Tottenham 2, Liverpool 1 – Match Recap: Pitiful Refereeing Breaks Liverpool’s Unbeaten Streak

Tottenham Hotspur 2 – 1 Liverpool

Pre-Match

Trent Alexander-Arnold made it to the bench with Joe Gomez resuming his coverage at right back in his stead. Joël Matip partners with captain Virgil van Dijk in the center of defense. Cody Gakpo leads the line between Mohamed Salah and Luis Díaz. New standout Dominik Szoboszlai is in the midfield with Alexis Mac Allister and Curtis Jones.

First Half

It started as a pretty even affair in the opening minutes at the capital. However, as the minutes ticked on, Liverpool began to look a big sloppy on the ball. Too many misplaced passes helped Spurs slide through the midfield with uncomfortable ease.

The first good chance came from Spurs. Richarlison got passed Gomez and sent in a perfect cross gliding in front of the goal. Smart defending from Andy Robertson prevented anyone from getting a toe on it and instead shielded it out for a goal kick.

Moments later Liverpool made their own trouble on the other end. Szoboszlai found an onrushing Díaz with a cross-field pass. Díaz found Gakpo, who turned in the box and got a strong shot off. It was blocked by keeper Vicario, as was the rebound and second chance from Robertson.

Just as Liverpool started to gain some momentum, Jones was shown a very weak red card, putting the Reds down to 10 men for the third time this season. Absolutely bonkers decision from the referees, but we play on.

A goal by Díaz is lopped off for offside just minutes after Jones’ dismissal from the game. The call was once again marginal and once again went against the Reds. Wow, that…was certainly a call to make. Somehow like four human men — supposedly experts on the rules of the game — looked at that image and, I think, collectively went blind or something? But we play on.

It wasn’t long until Spurs capitalized on Liverpool’s handicap. And to no one’s surprise, the player who struck first was Tottenham captain Son Heung-Min, beating the offside trap and putting Spurs ahead.

Liverpool are saved from going an unprecedented (this season) second goal with an assist from the post keeping out Richarlison’s effort. Surely Spurs regretted the miss minutes later into injury time when Gakpo spun in the box and rifled home the equalizer. He looked to hurt himself a bit, but stayed on to finish out the half.

Unbelievably, Liverpool nearly bagged a second minutes later. Salah was somehow free as a bird on the wing. He delivered the ball across the pitch to Díaz, but he couldn’t get a good toe on it, and the chance went begging. Still, that was an impressive momentum shift from Liverpool at the end. Hopefully they ride that through the second half as well.

Second Half

The second half kicked off with Klopp substituting in Diogo Jota for goalscorer Gakpo.

In the opening minutes, Alisson made two fantastic, flying saves to keep the score level, denying first James Maddison and then a close-up effort from Son.

Son, again, 10 minutes later had his goal ruled offside in a stunning turn of events where a decision went in Liverpool’s favor.

If you were worried that this would become an unsettling trend, don’t worry about it. Jota was called for a second yellow card, and then there were nine. The first yellow wasn’t even a foul, but it was still dumb of Jota to get the second. But we play on.

The only positive was that Son is off the pitch for the rest of this match, having been subbed.

In response, Klopp made a triple change: Alexander-Arnold on for Salah, Wataru Endo on for Díaz, and Ibrahima Konaté for Joe Gomez. This effectively made their formation something like a very desperate 3-4-1.

Van Dijk tried a header that went over. Then Szoboszlai made a soft effort straight to the keeper.

Mac Allister was replaced by Ryan Gravenberch for Klopp’s final sub of the evening.

At this point, the numbers on the scoreboard don’t matter. The story is the comically one-sided and awful refereeing. None of these refs should have jobs tomorrow.

In the last moments of the game, Matip accidentally sends the ball into his own net for an own goal. Blah, blah, literally who cares? I could SPIT NAILS right now.

Final Thoughts

There are no words. But it goes to show that it takes being down to nine men and having a goal unfairly called back to beat us.