Hello and welcome once again to matchcast coverage of this afternoon's match between Tottenham and Liverpool. Going into this game both teams would be looking to for a dominant performance; especially Liverpool who actually took double the amount of games last season to reach the same points mark. Tottenham on the other hand were handed an incredibly difficult opening set of fixtures including both Manchester sides, and the London riots did nothing but hinder their schedule. Nevertheless, these top sides are here to prove they should be taken seriously this season; there really was no doubt we were in store for an action packed 90 minutes.
Tottenham vs. Liverpool
GK: Friedel
DR: Walker DC: Kaboul DC: King DL: Assou-Ekotto
RM: Kranjcar CM: Parker CM: *Modric* LM: Bale
ST: *Adebayor* ST: Defoe
GK: Reina
DR: Skrtel DC: Carragher DC: Agger DL: Jose Enrique
RM: Henderson CM: Lucas CM: Adam LM: Downing
FW: Suarez ST: Carroll
1st half:
2.30 opportunity: Kranjcar slides Adebayor into a 1-on-1 but he had to strike it first time – the ball goes wide and it’s a big miss for Tottenham.
6.30 *goal*: Modric strikes the most beautiful of volleys into the top right-hand corner – unbelievable goal. Really made something special out of nothing.
11.40 yellow card: Adam takes down Modric and gets the first yellow of the game.
13.00 opportunity: Tottenham look fantastic as Bale steals the ball off Skrtel and lays it off to Defoe who sets up Modric for a low drive which is saved well by Reina. Adebayor keeps it alive by chipping it back into the box, but it doesn’t find a white shirt.
15.20 opportunity: Assou-Ekotto and Bale are simply abusing the left wing as Skrtel is nowhere to be found in his make-shift right back role. Bale crosses the ball but fails to find Defoe in the box.
18.00 goal disallowed: A messy Tottenham fail to deal with a ball as Carroll pokes the ball through to Suarez who calmly pokes it into the back of the net. He was clearly offside.
21.00 opportunity: Adebayor is invited to a left-footed drive at the edge of the box, but it floats high over the bar.
23.00 yellow card: Adebayor picks up a yellow for a 50/50 challenge with Carroll.
25.00 substitution: Agger is forced off with an injury and new signing Coates comes on to replace him.
27.00 red card: Adam lunges in studs up against Parker and gets his 2nd yellow – things are just getting worse and worse for Liverpool.
35.40 yellow card: Skrtel gets a yellow for holding Bale back during one of his terrific runs.
39.00 yellow card: Debutant Coates who replaced Agger earlier, goes into the book for bringing Adebayor down.
41.59 opportunity: Kaboul sends a header wide – the delivery from Modric was beautiful, unfortunate miss.
49.00 yellow card: Suarez sarcastically applauds the referee and goes into the book – the discipline is truly lost.
Tottenham 1 - 0 Liverpool
As the first half comes to a close you have to wonder what King Kenny is thinking; his side just haven't showed up today. Not taking anything away from Tottenham of course, they have been brilliant, especially taking advantage of Liverpool's make-shift right-back and exploiting Skrtel with Bale's pace. Liverpool will have a whole load of work to do if they hope to get back into the game, but they are certainly fortunate to only be down by a single goal.
2nd half
45.00 substitution: Van Der Vaart comes on for Kranjcar who is reported to have a tight calf.
46.00 opportunity: Walker bombards past Enrique and crosses the ball towards Adebayor who knocks it cleverly towards Defoe. Defoe strikes it first time just wide; big miss from the Tottenham striker.
58.30 opportunity: Defoe beats Skrtel in the air and takes the ball away – he finds Adebayor who pokes a horrific attempt at goal, another chance of taking a 2 goal lead squandered.
61.10 opportunity: Suarez earns himself a controversial free kick on the edge of the box but scoops it over the bar.
62.00 red card: Skrtel picks up his second yellow for another poor challenge on Bale. Liverpool down to 9!
65.00 *goal*: Defoe is left unmarked and runs away – a poor first touch but he recovers and scores with a great strike.
67.30 *goal*: Reina spills a shot and Adebayor picks up the pieces and puts it into an open net.
82.50 substitution: Defoe makes way for Dos Santos and King comes off for Bassong.
85.32 opportunity: With 9 men Liverpool can’t really do anything – Spearing tries an opportunistic shot from far out and it trickles wide.
87.00 man of the match: Adebayor is given the award for a great showing today; a great work ethic capped off with a goal to his name.
90.05 opportunity: Van Der Vaart breaks into a 1-on-1 and tries a cheeky chip but Reina stands tall and plucks it out of the air.
92.50 *goal*: Adebayor is left completely unmarked in the box and he volleys a cross home; thumping volley.
Final score: Tottenham 4 - 0 Liverpool
A broken Liverpool left the field as Tottenham celebrated a deserved victory. Man of the match Adebayor must have really enjoyed hearing Tottenham's applause and to be fair he deserved the ovation for putting in such a hard-working shift. It will be interesting to see how this result effects both sides, with Tottenham hoping to continue off such a fantastic result while Liverpool forced to bounce back against Brighton in the Carling Cup 3rd round mid-week.
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