Before the comments explode with Judas, or pessimist, there are some things we need to consider before this lunchtime kick off on Saturday. On paper Tottenham do enter this tie as the in form side and in terms of injuries, Liverpool seem far worse off, especially with the likes of Benteke and Henderson missing, but football is never that simple.
Sign 1: Manager of the month.
Pochettino has just won the manager of the month award for September, which is almost like the dreaded vote of confidence from the board. It tends to be a theme that teams or players implode after receiving these awards, which has already seen a City side who hadn’t conceded a singular goal during the month of August, winning four out of four league fixtures, lose two of their next three and conceding seven in the process. A mere coincidence after Pellegrini won the award, the previous month.
Sign 2: New manager syndrome.
Everyone has experienced the new manager bug, which sees teams turn their fortunes around, no matter how brief. This tends to be because players up their game to impress the new coach, with some managers making the much needed changes the old manager couldn’t see. We all remember when Harry took over and who could forget when he uttered the words “two points from eight games” more than a priest says “amen”.
The term ‘spursy’ sometimes gets thrown around and it seems relevant that we would play a Liverpool side who have just obtained the services of one of the world’s sought after managers.
Sign 3: The suspended talisman.
We have all ranted and raved about this lad at some point this year and why shouldn’t we? Eric Dier has been a rock in our midfield this season and, in essence, has been the glue which has slowly formed our working model.
His defensive knowledge and composure has been undoubtedly the key factor this season and it’s scary to think we enter difficult affair without him. To make matters worse, only Dembele seems to be the possible replacement for the Englishman and unless Tottenham dominate the game, the lack of defensive prowess in midfield could prove pivotal.
Sign 4: Five games no win.
Liverpool could create history come 2:45pm this Saturday by recording a sixth consecutive win over our beloved Spurs, which has seen Liverpool spank Tottenham 3-0 and 5-0 in their last two visits.
In recent decades, the likes of United, Arsenal and Chelsea were always fixtures which would have fans hugging the pillow, waiting for the trauma to be over. But just as Tottenham begin to become competitive in each of these fixtures, it seems Liverpool have become the sole members of clubs we cannot beat.
Sign 5: Spurs unbeaten in seven.
Maybe not a sign of the apocalypse, but an all too familiar scene in terms of our club. Yesterday over a Tottenham Facebook page, some idiot posted Tottenham are unbeaten since the opening weekend of the season, which is as bad as a commentator ushering the words, he never misses a penalty. Now this may only be superstition, but all good runs come to an end at some point and with all the previous signs to consider, is Saturday’s 12:45pm kick off the end of ours? Let me no your own thoughts.
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