Liverpool meet Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday looking to put right some bad memories from September.
The Reds were infamously denied a perfectly legitimate Luis Diaz goal at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium after a VAR mix-up.
With Liverpool also harshly reduced to nine men during the game, Spurs went on to win 2-1 via a last-second Joel Matip own goal. It felt like a big moment at the time, with Tottenham celebrating veraciously on the pitch at full-time.
Their season has since gone sideways though, and Ange Postecoglou’s team are currently on a three-match losing streak. Heading to Anfield before facing Man City next week, Spurs look primed to miss out on next season’s Champions League.
Nevertheless, their poor run didn’t stop Postecoglou from praising someone from the opposite side in his pre-match press conference on Friday.
Ange Postecoglou hails Jurgen Klopp impact
Had things gone slightly differently, Postecoglou may well have been in the running to be Liverpool’s next manager this summer.
The 58-year-old certainly had plenty of support behind him. Despite his slightly tricky debut season with Spurs, notable pundits such as Danny Murphy as backed him to take over from Jurgen Klopp.
You can understand why people were backing Postecoglou for the job, he does bear some similarities to Klopp. And speaking via Football London in the build-up to Sunday’s game, the Australian showed his class by hailing his opposite number.
“He’s had a massive impact,” Postecoglou raved. “I’ve said before that I’ve always been drawn to managers who are a little bit different, who play the game a bit differently and have a really clear vision and identity, and he certainly has that.
“It’s not easy going into a big club that has traditionally had a lot of success and has then gone through a really tough spell in terms of that, and then come in and transform a club the way he did. It’s a credit to him, he’s an outstanding manager.
“I’m sure we’ll see him back managing at the top level again because he’s one of the top managers in the world. Credit to him that at such a big club he was able to imprint his style and vision and bring success.”
Liverpool team news vs Tottenham
With Spurs coming into Sunday’s game in terrible form, Liverpool should be favourites.
However, the Reds have obviously been poor of late themselves, winning just once in their past five Premier League matches.
If that wasn’t bad enough, then Klopp confirmed on Friday that they have another injury issue ahead of facing Tottenham.
According to the manager, Virgil van Dijk has not been involved in training this week. Diogo Jota will also miss the game.
Conor Bradley was thankfully back, but Liverpool won’t be at full strength.