Spurs ready to be number one

Tottenham 2 Liverpool 1

Maybe it’s all those trophies Liverpool won in the 1970s and 80s, using up their luck and good fortune in the process, but you get a terrible sensation right now that Roy Hodgson’s men are doomed to failure.

How else do you explain the sight of captain Jamie Carragher traipsing off with a shoulder injury after putting in a mammoth performance at White Hart Lane — joining fellow club talisman Steven Gerrard on the sidelines where Fernando Torres has been slumped for so long?

Or what about defender Martin Skrtel, a hero when he opened the scoring, agonisingly turning a Modric cross into his own net to set the scene for Liverpool’s demise?

And how do you explain the sight of Aarron Lennon racing away in the second minute of injury-time to give Tottenham a dramatic and sensational victory that moves them up to fifth in the table — keeping alive manager Harry Redknapp’s remarkable prediction that his team can win the title?

Of course the obvious answer is that an inspired Tottenham side, on such a tremendous roll this season, earned their luck by never giving up, by using their crowd as a 12th man and driving forward right to the death. But Liverpool, too, put so much into this game and it must hurt bitterly to end it with nothing yet again.

Last year Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat at Tottenham on the opening day of the campaign set the tone for a whole season that was meant to be their breakthrough year but turned into an absolute disaster, ending not with a long-awaited league trophy at Anfield but with the departure of Rafa Benitez instead.

The question now is when will the bad luck end?

Even Hodgson will admit it’s been a pretty dire campaign since he swapped the River Thames for the River Mersey and found Liverpool was a far more troubled club than it appeared from the outside.

But there were real signs at White Hart Lane that the Hodgson era is starting to shape itself and may not be as demoralising and depressing as many have hinted – if only the Gods could shine on him just a little.

The first half was one of Liverpool’s best 45 minutes of the season because they looked organised, defiant and in control against a Tottenham team that has thundered in goals from every direction against every class of opponent this season.

With Carragher and Skrtel imperious and devious in equal measure at the back and Torres a constant threat, there was a real menace to Liverpool’s play that was eventually reflected in the scoreline.

Spurs did have one or two early half-chances but goalkeeper Gomes had to produce a flying save to keep out a long distance effort from Maxi Rodriguez and the visitors always looked dangerous on the break.

Their reward came in the 42nd minute when a Meireles free-kick dropped off the head of Skrtel — and the big defender was first to react, firing home the rebound as it fell in front of him, with Tottenham’s back four yet to move. It could so easily have been 2-0 when Torres produced a superb turn and rolled pass that was so deft and so exquisite that it deserved far better than a stumbling finish from Rodriguez, who wasted the opportunity from close range.

And Torres came remarkably close on the verge of the half-time whistle, only denied on the burst by a tremendous saving tackle from the impressive Bassong — who repeated the act almost in its exactitude a few seconds into the second half.

In fairness to Tottenham, who really stepped up a gear in the second period, their game had been disrupted by two injuries, the first to playmaker Rafael van der Vaart who pulled up after only 12 minutes and had to be replaced by Jermain Defoe; and the second to defender Younes Kaboul, replaced by Bassong after 36 minutes.

But such was Liverpool’s togetherness and defiance that even when Spurs won a penalty — Ngog jumping almost volleyball-style to blatantly handle a Bale free-kick — they survived as Defoe dragged his spot-kick miserably wide.

The sheer aggression and determination on Carragher’s face as the ball limped harmlessly wide summed up what the game meant to Liverpool — just as the centre-half’s incredible first half block when Defoe seemed set to score had done, mirrored in the second half by Meireles’ dramatic goalline clearance from Bale.

But by this stage Tottenham had so much momentum behind them that something was always going to give; and it did, when Modric’s clever run into the box saw Skrtel deflect the ball into his own net as he desperately tried to prevent Crouch finishing it instead.

When Hodgson opted to take off striker Ngog and replace him with defender Aurelio it was clear Liverpool’s aim was to stop the rot and take a point, but in the final throes it was a thankless task.

Tottenham, buoyed by a vociferous crowd, continued to storm forward and eventually won it when Lennon skipped through right at the death and expertly steered the ball past Pepe Reina.

The scenes of celebration at White Hart Lane showed just how important the result was to Tottenham’s season; Spurs fans no doubt daring to remind themselves once more that 2011 ends in a ‘one’.

For Liverpool, though, it was another low blow that has left them down to 10th in the table and all but resigned to their fate.