Tottenham v Liverpool: Carabao Cup semi-final, first leg – live | Carabao Cup

On January 9, 2025By Littum

Key events

From the archives: classic Spurs v Liverpool matches

So Titanic. It came a month after Tom Mason and Ernie Newman had given Tottenham a 2-1 victory at Anfield on March 16, 1912. Who would have thought it would take the Lilywhites another 73 years to record their next win at Liverpool? And that – this is creepy – they would shoot it on the exact same day of the year?

Garth Crooks was the hero for Peter Shreeves’ side, who had designs on the championship. Reigning champions Liverpool had played erratically all season, with Kevin MacDonald – a good player, just not a great one – no replacement for the late Graeme Souness.

That result – Crooks scored the winner with 19 minutes remaining after a Micky Hazard shot had been wasted by Bruce Grobbelaar – was wildly celebrated by Spurs. Partly because of the lifting of the historic millstone, the players were allowed to keep their shirts as souvenirs, at a time when such practices were rarer, but mainly because it seemed to be the symbolic catalyst for winning the title.

“The name of the new Spurs goalkeeper strongly reminiscent of the late German acting zealot Klaus Kinski,” observes ~~Sandr-~~ Peter Oh. “When you think about it, managing Spurs must feel a bit like trying to pull a ship over a mountain while listening to opera.”

In other news, Spurs have reportedly agreed a deal for MK Dons’ teenage defender Simon Syphus.

Team news: Kinsky makes Spurs debut

As expected, both managers have chosen very strong sides. Spurs’ new goalkeeper, 21 years old Antonin Kinskymakes its debut. Son Heung-min, Rodrigo Bentancur and Yves Bissouma return to the side in place of the suspended Pape Mate Sarr, Timo Werner and Brennan Johnson.

Liverpool also make four changes from the weekend, three of them in defence. Conor Bradley, Jarell Quansah and Kostas Tsimikas come in for Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate and Andy Robertson. The other change is in attack: Diogo Jota in, Luis Diaz out.

Tottenham Hotspur (4-3-3) Kinsky; Pedro Porro, Dragusin, Gray, Spence; Bergvall, Bentancur, Bissouma; Kulusevski, Solanke, son.
Subs: Austin, Dorrington, Johnson, Lankshear, Moore, Olusesi, Reguilon, Werner, Yang Min-hyuk.

Liverpool (4-3-3) Alisson; Bradley, Quansah, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Jones, Gravenberch, MacAllister; Salah, Jota, Gakpo.
Replaced: Kelleher, Endo, Konate, Diaz, Nunez, Chiesa, Elliott, Robertson, Alexander-Arnold.

Judge Stuart Attwell.

Preamble

Sequels, dammit. For every Godfather Part II, there are usually a dozen Speed 2: Cruise Controls. It is the same in football, where it is rare that two teams follow one thriller with the other. But there are occasional exceptions, as anyone who followed Liverpool or Newcastle in the mid-1990s will tell you, and tonight has the potential to be another.

It’s barely a fortnight since Liverpool dismantled Spurs 6-3 in the Premier League and while we shouldn’t necessarily expect a repeat score, the nature of both teams is such that it’s hard to imagine a clunker.

The stakes are high for both clubs and especially for Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou. He usually wins trophies in his second season, but if tonight goes wrong, his only souvenir from the 2024-25 season could be a P45.

Let’s hope not. Big Ange and Spurs make English football a far more interesting and fun place. We can’t, or at least shouldn’t, discuss their desperate recent form without acknowledging a pretty brutal injury list. Tonight they are also without the suspended pair of Pape Sarr and James Maddison, but new signing Anthony Kinsky can start in goal.

Liverpool had an unexpectedly difficult afternoon against Manchester United on Sunday, a reminder that football will always be a funny old game, but they have only failed to win twice away from home all season and Arne Slot has appointed a very strong squad for the first of the evening. leg.

In short, if this game ends in a draw, I’ll be watching Speed 2: Cruise Control every night for a year.

Kick off 8 p.m.