What happens when two teams sitting on top of the league with contrasting style of play meet. An enthralling game with both teams knowing a lapse in concentration causing a damage. Last night’s PL game between Liverpool and Tottenham which the Reds won 2-1 was one such encounter. With both teams playing the best foot forward, the Spurs manager kickstarted some debates saying that the ‘best team lost’.
So what does the stats say
When people nosedives into such discussions it’s natural they will pull out some stats to support their argument. And with both teams with contrasting style of play will always put some interesting stats. Tottenham’s deep lying defense tactics provided Liverpool lot of time on the ball and good passing numbers. Also they had a lot of shots on target which was inevitable given the quality they possess in attack.
But with Liverpool’s high defensive line always present a chance for swift counter attacks for the impressive Spurs attacking trio of Son, Kane and Bergwijn. One such counter attack resulted in a well taken goal by Son in the first half. They had equally good chances to put the game beyond Reds in the second half with Kane and Bergwijn both missing them. The xG stats, hence favoured them last night which clearly showed.
Of course, the xG of Reds shots will be lower despite more shots on goal, due to the fact that they had almost the whole Spurs squad behind the ball, killing off any space for their attacks as well as deflections were the norm for them. So the value of their xG reduces compared to Spurs shots which mostly were 1v1.
How the game was played
As it was expected, Jose Mourinho’s side was happy to sit back and defend for the whole game and pounce on Liverpool’s mistakes. Their menacing duo of Kane and Son are in great form and his tactics were to put his money on them to come out on top. Both of them and Bergwijn had their moments in the game but barring Son the two couldn’t capitalise on their chances.
Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool on other hand were the dominant side with most of the game played in Spurs half. They controlled the game overall working out the Spurs defense to find the goals to win the game. Those 17 shots with 11 on target are testamount to that. The intensity and counter pressing was also evident from the first minute and Klopp would be mightily impressed.
The mistakes that Spurs were waiting for given for the half inexperienced and half makeshift centre back partnership was almost negligible. The biggest mistake came from the composed and assured Alisson whose pass was intercepted by Kane which he tried to lob over the Reds GK, but Alisson recovered in time to deflect it over bar.
The best team of the night
So when Mourinho said the best team lost, Klopp naturally differed. The question remains on such days when both teams were good on their tactics which team will be considered better one? The one which controlled the game or the one who had better chances? Opinions will differ based on which side of the fence you are. As Spurs supporters will show xG data to support their argument and Liverpool supporters will show the possession, passing and total shots stats to support theirs, the fact remains that these are just data that is a part of the whole game. It will just take analysis of the game as a whole to determine the better team and it will also depend on the team tactics and their execution. Personally, for me in this game, both teams were bang on their money and equally impressive. But as Liverpool were the ones who controlled the game for most of the time, they were the better team for me.