Tottenham rescued a late point against Liverpool at Anfield.
While Tottenham may have rescued a point at Anfield Stadium, many Lilywhites supporters were still conversing about that costly moment in the first half which led to Liverpool’s goal.
The Merseysiders were forced into playing around Tottenham given the compact structure that Igor Tudor had decided to deploy at L4. It had been working quite well as Arne Slot & Co. struggled to find success between the lines and through the middle until Archie Gray gave away that cheap foul on Alexis Mac Allister.
Dominik Szoboszlai stepped up from the dead ball and struck it hard from what was a central free kick. But the effort in itself was not particularly threatening, as the ball went straight to the goal, and while Vicario could get a palm to it, his palm wasn’t hard enough to prevent the ball from rolling into his own net.
Carragher slams “awful” Vicario in honest take
And former Liverpool player turned pundit Jamie Carragher did not hold back when he was speaking about the goal that the Lilywhites conceded. He went on to describe that attempted save from Vicario as “awful” before claiming that Tudor & Co. have a “huge problem” between the posts.
Now Szoboszlai is really good at getting the ball into the net from dead balls. That free kick was his fifth of the season. But the kick in itself had an expected goals on target of just 0.02, showing how unlikely that shot was to end up in the back of the net. And yet it still ended up in the back of the net.
Speaking about that goal on Sky Sports (via. Tottenham News), Jamie Carragher said:
“Wow, that’s awful. Absolutely shocking from the goalkeeper. Tottenham have got huge problems in goal.”
Vicario, who got a 5/10 rating, has had quite some ups and downs during his time at Tottenham, and his struggle this time around comes at an awkward moment for the Lilywhites given how backup goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky also endured a difficult outing in Spurs’ defeat to Atletico Madrid last week in the Champions League.
Tudor will still be under huge pressure despite earning a draw at L4
Igor Tudor will still be under huge pressure despite that draw, and all of these struggles are doing little to ease the scrutiny around the club. The Croat has seen four defeats and one draw in his opening five games since he replaced Thomas Frank at the helm at N17, with his side conceding 15 goals in that stretch.
This draw leaves the Lilywhites hovering just above the relegation zone with eight league games remaining.
Do you think Vicario could have saved that free kick? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.