able to put out a strong lineup. Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate paired up in the heart of defence, with Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold on the defensive flanks. Fabinho anchored a three-man midfield, with Thiago Alcantara and Harvey Elliott by his side. In attack, Darwin Nunez was shifted to the left, making way for Roberto Firmino to play through the middle. Salah was, as always, on the right.
Liverpool entered the contest fiercely and completely put Spurs on the back foot from the first whistle, crowining their initiative in that 11th minute when Salah started and finished a wonderful team move, involving Robertson’s cross from the left and Nunez’s selfless pass inside the box to set the Egyptian up.
Spurs quickly hit back. With a few surprisingly shaky moments from Alisson Becker in the Liverpool goal, Kane could’ve found the back of the net earlier and Perisic came close too, but luck was on the side of the Brazilian goalkeeper on both occasions.
And just as Antonio Conte’s men seemed to have started really fancying themselves to score, Eric Dier tried to head the ball back to Hugo Lloris but mishit it, and Salah was quick to pounce; a horrible mistake by the experienced England defender which helped Liverpool double their lead.
Spurs completely dominated the second half and though Liverpool did have a few moments when they might’ve added a third, the ball was mostly in or around the visitors’ box. And with 20 minutes left, substitutes Matt Doherty and Dejan Kulusevski combined nicely to put Kane through between Liverpool’s centre-backs, taking Robertson and Van Dijk out of the picture, and Ibrahima Konate just couldn’t get across in time. Kane’s low first-time effort found its way past Alisson and into the far corner.
From that point on, it was all about Spurs and their desire to get the equalizer, ending the match with more shots and corners taken than the visitors. But Liverpool held on, right down to the final whistle.
Dejan Kulusevski
With Son unavailable through an eye socket injury, Lucas Moura fresh from issues of his own and not 100% fit, and Perisic in the starting XI, there weren’t many options for Conte to try and shake things around as his team desperately attacked to get back into the contest in the second half. Putting Kulusevski on seemed like the only logical choice, and it proved to have been the right one, even if his team eventually lost the game.
The Sweden international replaced Sessegnon on the pitch, but it was Perisic who actually stepped in on the left flank, while Kulusevski played closest to Kane. His impact was immediate.
Spurs looked far more potent with Kulusevski on, an his energy, determination, the ability to create, as well as freshness, was hard for Liverpool to deal with. The 22-year-old whipped in a number of dangerous crosses which certainly had the potential of being converted into goals, and assisted Kane for the only goal the home side scored.
He may have spent only 23 minutes on the pitch, but Kulusevski was arguably the best Spurs player in this game. A fantastic ‘super-sub’ option, but Conte will surely want to consider giving him a start in the next one.
Ibrahima Konate
Two years younger than Joe Gomez, and a Liverpool player only for a little more than a year, Konate has shown that he’s currently the best option for Klopp to name alongside Van Dijk in the heart of defence. The only question the German tactician needs to answer is whether maybe Joel Matip, when fully fit and firing, has something to say on the subject. But with the experienced Cameroonian out of action at the moment, it’s all quite clear.
The goal Kane scored, which actually came from the other side, was about the only time the England captain managed to get the better of the 23-year-old former RB Leipzig defender, and that only with a significant advantage from the start, considering the starting positions, the path the Spurs striker took, and the channel the pass came through.
Konate won seven aerial duels and lost one, made eight clearances and two interceptions, won two of the three tackles attempted, and actually completed the only dribble he attempted. It was a superb display from a very young centre-back, playing against two extremely experienced and cunning forwards.
Salah may have been the man who brought Liverpool goals at one end of the pitch, but without Konate at the other, the match would most likely have ended differently.
The aftermath
This defeat saw Spurs drop from third to fourth place in the Premier League table, with Newcastle taking advantage of the situation through beating Southampton to move up. The news of the day on Monday for both sides, of course, is the Champions League draw for the round of 16, where Conte’s team have been placed against AC Milan.
But for the time being, Spurs will have to look towards facing Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup, and welcoming Leeds United to North London at the end of the week, before the World Cup forces club football around the globe to take the back seat for a while.
As for Liverpool, it’s an important victory and huge three points, no doubt, but the word of the moment for them is, again, consistency. Can they achieve some?
They appeared to have done so when they linked 1-0 victories over Manchester City and West Ham, but then they were beaten by Nottingham Forest and Leeds.
Like Spurs, Liverpool already made their way into the knockout stages of the Champions League, but their opponent is arguably far more formidable – Real Madrid, who’ve beaten them twice in the final of UEFA’s elite club competition, and knocked them out in the 2020/21 quarterfinals.
But before the two-legged clash with the 14-time European champions comes much closer, Klopp and his team have to look towards getting past Derby County in the Carabao Cup this week, and then do what they have to to beat Southampton at Anfield on Saturday.
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