LIVERPOOL weren’t at their best against Tottenham at Anfield on Sunday but that made the victory all the sweeter. What pleased me the most was that we dug deep and ground it out.
We got a bit of luck with the second and third goals as Spurs’ defending was horrendous but we still had to be good enough to take those chances.
Sunday was a rarity – we picked up three points we probably didn’t deserve and that’s a real step forward.
Winning without playing particularly well is the sign of a good side and we haven’t done that enough in recent years. In fact too often we’ve played well and not won so Sunday was a welcome change.
How many times this season have Manchester United won without being at their best? It’s about mental resilience and it was great to see Liverpool pick up three points in that kind of manner.
I was really impressed by Spurs. They are a tall, strong, athletic side and the best team I’ve seen at Anfield this season.
Gareth Bale showed his brilliance in patches and when he got the ball at times we panicked. He is such a great player to have in your side but in his duel with Luis Suarez there was only one winner.
Suarez continued his stunning form, scoring the first and winning the penalty which enabled Steven Gerrard to win it from the spot.
The manner in which we broke the deadlock was outstanding.
There’s a good understanding developing between Jose Enrique and Philippe Coutinho down the left.
It was a lovely move and the finish was executed brilliantly by Suarez.
He knew exactly what he wanted to do with it and that puts him three clear of Robin van Persie in the race for the Golden Boot.
After that Spurs came back strong and the negative for us was our failure to defend balls into the box. Both of their goals should have been dealt with.
It was a shame because in general I thought our centre-backs did a great job in keeping Jermain Defoe quiet.
After Jan Vertonghen made it 2-1 I couldn’t really see a way back but great credit to Brendan Rodgers because the substitution he made when Joe Allen came on for Coutinho made a big difference.
We were losing the midfield battle and it was the right substitution at the right time. It enabled us to get to grips with it in midfield and close down Moussa Dembele who was running the show before that. The mistakes Spurs made after that were so careless but we put them under pressure and forced those errors.
To finally beat one of the top sides should be a big psychological boost for Rodgers and his players.
We’re in the top six now and we’ve got nine cup finals left to play.
We have to keep on winning and see where it takes us. Rodgers is right to look no further ahead than Southampton on Saturday.
We’re still relying on teams above us slipping up but we’ve got a favourable run-in with both Everton and Chelsea still to come to Anfield and momentum is growing.
