94Ha Viewpoint
Many young players of Tottenham played well, and they avenged Liverpool despite the injuries, giving them their second defeat of the season.
(London Comprehensive News) The 18-year-old Swedish player Bergvall scored the only goal, helping the sluggish “Tottenham” beat “Red Army” Liverpool 1-0 at home and win the first leg of the English League Cup semi-final.
The Red Army is the champion of the last English League Cup and the current leader of the Premier League and the Champions League. At the end of last month, they also beat Tottenham 6-3 away in the Premier League. However, Tottenham, who had not won in the past four games, finally raised their heads and ended the Red Army’s 24-game unbeaten record, giving them their second defeat in all events this season.
Bergvall received an assist from Solanke in the 86th minute and scored his first goal after joining Tottenham with a powerful shot, laying the foundation for the team to advance to the final.
Bergwall escaped being sent off and scored, the Reds expressed dissatisfaction
But Bergwall fouled the Reds left-back Tsimikas shortly before scoring, but escaped the second yellow card, which caused dissatisfaction among the Reds.
Liverpool captain Van Dijk said: “I think it’s quite obvious, it should be the second yellow card… Coincidentally, he scored the winning goal a minute later. In my opinion, the referee made a mistake and I told him so. I’m not saying this is the reason why we lost tonight, but this is a big moment in the game.”
Reds coach Slot also said: “The decision he (referee Attwell) made has a lot of impact on tonight’s results. I can’t say much about this.
“I don’t like the taste of losing, but if you have to lose, it’s better to lose when there is still a second round. ”
Tottenham has been plagued by injuries recently. Six minutes into the game, Bentancur fell to the ground after a header without any confrontation. He was finally carried out of the field on a stretcher while awake and sent to the hospital for examination, which made the team’s injuries more serious.
Young players and new players performed well, and the Tottenham coach praised them
The young players of Tottenham did not disappoint the expectations of coach Postecoglou. Bergwall, who joined before the start of this season, and another 18-year-old central defender Gray were both reused. Spence, the 24-year-old right back who was loaned out for the past two seasons, has repeatedly changed to play left back this season, and Kinsky, the 21-year-old goalkeeper who joined last Sunday (January 5), quickly started this game and performed well. The above four players were praised by the coach after the game.
Postecoglou said after the game: “Tell me which Premier League team has two 18-year-old players, and one of them keeps playing in other positions.
“I don’t think people understand the level of performance these young players are showing for us. We’ve just had a goalkeeper make his debut, Jade (Spence) is doing amazingly well at left-back and Lucas (Bergwall) is growing.”
The referee made his first VAR decision on the spot
Before Bergwall scored the winning goal, Tottenham striker Solanke also had a goal that was disallowed for offside. Referee Atwell later verbally announced the video assistant referee (VAR) decision to the fans, a first in English football history.
The English Football League (EFL) is trialling the arrangement of referees announcing VAR decisions in both semi-finals of the League Cup this week, giving fans a more intuitive understanding of referee decisions. This measure has already been implemented in the 2023 Women’s World Cup, rugby and American football matches.
Referee Atwell (right) explains to fans through a microphone that Solanke’s goal was disallowed for offside. (AFP)
