Neil Atkinson’s post-match review for The Anfield Wrap after Liverpool 3 Tottenham 1 in the 2026-2027 Carabao Cup at Anfield…
THEY were likeable. Very likeable.
It has been a little bit of a theme recently, a feeling, that Liverpool supporters do not sufficiently like Liverpool’s players. This isn’t as simple as them not winning, but it is related to it, and perhaps impacts on it.
When their backs are against the wall, when things aren’t coming off, when they are second best for ten minutes, recently it has felt like the response has been too close to “well fuck off then” rather than “fucking come on then”.
Even when winning, when they have a solid and quiet second-half against Ipswich Town the tone is about what they could have done rather than what they did do effectively. Because you want them to make you like them. You want them to buy your affection with goals.
Today, for the first fifteen minutes, they were second best and they were up against the wall and nothing was coming off. And then they fought for their lives, got a goal, steadied, still could and should have conceded but end the first-half as downright likeable. They have warmed the cockles of your heart through the wind and the rain.
Then the next step forward is that they play well. And they do that second-half, deserve the second and demoralise their opponents, who can feel as though they have had hard lines, for ten minutes or so.
The goalkeeper then makes an error but rather than feel sorry for himself, or they for themselves, he makes three or four excellent stops to keep the scoreline in Liverpool’s favour. For Giorgi Mamardashvili read all of them. They all made mistakes, they all had wobbles and they then just got the next thing right, made the next save, tackle or pass.
This stuff should be second nature but these days you know it when you see it in part because you haven’t been seeing it. And so for the second successive midweek you really like them so it is two steps forward, one back and then two more forward.
Lewis Koumas leads from the front in all the senses that matter. He presses like a demon but an intelligent demon. He doesn’t go every time but when he does go he has gone and all the best. His ability to smell it is exceptional in this game and Tottenham come out rattled and find themselves penned in.
In midfield Alexis Mac Allister and Trey Nyoni look a good pair. Nyoni is still in instances not quite as strong or decisive as you’d like but he is constantly behind the ball and moving the ball and backing up where he has moved the ball. He should start in Linz and if he did start on Sunday I would be pleased to see it. He passes through the lines. Mac Allister strikes it beautifully and predictably for his opener. It is the quintessential Mac Allister goal.
It is also the quintessential Cody Gakpo goal, along with the quintessential Gakpo performance, where he can’t get in the game until he’s at its centre and then he is able to impact in the best way.
Both fullbacks are in scraps and both fight well in both halves. Both come under a bit of pressure, having got a bit of flak, and neither of them are conventional players and this town ultimately may be too big for the two of them at any one time, but today they show the power of positive thinking and play. Both get booked as does Ronald Araujo which he marks with a thumbs up – the price of doing business.
When Dominik Szoboszlai strikes beautifully, emphatically, finally, the job is probably done regardless. But no one in the ground celebrates more than Mamadashvili other than possibly Cody Gakpo. They’ve given everything. Liverpool should have been given a handball in the Spurs box just before, but Szoboszlai settles the argument in his own distinctive way and Liverpool can take in the acclaim in the rain.
The likeability and the results, progression, points on the board, will continue to be linked, one will be the other. And it isn’t as simple as giving everything. Bournemouth next. Fucking come on then.
Subscribe for immediate post-match reaction from around the ground…
