Anfield Road

LIVERPOOL lost 4-0 away to Spurs, the White Hart Lane curse continuing as the Anfield side ended the game with nine men. At least now we know why Steve Clark refuses to give Kenny a game in training when numbers aren’t even; he’s preparing them for days like this – and still has preparation to do.

The Reds didn’t play well from the off and had a key defender injured as the opposition took their chance and opened the scoring after seven minutes. It was an excellent goal from a player who spent the summer linked with a move to Chelsea, but Modric stayed at Spurs and got the goal that got the North London side on their way.

The key defender was Daniel Agger and he was subbed 20 minutes later, the injury (an unspecified rib injury) having proved to be too much, and was replaced by a young player making his club debut. Sebastian Coates would have liked a different debut to this. At least Liverpool got to replace the defender that left the pitch early – the midfielder that left at almost the same time as Agger was Charlie Adam and he went because he was sent off for a second yellow, the first one of which was struggling to be considered one.

Whatever arguments people might have about Martin Skrtel’s ability as a centre-back he’s far, far, better at that than being a right back. But, with Glen Johnson and Martin Kelly injured it was a straight choice between playing Skrtel out of position or recalling John Flanagan. For reasons difficult to understand Flanagan wasn’t just left out of the starting line-up – he didn’t even make the bench. As it was Skrtel only played at right-back for 62 minutes – that was how long it took for the referee to hand him his second yellow too.

Liverpool started badly but spent the time between the two Red cards trying to get some kind of handle on the game. They kept Spurs out and had signs of maybe snatching an equaliser, but keeping Spurs out with nine men instead of ten proved more difficult and just four minutes later Liverpool conceded a second, then two minutes later a third. Dalglish made his two remaining changes and it seemed to be a case of damage limitation. It wasn’t until injury time that Spurs managed to get their fourth, but they were toying with Liverpool’s depleted side for most of that last 25 minutes.

Liverpool can look to themselves for much of their troubles today. Skrtel isn’t a right-back, Carragher isn’t the player he used to be (but he does try hard to be) and Agger, for whatever reason it might be, can’t have a run of games without being injured. Enrique played well, despite the scoreline.

Charlie Adam’s hasn’t been on his game since coming back from Scotland duty and as harsh as his first yellow was the referee wasn’t going to let him off for a second that looked worse than maybe it was.

The good play from Spurs and the bad start from Liverpool meant Dalglish’s side were always going to be chasing this game; the referee did his best to ensure that was the case.

A referee who once awarded a goal against Liverpool that had been scored by a beachball was never going to be a lucky omen, less so after Mike Riley decided to visit Kenny Dalglish to remind him how the referees’ decisions are final no matter how poor they are. Why Riley picked Mike Jones for this match will have to be left to the imagination, but it smacks of a lesson to Liverpool about daring to question the untouchable officials.

The complete ineptness of Steve Bennett wannabe Jones should not be an excuse for the defeat, but turning on our own team should not be the answer either. We’re all annoyed, angry and disappointed – and we all want it to be put right. The travelling Reds made sure their support was heard, for both the manager and the team, and it won’t have gone unnoticed.

There’s little point analysing what happened after that second dismissal in the 62nd minute, but Liverpool should have been prepared for that kind of refereeing because it happens far too often (and not just to Liverpool). Liverpool shouldn’t have to be prepared for it, but referees are referees and don’t think the same way that normal people do.

Like injuries, dodgy weather and bad luck the referee is a part of the game that can’t be really be changed so has to be worked around. If he wants his headlines he’ll do all he can to get them, so players might as well get on with the game and avoid giving him more excuses to have another photo to cut out for his scrapbook.

Whatever he really felt about the game, Dalglish decided to steer clear of blaming the ref. “We started the game short of the level we have been at recently,” he said. “They started better than us and Modric scored a great goal to put them one in front. Daniel Agger gets injured in the process of trying to make the tackle, but it’s a great finish. That was the start of our downfall.”

Kenny seems to have decided that referees will be referees and so will focus on what can be changed: “We started poorly and they began better than us, despite the other incidents which are best left unanswered. We can look at ourselves and the start we had in the game because that dictated what was going to happen to us. I think Tottenham started really well and played really well. It’s best that we stick to what we can dictate the future of and that is playing football. We cannot legislate for results.”

