LIVERPOOL FC 2 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 0

There was a crackle in the air from the outset, almost akin to a European night.
Maybe everyone recognised the importance of this game.
Spurs, along with Villa and City, represent the biggest threat to us securing fourth and grabbing that all important Champions League place.
From first minute, Liverpool played as though their lives depended on it.
Spurs were knocked out their stride, so much so, that their usual silky passing football was non-existent and they resorted to long balls up to Crouch to fight for.
The problem for Spurs was that Liverpool fought much harder. And when the Reds are REALLY up for a fight, there a few better.
The battling qualities on display were similar to when we beat Man United at home in October.
Our midfield were like maniacs, tearing into tackles, and upsetting ball players like Modric, Jenas and Defoe.
At the back, the rugged centre half pairing of Skrtel and Kyrgiakos, both of who have been found wanting in recent weeks, were top drawer.
For once, set pieces and corners posed no threat as the pair dominated the aerial contest, and they harried and thundered into attacking players who can do untold damage when given time and space on the ball.

True, this was no vintage football from Liverpool, but with the low ebb at Anfield still to clear, good old fashioned hard work was hugely heartening to see.
This was the kind of game which Mascherano, and to a similar extent Lucas, loves.
Snapping at heels, flinging themselves into white shirts, it was war in the trenches, and Spurs couldn't deal with it.
Moments of quality were supplied by Aquilani, who gave a fairly accomplished 70 minutes before he was replaced.
There has been some genuine concern about our £20m purchase in recent weeks, but the Italian showed poise, an eye for a pass, and some commendable workrate in a packed competitive midfield.
Kuyt, as ever, was a mixture of excellent and poor.
The excellent was reflected in a delightfully placed 20 yard finish to put us in the lead. The excellent was also exemplified by his composure to score two (one retaken) penalties with no cause for alarm.
The excellent was also a bulldozing run which resulted in a golden opportunity for Degen, who showed his gutless side by trying to play in Kuyt again instead of unleashing on goal with 40,000 Reds baying him to shoot.
The poor Kuyt saw him firing a sitter over the bar from seven yards, and frequently forgetting he was our lone striker while drifting out to the wings and central midfield to leave us striker-less at times.
Still, two goals and plenty of fight. Can't complain.

It was good to see Riera back, but he didn't seem fit to me, and had an alarming lack of pace, once allowing even the statuesque Crouch to gain ground on him near the touchline.
One great header and left foot piledriver aside, he struggled to make an impact, but at least he's fit now.
The Degen experiment on the right wing was dubious. He did succeed on pegging back the Spurs left back, and he did work hard, while gaining a few blows and nasty challenges in the process.
But there's not a lot of quality there, and his refusal to shoot when fed by Kuyt late on was criminal.

Insua was a lot more steady than of late, his old robustness coming to the fore and Carragher was the epitome of honest endeavour even stationed at right back.
One madcap sprint to the Spurs corner flag, winning a Liverpool corner from an impossible situation, was real talismanic stuff which raised the volume around the whole ground.
We shall make Spurs fight for every inch, appeared to be the message.

And a word too for Ngog, whose impact on the game, with just 15 minutes of playing time was immediate.
Full of running, tricking his way past players, and holding the ball up well, before winning the penalty that won the game.
It was great stuff from the young Frenchman.

It felt fantastic to walk away from Anfield with a real big win under the belt. And it was all achieved by bloody hard work.
True, that class, the guile, the invention is a long way off. But if we can maintain this sort of tenacity and defend with this kind of grit, positive results will not be too far away.