The Regista - Tottenham vs Liverpool tactical review: Stubborn Ange almost blew it; Klopp made pitch small

Tribalfootball.com's tactics expert Connor Holden digs into Tottenham's chaotic victory over Liverpool on Saturday and assesses how they managed to overcome a stubborn Reds team in the final minutes.

In a game riddled with controversy, Tottenham emerged victorious after a 96th minute own goal from Joel Matip.

But this game had it all, two red cards, an own goal, a disallowed "offside" goal which was dismissed by VAR and a few interesting tactical decisions from the managers.

In this write up, I am going to explain why I think it took Spurs so long to break a 10 men, and then 9 men Liverpool down, and what Liverpool did to stop Tottenham gaining momentum and rhythm.

TEAM LINE-UPS

The two teams looked very similar to how they have been all season, Tottenham starting in a 4-2-3-1 / 4-3-3 which looks more like a 2-3-5 in possession with their inverted fullbacks. Whilst Liverpool lined up in their 4-3-3, which in possession looks like a 3-2-5 with one of their fullbacks inverting into midfield, and the other fullback becoming a third central defender.

LIVERPOOL RED CARDS

To understand why it took Tottenham so long to break Liverpool down and hurt them in forward areas, we have to assess the way Liverpool started this game inside the first 26 minutes before their first red card in the way of Curtis Jones.

Leading up to the red card, the first 25 minutes looked like Liverpool were going to go head to head with Spurs and play them in a high intensity, duel driven game. However when Jones was sent off in the 26th minute, this scuppered the preparations, and meant Liverpool had to play more defensively and try to create their chances on the break.

This led to Liverpool packing central areas, and leaving one