Monday, 16th May, 2011
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has put the club’s defeat to Tottenham Hotspur yesterday down to a slow start.
The Anfield side held the whip-hand coming into the match at Anfield, holding fifth place in the Premier League, which offers an all-important spot in the Europa League.
But European football was not something Spurs would easily give up and Harry Redknapp’s side shot into the lead after just nine minutes through Rafael van der Vaart.
And when Luka Modric scored from a controversial penalty in the second half to make it 2-0, the game was up for Liverpool, and Spurs leapfrogged the Reds into fifth.
"I think they started better than we did, scored a goal and we didn’t start to play for 25-30 minutes", Dalglish told the post-match press conference.
"We started to look a bit better, but then at the start of the second half they got the second goal and that gave them a real foothold in the game.
"It was difficult for us to break them down. We didn’t have enough on the day to break them down and penetrate their goal, but I don’t think Pepe [Reina] was overly busy either."
Dalglish reflected that Liverpool did not "play as well as we can play" and the result leaves the Reds needing to better Tottenham’s result at home to Birmingham next weekend, when they meet Aston Villa at Villa Park.
Latest Features:
