The first thing that needs to be conveyed in this writing is that the title is not wrong. Seeing Tottenham Hotspur’s match against Liverpool, the Reds were even able to win when they made a lot of mistakes and the opponents had a number of golden opportunities.
When Liverpool has more than 10 points ahead of their opponents in the English Premier League this season, there are many assumptions that Liverpool will not be able to be pursued by other teams in the hunt for the Premier League title.
The assumption that emerged later was that only Liverpool were able to ruin their own dreams this season. Significant points difference can only be erased if Liverpool make a blunder and a series of mistakes themselves.
But judging by Liverpool’s match at Tottenham’s headquarters, in fact Liverpool still won when they made many blunders and mistakes on the field.
Liverpool’s play at Tottenham’s headquarters is fairly neat when referring to possession and dominance of the game. In the first round, Liverpool successfully locked Tottenham so the home team were forced to play defensively and it was difficult to create a counter-attack scheme.
Roberto Firmino’s goal is the fruit of the foresight of Liverpool players taking advantage of the slightest opportunity. After experiencing a deadlock due to meeting Toby Alderweireld’s defense and his friends, Liverpool were able to conquer Tottenham through a throw-in scheme.
The movement of each Liverpool player in the Tottenham penalty box made Firmino finally get the ball and find a gap that led to a goal. Score 1-0 is a very valuable capital for Liverpool in the match against Tottenham.
With Firmino’s goal in the first half, Tottenham could no longer only survive in the second half. They must go out to attack, unless they are satisfied with a one goal defeat, an impossible thing to happen because there is no plus value from the defeat of one goal.
This situation has gone according to Liverpool’s wishes. With more open play, Liverpool can hope to score a second goal while punishing Tottenham and ending their resistance.
But what happened next was a number of back-line errors that ended in disaster in front of goal.
Even though Liverpool present a number of golden opportunities to score the second goal, the spotlight deserves to be directed to the back line who are less alert and disciplined in this match.
Liverpool players several times lost the ball in their own area which has a direct danger to the goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
In the 57th minute, Dele Alli had a free space when Liverpool’s back line made a mistake. But Alli’s late decision benefited Liverpool. Serge Aurier who fired hard a few moments later did not have a space as good as Dele Alli, so Alisson was able to tame the shot easily.
Mourinho then gave a tighter pressing on Liverpool by entering Erik Lamela and Giovani Lo Celso together. With more midfielders, the pressure from Tottenham is getting stronger.
In the 75th minute, Liverpool again lost the ball in their own defense. Lucas Moura got the ball and then handed free-standing Son Heung Min. Son kicks still soar above the goal.
Tottenham’s third failure to make Jose Mourinho kneel belonged to Lo Celso. Lo Celso has a mature opportunity when welcoming cross in front of goal. But Lo Celso’s shot was just wide of the target.
Tottenham already have enough capital to at least end the match with a draw, but they did not get it.
Liverpool also deserve to lose points in this match armed with a series of mistakes they made. But what then happened was Liverpool managed to go home with three points in hand.
The phrase ‘Liverpool can’t stop Liverpool’s Premier League champions’ does sound excessive because there are still 17 matches left worth a total of 51 points. But in the match against Tottenham, it was clear that a number of mistakes made still led Liverpool to victory.
In soccer, the team that wins the league isn’t the only team that can win when they look good. One strong indication the team will win the league is they can still win despite appearing below standard and making a number of mistakes.
Liverpool have proven that, not just once but several times, in the Premier League this season.
