Visiting White Hart Lane, Liverpool lose in part because of a major misjudgement by one of the manager's flagship signings. It was Sunday's story, but also a repeat of sorts: last year, an errant Paul Konchesky allowed Tottenham Hotspur to pilfer victory while Charlie Adam's dismissal contributed to this week's setback.
If the similarities end there, Kenny Dalglish's second spell in charge has been framed in the context of Roy Hodgson's reign. It has worked to the Scot's advantage; besides the residual affection he earned as the club's most distinguished player and its last great manager, he is also the anti-Hodgson, imbued with Liverpool's traditions, espousing their passing game and prompting hopes of a return to the glory days.
Yet consider the likely reaction had Hodgson's team suffered Liverpool's heaviest defeat to Tottenham since the days before Dalglish was even a teenager. The Scot will not meet with the same outcry, and rightly so: the general sense remains that Liverpool are on an upwards trajectory and one defeat, however heavy, should not change that.
Nevertheless, much went wrong at White Hart Lane and it cannot all be attributed to Tottenham's excellence or mere misfortune. Adam is a case in point: Liverpool can argue his first booking was harsh, but his second was for a tackle sufficiently late and high that a yellow card was the lesser of the punishments on offer to Mike Jones, the referee.
Nor, arguably, was it out of character. There is a difference between a deep-lying and a defensive midfielder and Adam falls into the former category. The problem is not so much that he cannot tackle, but that he thinks he can. Two full seasons at Blackpool brought 25 yellow cards.
The other early departure, Martin Skrtel, was only playing right-back because Glen Johnson and Martin Kelly are both injured. Nonetheless, he was not helped by either his poor decision-making - needlessly ploughing through Gareth Bale was bound to bring a second caution - or team tactics. Liverpool's high defensive line in the first half would have been a risk for a side with a quicker back four; time and again, it allowed Bale to knock the ball into space and set up a sprint with Skrtel. There was only ever one winner.
Skrtel's station on the right was, in part, the consequence of Dalglish's correct recognition that the Slovakian's form over the last couple of seasons no longer justified automatic selection in the centre of defence. A clinical assessment of the players he has inherited has aided the Scot's cause, and it is telling that Hodgson's signings are conspicuous by their absence nowadays.
Where his judgement can be questioned in his choice of his own recruits. It is understandable, given the manager's legitimate insistence that the players were signed for the length of their contracts, rather than simply a few games. Nevertheless, the deserving and long-serving Dirk Kuyt ought to have offered more than either Jordan Henderson or Andy Carroll.
As it was, Henderson, unconvincing in three positions at White Hart Lane, ended as an ersatz right-back with a makeshift midfield trio of Lucas Leiva, Jay Spearing and Craig Bellamy, while Luis Suarez was removed from the attack in case he completed a hat-trick of dismissals.
It was the sort of chaotic conclusion that indicated a game plan in ruins. Tellingly, Tottenham were far superior when Liverpool had 11 men, let alone 10 or nine.
One match can be deceptive but, if the season began with Arsenal as the favourites for fourth place and that mantle swiftly passed to Liverpool, now Spurs may look the likeliest. And that takes Liverpool back, not to Hodgson's ill-fated spell in charge, but to Rafa Benitez's final year when Tottenham took the Champions League spot Dalglish is now charged with reclaiming.
It has become part of footballing orthodoxy to presume that promoted clubs require a flying start to stand any chance of survival.
Instead, at the fifth time of asking, Norwich City and Swansea City belatedly recorded a first win on Saturday, with Brendan Rodgers's side finally ending their goal drought.
With Queens Park Rangers, aided by heavy investment, taking all three points at Wolves, it was a weekend to suggest each is actually improving. And a league table where two clubs in their 11th successive season in the Premier League occupy places in the relegation zone presents a worry to the division's more established members.
How violent does violent conduct have to be? It was a pertinent question at Bolton.
Ivan Klasnic was dismissed for the gentlest of butts on Marc Tierney - a rightful punishment for his idiocy, if not the offence itself - while Norwich's colossal centre-back Leon Barnett escaped unsanctioned for a terrifying mid-air collision with Klasnic, where he flattened the Croatian and did not take the ball.
Only one could have caused an injury, and it was not the incident that reduced Bolton to 10 men.
sports@thenational.ae
Jetour T1 specs
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- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
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More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
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Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
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The specs
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Transmission: nine-speed
Power: 542bhp
Torque: 700Nm
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WHAT FANS WILL LOVE ABOUT RUSSIA
FANS WILL LOVE
Uber is ridiculously cheap and, as Diego Saez discovered, mush safer. A 45-minute taxi from Pulova airport to Saint Petersburg’s Nevsky Prospect can cost as little as 500 roubles (Dh30).
FANS WILL LOATHE
Uber policy in Russia is that they can start the fare as soon as they arrive at the pick-up point — and oftentimes they start it even before arriving, or worse never arrive yet charge you anyway.
FANS WILL LOVE
It’s amazing how active Russians are on social media and your accounts will surge should you post while in the country. Throw in a few Cyrillic hashtags and watch your account numbers rocket.
FANS WILL LOATHE
With cold soups, bland dumplings and dried fish, Russian cuisine is not to everybody’s tastebuds. Fortunately, there are plenty Georgian restaurants to choose from, which are both excellent and economical.
FANS WILL LOVE
The World Cup will take place during St Petersburg's White Nights Festival, which means perpetual daylight in a city that genuinely never sleeps. (Think toddlers walking the streets with their grandmothers at 4am.)
FANS WILL LOATHE
The walk from Krestovsky Ostrov metro station to Saint Petersburg Arena on a rainy day makes you wonder why some of the $1.7 billion was not spent on a weather-protected walkway.
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
