Liverpool 2 Tottenham 2
Fernando Torres' injury-time equaliser salvaged a fortunate 2-2 draw for Liverpool to prevent Tottenham recording a win which would have lifted the pressure on Martin Jol.
Jol watched with pride as his side almost forced the club's first win at Anfield since 1993; it would have been only Spurs' fourth league success at the home of the Reds since 1912.
The visitors fought for everything only to have their hearts broken two minutes into injury-time when Torres rose to head the equaliser.
Andriy Voronin had opened the scoring for the home team only for Robbie Keane to score either side of half-time.
• Jol still in the dark over his future
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez made his now obligatory five changes following the Champions League defeat at home to Marseille, but there was not even a role for Peter Crouch on the bench.
His ineffective display in midweek had not helped his cause, while Benitez brought back John Arne Riise, Voronin, Jermaine Pennant, Alvaro Arbeloa and Javier Mascherano.
Spurs made just two changes from the side that fought back from 4-1 to draw with Aston Villa on Monday. Jermaine Jenas, recovered from an abdominal strain, and Young-Pyo Lee replaced Aaron Lennon and Tom Huddlestone.
The match brought together two managers under pressure; Benitez because of his tinkering with the side and the abject European defeat in midweek, and Jol because his job seems to be under threat on a match-to-match basis.
There was extra tension in the air, but it did not stop Spurs from venturing forward. They almost took the lead after just two minutes when Gareth Bale curled a 20-yard free-kick inches wide of a post.
Voronin saw a 20-yard shot easily saved by Paul Robinson four minutes later, but after 12 minutes the Ukrainian was more successful.
Jenas had pulled back Steven Gerrard 25 yards out and, when the Liverpool skipper crashed the free-kick through the wall, Robinson could only half stop the deflected effort, and Voronin punished him by scoring on the rebound.
Undaunted Spurs retaliated with a flicked header from Keane which dropped just wide, and then a right-footed drive from the Irishman flashed across Jose Reina's goal.
Torres jinked his way through before sending a low drive just wide before Gerrard almost made it 2-0 with a 20-yard free-kick which crashed against the foot of Robinson's left-hand post after 28 minutes.
It was a very open game and Jenas was next to try his luck with a dipping drive just over.
At the other end, Arbeloa and Voronin exchanged passes to set up Torres for a shot that Robinson held.
Liverpool should have scored after 34 minutes when Torres, Voronin and Gerrard broke away, but the chance was wasted in the box after a flurry of passes and a Voronin effort was deflected away.
But Spurs deservedly equalised after 44 minutes when Dimitar Berbatov nodded on Robinson's long clearance, and Keane got in between Steve Finnan and Sami Hyypia to flick a shot past the advancing Reina.
Two minutes into the second half Keane struck again. Robinson's free-kick for a foul by Torres soared down the field to be headed on by Berbatov, and this time Keane got to the glanced pass to lift the ball over Reina into the roof of the net.
Spurs continued to come forward and, after Bale's grafting had retained possession on the left, the ball was transferred to Jenas, who fired wide from the edge of the box.
Liverpool were being forced into mistakes as Spurs continued to press for a third. The home side did break out, but after Voronin's surge the chance fell to Gerrard, who drove over.
Michael Dawson was booked for a foul on Torres, with Ryan Babel coming on for Arbeloa as Liverpool searched for attacking inspiration. Then the limping Pennant was replaced by another striker Dirk Kuyt.
There was an air of desperation now about Liverpool - yet another team had come to Anfield and attacked them - and they were not enjoying it.
The hard-working Teemu Tainio was replaced by Steed Malbranque after 75 minutes, with Liverpool still showing little sign of an equaliser.
That was until Robinson spilled another long-range effort, this time from Steve Finnan. But Dawson managed to hook the ball away from the danger area.
Yossi Benayoun was the last throw of the dice after 77 minutes in place of Voronin. Robinson saved well at his near post from Mascherano, while John Arne Riise and Torres both blazed efforts high over.
