Overshadowing Progressive Play with Terrible Officiating
It’s pretty hard not to start off by bashing the circus act that the referees displayed, particularly towards the end of the match. There will be plenty spoken about that but right now lets focus on the parts that weren’t effected by things that were out of the player’s control.
Much of the play was dominated by Liverpool, with spells of being put under siege by Tottenham. Once again — not much different from how it has been going for the Reds.
Lets get right to it. This game came down to one.. err.. two things: Liverpool not finishing more chances than they should have, and the officials.
It may not be as big of a deal when you’re playing against a lesser side, but when you play Harry Kane and Tottenham, you need to finish chances once you get them. For one, if you don’t, you might not get the chances again. The other downside to not being clinical is that a club like Tottenham can come right back the other way and hurt you.
This all came to fruition in the last five minutes of the 90. After Wanyama scored a ridiculous goal that he could’ve only scored once in 50 attempts, Tottenham gets a penalty awarded for a play that never should have even been seen because of an offsides that was missed just a moment before.
When Kane had the cheeky, down-the-middle penalty saved by Karius, it seemed like rightful justice. With only minutes left in stoppage time, the hope was still there that Liverpool could still find a way to ping back after Wanyama’s incredible hit.
Cue Mohamed Salah. Is there any other man? This game was featured heavily because of Salah vs. Kane; The top two goal scorers in the league.
Mo put in a goal that the announcers described as a Messi-like goal. The way he wriggled through the back line was truly something reminiscent of the little Argentinian star. To finish it off with a calm and cool chip over Lloris is something special. Between Wanyama and Salah’s goal, we have two Goal of the Year nominees from goals that happened just a few minutes apart in the same match.
The announcers also jumped the gun like many soccer commentators do, and said that the Reds had the game in the bag at this point. Anyone who knows Liverpool knows that nothing is over until the final whistle blows.
As if Liverpool can’t catch a break as it is, another deep blow, maybe the deepest of the season was dealt again. Another penalty awarded for something that was misinterpreted. When Van Dyke went to clear the ball from the box, Lamela got in the way and VVD kicked him as the Tottenham player fell to the ground. This is not a penalty — and it seemed like it wasn’t for about a good, long five seconds.
It was determined that even after recounting the suspected foul seconds later, the sideline official decided to deem it a penalty even though it clearly wasn’t by way of the rules. Of course, not facing the humility of missing again, Kane slotted it in and two more points slipped away from Merseyside yet again.
Bad calls happen all the time, but when two penalties happen in stoppage time, when neither should have happened at all, you know it’s just painful. When matches are dictated by officials, it’s hard to really appreciate the integrity of the game. Points are valuable and it just sucks when refs have to take control like this.
With the refs and everything else aside, the defensive issues seemed to be solved a bit more yesterday. It’s difficult to judge from one match, but there were signs of the defensive form making some progress. Then again, Liverpool has a habit of playing to their opposition’s level.
Unfortunately the evidence of the back line playing well was overshadowed by the bad calls. You would like to be rewarded by great form and not have anything taking away from that, but hopefully the bad luck of crazy goals and stupid referees will be vacant more than present throughout these matchdays. I don’t think the slightest of prays would help that though.
Source photo credit: Clive Brunskill for Getty Images | rushthekop.com
