Three Stars: Tottenham 1 – 1 Liverpool
A hard-fought draw or a missed opportunity?
Either way, this performance was a large improvement from the Burnley game only a week ago.
This fixture last year was Jürgen Klopp’s first match leading Liverpool and 10 months later, he got a similar result with a 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane.
Though quite a few fans would have taken a point prior to the tie, you can’t help but feel we missed out on collecting all three points here with the Reds really putting Tottenham to the sword.
Perhaps the game would have changed had Sadio Mané’s goal not been ruled offside to put us 2-0 up but the decision could have gone either way. Unfortunately, its’s the fine margins that decide the game at this level and it has cost us.
Regardless of that, I feel there were a number of fairly good performances from the players on the pitch, as such, here are the three players who I thought shone the most on the day:
Joel Matip
It’s not easy to make your Premier League debut away to a high-energy Mauricio Pochettino side but I thought Matip was exceptional. He took his time to grow into the match but once he settled, he impressed me with his all round play.
He cleared away danger from crosses into the box, he was a threat from set pieces and he brought the ball out well from defence. His figure is a bit slight for the Premier League, so he might need to bulk up a bit to deal with similar tests each week. He also worked very well with Dejan Lovren.
Overall a convincing display from the Cameroon international.
Sadio Mané
He’s slowly becoming a permanent figure on this list. The impact he has had on this team is mind boggling.
Throughout the first half, he was electric down the right wing, cutting inside to link up play but also willing to take on Danny Rose with his raw pace. The amount of times he ran in behind the defensive line to go one-on-one with Michel Vorm, who for some reason chose today to have a 9/10 game, shows huge promise for the rest of the season.
Probably should have had a goal in the second half if it wasn’t for an offside call literally inches away from not being given, but that’s the game. Impressive yet again.
Roberto Firmino
Once again, he’s shown why we play him in games like this. He plays that ‘false nine’ position so well away from home, it’s become a solid option for us to use now.
His movement off the ball was brilliant. Sometimes he’s down the centre, or down the left wing, then the right wing; no defender will find it easy to pick him up. When Firmino and Mané play together, they link up so well and there seems to be a real understanding there. He won us the penalty to go 1-0 up and set up the chance for Phillipe Coutinho who unfortunately couldn’t finish it off.
If he keeps putting in performances of this caliber then he’s one of the first names on the team sheet.