Mascherano fired just wide from 20 yards, with time apparently running out for Liverpool who had not been able to mount the expected grandstand finish.
But two minutes into injury-time, Torres finally found some space in the box when he rose to head home Finnan's cross to give Liverpool a fortunate point.
• Jol still in the dark over his future
Martin Jol's Tottenham side made it six games undefeated as the north Londoners claimed a deserved point at Liverpool, but he still admitted he does not know what his future holds.
A Robbie Keane double had put Spurs in control, but Jol insisted: 'I do not know about the future, I do not pull the strings and I do not have any control over the scenario. If I did, everything would be quiet.
'But see my team, they want to fight and they fight every game. The players always stay the same, it is very positive.'
Andriy Voronin put Liverpool ahead early on, but Spurs attacked constantly and looked as if they were heading for their first Anfield win since 1993.
Jol said: 'We could not get the third (goal), we had the breaks and that would have ended it. I just couldn't understand how we didn't achieve that.
'Everyone has said we deserved to win, and that is how we feel. In particular in the second half we were on top of them and caused a lot of problems.
'That was good. They had suffered a bad defeat against Marseille in midweek and we knew they would want to do better and we expected a difficult match.
'Then we conceded a goal like that at the beginning, which didn't help, I felt we did well to come back into the game. We raided quickly, were strong in midfield and Robbie Keane scored a couple of good goals.
'But in the end it was a bad result for us. But we have got a great spirit, everyone can see that, we have done a lot of travelling in midweek to Cyprus and then up here to Liverpool.
'It has been a difficult time for us. But we took a lot of confidence from this.'
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez must have felt his side were going to lose for the second time at Anfield in five days, following the 1-0 Champions League reverse against Marseille.
He said: 'Of course we are disappointed. The character was fine, we worked hard but we conceded two very bad goals, the sort we do not normally let in.
'Those two mistakes cost us. They were so clear, so easy to stop. It is not normal to see us concede goals like that.
'We were much better than them in the first half, we could have scored a few more. But we didn't and that left us with a difficult second half.'
Jol watched with pride as his side almost forced the club's first win at Anfield since 1993; it would have been only Spurs' fourth league success at the home of the Reds since 1912.
The visitors fought for everything only to have their hearts broken two minutes into injury-time when Torres rose to head the equaliser.
Andriy Voronin had opened the scoring for the home team only for Robbie Keane to score either side of half-time.
• Jol still in the dark over his future
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez made his now obligatory five changes following the Champions League defeat at home to Marseille, but there was not even a role for Peter Crouch on the bench.
His ineffective display in midweek had not helped his cause, while Benitez brought back John Arne Riise, Voronin, Jermaine Pennant, Alvaro Arbeloa and Javier Mascherano.
Spurs made just two changes from the side that fought back from 4-1 to draw with Aston Villa on Monday. Jermaine Jenas, recovered from an abdominal strain, and Young-Pyo Lee replaced Aaron Lennon and Tom Huddlestone.
The match brought together two managers under pressure; Benitez because of his tinkering with the side and the abject European defeat in midweek, and Jol because his job seems to be under threat on a match-to-match basis.
There was extra tension in the air, but it did not stop Spurs from venturing forward. They almost took the lead after just two minutes when Gareth Bale curled a 20-yard free-kick inches wide of a post.
Voronin saw a 20-yard shot easily saved by Paul Robinson four minutes later, but after 12 minutes the Ukrainian was more successful.
Jenas had pulled back Steven Gerrard 25 yards out and, when the Liverpool skipper crashed the free-kick through the wall, Robinson could only half stop the deflected effort, and Voronin punished him by scoring on the rebound.
Undaunted Spurs retaliated with a flicked header from Keane which dropped just wide, and then a right-footed drive from the Irishman flashed across Jose Reina's goal.
Torres jinked his way through before sending a low drive just wide before Gerrard almost made it 2-0 with a 20-yard free-kick which crashed against the foot of Robinson's left-hand post after 28 minutes.
