Fan Report vs Liverpool

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It took nine matches to get this many points last season. We’re off and running in Season 2009/2010, and the scalp of Liverpool had White Hart Lane gurgling with pleasure.

The win was deserved; all but the most partisan of Reds fans would concede so. There was a debut winning goal for Sebastian Bassong – the strapping centre half signed from Newcastle just days ago – and playing next to Ledley King, the big newcomer impressed throughout. Even so, for memorable moments, no-one could match Benoit Assou-Ekotto’s piledriver that broke the back of Jose Reina’s net just a minute before the break.

This was the full-back’s first ever goal for Spurs, and was a fitting reward for a player that seems to be blossoming with every game. After Wilson Palacios found his progress towards the Liverpool box rudely interrupted, Huddlestone hit the resulting free kick into the wall, but Assou-Ekotto was on hand to first set up and then strike an unstoppable shot into the far corner.

By this time, Robbie Keane had already missed a hatrick of chances, from which he will consider he ought to have scored twice, first with a header as the goal gaped, then when he tried to lift the ball over the onrushing Reina in a one-on-one situation. Reina foiled the Irishman both times.

Spurs continued to look the better team, and Liverpool threatened rarely, yet ten minutes into the second half the visitors scored from nothing. Glen Johnson, the England full-back signed from Portsmouth, burst through with a buccaneering run, which Heurelho Gomes could only end unfairly. Gerrard ignored the barracking of the home fans to ram home the spot kick.

But Bassong soon had the final word within minutes of Liverpool drawing level. He met a Luka Modric free kick with a powerful header that found the top corner, and a deserved lead was restored with half an hour still to play.

Crouch replaced Keane, O’Hara came on for Modric, and the Reds shuffled their pack, but Torres was restricted to only the briefest glimpse of goal, while Voronin may have earned a point for the visitors but for what you might call sly defending from Assou-Ekotto.

There was much that was good, much that was encouraging, and so Spurs march on to game number two with optimism undimmed.

By Andy Knaggs

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