BBC pundit raves about ‘sublime’ Tottenham player v Liverpool today
James Maddison makes pointed Jurgen Klopp remark after VAR drama leaves Liverpool furious
Despite Jurgen Klopp’s protests about an “unfair” game, Tottenham’s James Maddison maintained that both of his club’s red cards were justified.
With Liverpool down to nine men at the end of a goalless first-half, Spurs took advantage of a lapse in referee Simon Hooper’s officiating to take advantage of five of the six minutes of added time. Defender Joel Matip let the ball slip through his fingers and into the net to give Spurs all three points.
The red cards weren’t the only contentious moment of the game, with PGMOL acknowledging a “significant error” was made in an offside call that denied the Reds an early opener.
The loss of Matip and Gakpo to injury means Liverpool will be without both of their first-team starters for next weekend’s game against Brighton.
Jota’s was definitely a red card, and so was Curtis Jones’ early on, which I think was also a red card, though I’m sure Jurgen won’t have too many complaints about those either.
Maddison also discussed the difficulties of dealing with Liverpool’s nine men, who were already down to ten at the time of Gakpo’s goal, which levelled the game after Son’s opener. Despite being two men down for 20 minutes, Jurgen’s team still managed to maintain their unbeaten league record.
“It’s probably more difficult than you’d think,” he said of the 11v10 match-up, “because Liverpool are still playing a counter attacking style on the break, and 11v10 still have their strengths. I’m a little bit confused at the moment.”
Were both red cards the right call? Have your say in the comments section
After a VAR check, Curtis Jones’ yellow card was changed to a red one.
Ange Postecoglou, the manager of Spurs, was thrilled to see his team score a late goal but acknowledged they should have played better against their depleted opponents.”We didn’t handle it too well when they went down to ten,” the former Celtic manager admitted.
“We started rushing things and believed that we could really dominate the game since we had the man advantage, but the truth is that even with ten men, their game doesn’t change. Their strategy is to let you make mistakes and penalize teams.
The second red card was due to Spurs pressing and then filling their box with tall players, so crossing it in was out of the question. The own goal was clearly from a low cross.
Spurs’ win moves them back into second place in the Premier League table, just ahead of Arsenal on goal difference after the Gunners’ 4-0 win over Bournemouth earlier in the day saw Kai Havertz open his Premier League account.
Manchester City, who started the season unbeaten, have seen their lead cut to one point after losing 2-1 to Wolverhampton Wanderers. The winner was scored by Hywun Hee-chan.
