On Oscar’s evening, here was a film we have all seen far too many times before. A boring script with a predictable ending and letdown performances from the star protagonists.
A team who sleepwalked to dropped points for the umpteenth time this season, a bunch of players and head coach who seem lost for ideas on how to stop the inevitable happening again.
No, not the much-berated, ridiculed Tottenham Hotspur and their equally-mocked interim head coach Igor Tudor, but Arne Slot’s Liverpool, the Premier League champions.
Both teams got exactly what they deserved. Spurs won their first point under Tudor in what was hardly a polished performance but at least one in which they showed some organisation, guts and fighting spirit, while Liverpool were left berating the same old story.
‘I don’t know what happened, I have nothing to say,’ said Dominik Szoboszlai, the goal-scorer who was let down again for Liverpool. ‘In the last minute, again, I don’t know how many times this season already. We have to wake up.
‘I feel flat. We have to wake up because if we carry on like this, we should be happy with the Conference League. I don’t know why this is happening, I honestly don’t know.’
Arne Slot’s Liverpool conceded late again as out-of-form Spurs rescued a 1-1 draw at Anfield
Deflated Dominik Szoboszlai refused to hide his frustration and called for his team to ‘wake up’
That is the problem. Nobody seems to be able to arrest the slump.
Not Slot, not reigning player of the season Mohamed Salah (a substitute for the first hour), not the best defender in Premier League history Virgil van Dijk. Not any of these big-money players.
It is rinse and repeat: get into a commanding position, fluff several big chances and then capitulate late on. More than 20 times this season, Liverpool have conceded after the 75th minute.
When the clock ticks past that point, the anxiety inside Anfield rises several notches almost as if to say everyone knows what is going to happen, just cut to the chase and get on with it. This stadium has not been a fortress at all this season, more a melting pot of nerves.
How much of the blame should lie at Slot’s feet?
Certainly a high proportion, as is the world of football management. Tudor, for example, was not solely responsible for Antonin Kinsky’s mess-ups in Madrid or his team-mates’ slips midweek but he takes the brunt.
The boos at full-time were louder than they have been at any point of this season as fans have grown sick and tired of the wastefulness at one end and vulnerability at the other. Who can blame them?
They work hard in the week to follow their football team on the weekend. Of course no fan is entitled to seeing their team get results but Liverpool are boring to watch and have been all season. Even when they win, they often do not play as well as we all know they can.
There are a couple of minor positives we must note: the point here actually saw them leapfrog Chelsea, who lost to Newcastle on Saturday, into the top five which will almost guarantee Champions League football.
But do they deserve that? You could say the same about Liam Rosenior’s Chelsea, to be honest, but neither could grumble if they were left to Thursday nights in one of UEFA’s B-grade competitions next year.
Teenager Rio Ngumoha’s impressive display was a minor positive for Liverpool on an otherwise disappointing Sunday afternoon, with Slot’s men losing vital ground in the top four race
It is also worth saying that Rio Ngumoha, the 17-year-old winger who made his first start in the Premier League here, did more than enough to show he deserves more minutes.
Liverpool are going careful with his body to not ask too much, too soon physically – but he is a supreme talent.
The rest of the attackers were poor, though. Cody Gakpo was unlucky not to make it 2-0 when Guglielmo Vicario tipped a shot on to the post but other than that, the Italian goalkeeper had a relatively quiet second half. Substitutes Salah and Hugo Ekitike were wasteful.
Florian Wirtz, likewise, was largely anonymous and Jeremie Frimpong, starting on Salah’s right wing, was ineffective. Are the above sub-par performances Slot’s fault? Maybe not entirely, but it feels that whoever he plays cannot win games for Liverpool right now.
This is not a new issue either, the Reds have been poor all season. You could say it has been six months but the problem, in truth, goes back further.
Every week, Slot bemoans how his team underperforms against their expected goals (xG) tally but after a certain amount of time, there must be a deeper-lying trouble that is bugging Slot.
The biggest one is the vulnerability his team shows every week. From half-time onwards, the ending was easy to envisage. How many times have a team equalised or scored a winner against them that prompted the reaction ‘that has been coming’?
The champions retreated and Spurs, a team devoid of confidence and staring down the barrel of a shocking relegation, started to fancy their chances.
They are not the first team to do that here this season and judging on the evidence of Slot’s inability to fix the issues, they will not be the last.
