Sun 30 April 2023, 19:45
Tottenham HotspurRyan Mason declared himself ‘devastated’ after we came from 3-0 down to draw level at Anfield, only to lose 4-3 in the 95th minute on Sunday.
We were stunned again on our travels as Liverpool raced into a 3-0 lead inside 15 minutes with Curtis Jones (three minutes), Luis Diaz (five) and Mo Salah (15, from the penalty spot) on target.
We started to settle, Heung-Min Son had a chance cleared off the line, Harry Kane pulled a goal back for 3-1 (39) - taking him level with Wayne Rooney in second in the Premier League’s all-time goalscoring list on 208, behind Alan Shearer (260) - and Dejan Kulusevski was denied by Alisson, three opportunities in as many minutes showed how we could cause the home side problems.
That pattern continued at the start of the second half as Son and Cristian Romero both hit the post and Alisson tipped over from Pedro Porro, all within 10 minutes of the restart.
Liverpool looked to have settled the game down but Son broke onto Romero’s pass to make it 3-2 on 77 minutes and the comeback was complete when Richarlison, the former Everton player, scored his first Premier League goal for us against his old Mersey rivals from Son’s free-kick to level at 3-3 in the second of six minutes’ added time.
But there was a sting in the tail as Alisson punted forward and Lucas Moura inadvertently turned the ball into the path of Diogo Joto who slotted the winner with 94.44 on the clock...
‘It’s impossible to take’
Ryan: “I’m devastated, and I probably speak on behalf of everyone involved, people watching at home as well, to give a team like Liverpool four goals... it’s difficult to take, it really is at this moment in time. We know the Premier League is relentless, you have to be ready to fight every single moment for 95 minutes, regardless of where you are in the country. We started the game and gifted them goals, they didn’t have to earn a thing. Overall, when you look at the game, we were the team that created the better chances. Every time we had the ball, I felt we looked like scoring, probably should have had a couple more, hit the woodwork a couple of times. To give the goal away at the end in the manner in which we did, it makes it impossible to take at the moment.”
‘Start cost us’
Ryan: “You don’t just win games with the ball, you win games of football with and without the ball. Ultimately, the first 15 minutes cost us, then, the manner we gave the goal away at the end is hard to explain and analyse, it’s a difficult one.”
What was said at the end?
Ryan: “I don’t think words... I don’t think there’s any point in me speaking at this moment in time, emotions are so high, from the players as well. Listen, we all know what went wrong. I don’t need to speak to the players about that at the moment.”
