It was a combination of Tottenham Hotspur being that bad and Liverpool being that good that saw the Reds follow up their 5-0 victory at White Hart Lane last season with yet another commanding performance in the Big Smoke.
Raheem Sterling got things started early on when he finished an excellent Jordan Henderson square ball across the face of goal before a second half penalty from Steven Gerrard doubled up on the youngster’s opener. There were doubts that new boy Alberto Moreno would be fit after twisting his ankle in the 3-0 loss to Manchester City on Monday, but he showed no signs of the knock when he sprinted from well within his own half on the counter-attack to curl one past Hugo Lloris.
That was superbly satisfying.
Much of the pre-match talk — well, that which didn’t center around Mario Balotelli — revolved around Spurs resurrection under new boss Mauricio Pochettino and whether or not Liverpool would be able to scale the heady heights we saw last season. Now we know that much of that jabber was just unwarranted.
Although the Reds never quite got into third gear, they looked just fine in second with the hosts, and their abysmal record against top teams, looking very much like the side that lost 5-0 here last season. It didn’t take long for their visitors for the afternoon to pull North London, buoyed by results against West Ham United and newly promoted Queens Park Rangers, back to reality when Sterling — operating in a more central role — beat Lloris at the far post to open the scoring.
Balotelli, who was handed his debut following his move from AC Milan earlier in the week, spurned a number of good chances, twice going close with headed efforts before he fired over the net with the ball skipping across the pitch from a well worked corner that was straight off the training ground. Despite missing out on a fairy-tale start for his new team, the fact that he was both getting into scoring positions and meshing well with his new team-mates is encouraging considering his relative lack of match fitness and the amount of time he’s spent away from the Premier League. That Daniel Sturridge missed as many chances as his partner has gone largely unmentioned, but that’s quite alright — we’ve seen what they can do when they’re on.
The captain has scored his fair share of goals and he was on hand to Gerrard double up after the break with a customarily composed strike from the penalty spot. It all looked a bit soft, but when Eric Dier tugged back Joe Allen’s arm as he was skipping through the box, referee Phil Dowd had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Twelve minutes later, Moreno put the match out of reach for when he turned on the afterburners to race out of his own half completely unhindered before beating Lloris with a well placed effort.
Balotelli and Allen made way for Lazar Markovic and Emre Can as the Reds slowed the tempo of the match and even Jose Enrique was handed a cameo — trying his luck as a winger — when he replaced Sterling late in the game. There were no mistakes in the Capital today, no three goal advantages pissed away, but that doesn’t mean that Spurs didn’t have opportunities.
With Martin Skrtel out injured, Mamadou Sakho joined Dejan Lovren in the heart of the defence and the pair of them looked like they’d never played together before — largely because they hadn’t. The Frenchman has seen relatively no match time since returning from the World Cup and it showed on more than one occasion, but most notably when his partner had to block Erik Lamela’s gilt edged chance after he’d thrown possession away. Simon Mignolet’s save from Nacer Chadil’s blasted effort also kept the defense from a serious case of the blushes — but I digress.
A still shaky back line remains Liverpool’s Achilles-heel, but Rodgers looks to be sorting it out slowly with the second half a much more water tight affair. The international break will give the Reds yet another opportunity to have a look at what ails them, but they’ll do it confident in the fact that that beautiful, flowing football up top will still get them three points.
Well, at least away to Spurs it will.
–Steven
