Liverpool 0 Tottenham Hotspur 2: match report
Read a full match report of the Premier League game between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield on Sunday May 15 2011.
PREVIEW
LIVE
REPORT
LIVERPOOL
0 - 2
FT
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Sunday, May 15 16:00
Premier League
Anfield
(HT 0-1)
ATT: 44,893
van der Vaart (9)
Modric (56)
Party pooper: Rafael van der Vaart (centre) is congratulated by his Tottenham Hotspur team-mates after the Dutchman put his side ahead after just nine minutes at Anfield Photo: GETTY IMAGES
By Rory Smith, Anfield 6:23PM BST 15 May 2011
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Rarely can a poisoned chalice have been so fiercely contested.
Liverpool have long aspired to the Europa League as the only coronation gift available to Kenny Dalglish; Tottenham Hotspur have long scorned it as an unwelcome consolation. Seeing their Thursday nights booked up is hardly a prize either will treasure; both fought until their last breath to earn the right to complain, long and loud, next season.
Spurs are worthy of what will, if they beat Birmingham next week, be their place in Europe, although justice was only done in the most unjust of circumstances. They deserve it for this display and this season. They started brightly, endured a predictable dip and ended on a high. Both in this display and in this season.
But that their guests are better prepared, equipped and suited to an autumn of far-flung travel will not assuage Liverpool’s anger. Dalglish’s side fell behind to a fortuitous opener from Rafael van der Vaart and they lost thanks to the sort of decision which would have sent Ryan Babel scrambling to Photoshop.
Even Spurs seemed taken aback to see Howard Webb point to the spot when John Flanagan and Steven Pienaar’s shoulders collided outside the box. There was no intent from either party; Webb’s decision, and Luka Modric’s coolness, certainly spoiled one.
“I’m not here to sponsor the FA,” Dalglish said. “It is just unhelpful to everyone that we cannot express our true thoughts and it’s even more disappointing that the officials get away scot-free without having to come and explain their decisions.”
That anger was manifest in the Scot’s fans and players, too. On this of all days, when Dalglish was unveiled to a deafening roar as the club’s permanent manager, when Fenway Sports Group, the owners who have done so much to steer Anfield back on course, were present. Little wonder Pepe Reina, Lucas and Martin Skrtel were so ruthless in dealing with a streaker. It was no laughing matter.
Yet hindsight will tell them that sixth place, after the start to their season, is a feat. It will tell them that Spurs deserved this, Webb or no Webb. It will tell them, too, that for all Redknapp’s insistence that he has no interest in the Champions League’s ugly sister, he knows – to misquote Ian Holloway – that it is better to go home at the end of the night with someone, rather than all alone.
“I scared them into it,” the Spurs manager said. “I told them that if we qualified through the Fair Play league, we’d be back playing in June. We are not fighting for the Europa League. We are fighting for fifth, because you want to finish as high as you can.”
It worked. Spurs started excellently, pressing high, suffocating their hosts. Van der Vaart’s opener, volleyed in off Glen Johnson, was ample reward.
Andy Carroll missed the best chance of the half by ballooning a Skrtel cross over, while Luis Suárez, usually electrifying, offered the Kop the odd jolt rather than full charge.
When Webb intervened, Liverpool could not muster a response. Anfield will not be blessed with Europe next season. Spurs, now that they are there, may not appreciate it, but Liverpool will tell them that, even with poisoned chalices, you do not know what you’ve got until it’s gone.
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