Tottenham v Liverpool: Reds legend Phil Thompson's big match verdict for Premier League game on Wembley
Liverpool legend Phil Thompson says the Reds will face the real Tottenham at Wembley on Saturday and thinks defence will be key to the big lunchtime kick-off.
Soccer Saturday pundit and former Reds captain Thompson gives Sporting Life his big-match verdict for Spurs v Liverpool on Saturday lunchtime..
Will the real Spurs please stand up
Very seldom do you hear Mauricio Pochettino coming out with statements questioning the attitude of the players like he did after the Watford game, but he was actually quite right, those are the games that you can’t lose if you’re going to challenge.
It’s no good getting up for the big games like Manchester United and winning at Old Trafford and then throwing it away against Watford.
They were great against United and it looked like there were real challengers but Pochettino, who I think is a fantastic manager by the way and has done a fine job at Spurs, will have been furious with them after Watford.
This is a massive game for them and the real Spurs will turn up, I’ve got no doubt about that. It’ll be more of the Spurs that played at Man Utd and less of the Spurs that played at Watford, you can bet your life.
Great start to the season for Liverpool
It’s been an absolutely terrific start for Liverpool but I think there’s still so much more to come from them. The solidity at the back they’ve shown already this season has given them a much better chance at picking up points in games as opposed to last year.
In Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane you feet that they could get two or three goals in every game, and that’s what you felt they needed to score to be able to win the game last season, but now you just feel that they are going to be able to see games out even when they only score one.
There’s still so much more to come from this side, as we all know the three amigos up front haven’t quite been firing on all cylinders just yet but I expect them, as well as Spurs, to be right up for the game at Wembley.
It’ll be two teams on the front foot. We all remember the Liverpool debacle at Wembley last season and then a fantastic game that Liverpool should have won at Anfield. I expect to see something similar on Saturday.
Great attacks – but defence will be key
Although there are some fantastic attacking players on show, I think it’ll be the two defences that will be key to deciding this game.
The attackers are all great but whichever defenders do their jobs then I would think that team will come out on top.
As daft as it sounds I was quite pleased Liverpool lost that goal at Leicester to get that monkey off their backs about not conceding a goal in the season so far, and maybe got that big mistake out of the keeper Alisson now without costing the team any points.
All round the defences are going to be key in the game. On the flip side to it is that it should be the better attack who should win the game, but this time defenders will have the major say on the result.
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