It was a very open game and Jenas was next to try his luck with a dipping drive just over.
At the other end, Arbeloa and Voronin exchanged passes to set up Torres for a shot that Robinson held.
Liverpool should have scored after 34 minutes when Torres, Voronin and Gerrard broke away, but the chance was wasted in the box after a flurry of passes and a Voronin effort was deflected away.
But Spurs deservedly equalised after 44 minutes when Dimitar Berbatov nodded on Robinson's long clearance, and Keane got in between Steve Finnan and Sami Hyypia to flick a shot past the advancing Reina.
Two minutes into the second half Keane struck again. Robinson's free-kick for a foul by Torres soared down the field to be headed on by Berbatov, and this time Keane got to the glanced pass to lift the ball over Reina into the roof of the net.
Spurs continued to come forward and, after Bale's grafting had retained possession on the left, the ball was transferred to Jenas, who fired wide from the edge of the box.
Liverpool were being forced into mistakes as Spurs continued to press for a third. The home side did break out, but after Voronin's surge the chance fell to Gerrard, who drove over.
Michael Dawson was booked for a foul on Torres, with Ryan Babel coming on for Arbeloa as Liverpool searched for attacking inspiration. Then the limping Pennant was replaced by another striker Dirk Kuyt.
There was an air of desperation now about Liverpool - yet another team had come to Anfield and attacked them - and they were not enjoying it.
The hard-working Teemu Tainio was replaced by Steed Malbranque after 75 minutes, with Liverpool still showing little sign of an equaliser.
That was until Robinson spilled another long-range effort, this time from Steve Finnan. But Dawson managed to hook the ball away from the danger area.
Yossi Benayoun was the last throw of the dice after 77 minutes in place of Voronin. Robinson saved well at his near post from Mascherano, while John Arne Riise and Torres both blazed efforts high over.
Mascherano fired just wide from 20 yards, with time apparently running out for Liverpool who had not been able to mount the expected grandstand finish.
But two minutes into injury-time, Torres finally found some space in the box when he rose to head home Finnan's cross to give Liverpool a fortunate point.
• Jol still in the dark over his future
Martin Jol's Tottenham side made it six games undefeated as the north Londoners claimed a deserved point at Liverpool, but he still admitted he does not know what his future holds.
A Robbie Keane double had put Spurs in control, but Jol insisted: 'I do not know about the future, I do not pull the strings and I do not have any control over the scenario. If I did, everything would be quiet.
'But see my team, they want to fight and they fight every game. The players always stay the same, it is very positive.'
Andriy Voronin put Liverpool ahead early on, but Spurs attacked constantly and looked as if they were heading for their first Anfield win since 1993.
Jol said: 'We could not get the third (goal), we had the breaks and that would have ended it. I just couldn't understand how we didn't achieve that.
'Everyone has said we deserved to win, and that is how we feel. In particular in the second half we were on top of them and caused a lot of problems.
'That was good. They had suffered a bad defeat against Marseille in midweek and we knew they would want to do better and we expected a difficult match.
'Then we conceded a goal like that at the beginning, which didn't help, I felt we did well to come back into the game. We raided quickly, were strong in midfield and Robbie Keane scored a couple of good goals.
'But in the end it was a bad result for us. But we have got a great spirit, everyone can see that, we have done a lot of travelling in midweek to Cyprus and then up here to Liverpool.
'It has been a difficult time for us. But we took a lot of confidence from this.'
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez must have felt his side were going to lose for the second time at Anfield in five days, following the 1-0 Champions League reverse against Marseille.
He said: 'Of course we are disappointed. The character was fine, we worked hard but we conceded two very bad goals, the sort we do not normally let in.
'Those two mistakes cost us. They were so clear, so easy to stop. It is not normal to see us concede goals like that.
'We were much better than them in the first half, we could have scored a few more. But we didn't and that left us with a difficult second half.'
posted by dgarden at 12:47 pm
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