And as he pointed out, it’s not all about how poor Liverpool were, or if the referee was poorer still, the home side put in a performance: “We also want to be respectful to Tottenham who played particularly well,” he said.

According to stats on the BBC’s website at half-time Liverpool had been given five yellow cards (including the two for Adam) from a total of six fouls. It’s difficult to remember what the one Liverpool foul was that wasn’t punished with a card by that referee. In the second half, according to those stats, Liverpool committed 3 more fouls, 1 of which resulted in a card – Martin Skrtel’s second yellow. Spurs had 10 fouls in their name – and one yellow card.

But again Kenny emphasised how futile it would be to complain about the poor decisions from Jones: “We are better just leaving it. It’s best left unsaid because whatever happens then takes away from a great performance from Tottenham. We’ll have a look at the video and if we’ve done something wrong then we can correct that.”

What Kenny did point out was that unlike players at some clubs his men didn’t surround the referee in an attempt to intimidate him: “One thing that you didn’t see was a mass of Liverpool players running around the referee to dispute a decision. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they agree with the decision, it’s just that they have respect for the referee. If you have respect for the referee I don’t see why there is a disciplinary problem.”

Kenny stuck to his earlier comments: “How you start the game dictates what you get from it, we’ll find out if we did something differently or if they prepared differently. We’ll sit down and talk about it on Tuesday.”

Daniel Agger has been Liverpool’s best defender so far this season but once again his luck with injuries got in his way. Kenny explained: “It’s his rib cage. It happened when he slid in to make the challenge so I don’t know what it is yet. We don’t know, but it must be painful.”

Kenny only made one change to the side that lost to Stoke, he brought Andy Carroll in for Dirk Kuyt and was asked if that was the difference between an unlucky defeat and today’s disappointing performance: “You can stick with the players you want. As I’ve said before, it’s not just about a team, it’s about a squad and that will be used throughout the season, when there is a victory no comments are made about the team but if it’s a defeat then whatever players you use are wrong. With how we started the game we would still have lost, irrespective of what else happened.

“It’s not difficult to be upset when you have lost a game. The boys are upset too and so they should be, if they weren’t they wouldn’t be here. The football club expects more than a 4-0 defeat when you come away from home. To be fair to them they take pride in the club themselves as well. So they’ll be disappointed.”

The answer to Liverpool’s problems might be Steven Gerrard, due back soon from a six-month absence through injury, but Kenny refuses to rush him back: “He’s fine, we’ll try to get over this before we start worrying about something else. I’ve said all along, he’s done fantastically well to get where he is. We’ll just monitor him and pick the right moment for him and us before we get him back. It’s natural everyone wants to chase for Stevie, especially after you have lost 4-0. But we’ll monitor it, take it how it goes and when both parties agree he’ll play.”

The next game for Liverpool is in the League Cup against Brighton, the kind of game that will either give Liverpool a confidence boost or add to the difficulties being faced. After that it’s home against Wolves and a game that will inevitably be labelled “must win”. Kenny won’t let the pressure get to him and he’ll do all he can to stop it getting to his players – and the best way to do that is to start scoring some goals.

Tottenham: Friedel, Bale, Kaboul, King (Bassong 83), Walker, Assou-Ekotto, Parker, Modric, Kranjcar (Van der Vaart 46), Adebayor, Defoe (Giovani 83)
Unused subs: Cudicini, Corluka, Livermore, Pavlyuchenko
Booked: Adebayor
Goals: Modric 7, Defoe 66, Adebayor 68, Adebayor 90+3

Liverpool: Reina, Jose Enrique, Agger (Coates 27), Carragher, Skrtel, Henderson, Downing (Spearing 70), Lucas, Adam, Suarez (Bellamy 70), Carroll
Unused subs: Doni, Robinson, Maxi, Kuyt
Booked: Coates, Skrtel (twice), Adam (twice), Suarez
Sent off: Adam, Skrtel

Stats: (Tottenham – Liverpool)
Possession: 65% – 35%
Attempts on target: 16 – 2
Attempts off target: 8 – 3
Corners: 4 – 1
Fouls: 10 – 9

“Referee”: Mike Jones
Attendance: 36,129