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Today — 21 December 2025Main stream

Arne Slot was not happy with something he noticed towards the end of Liverpool’s win vs Tottenham

21 December 2025 at 01:24

Liverpool manager Arne Slot was clearly not happy with how his side struggled to play against nine men despite them holding on to a 2-1 win away to Tottenham.

Slot, speaking in his post-match press conference, said that thankfully it didn’t lead to a goal, but made it clear that he expected an easier finish to the match.

Xavi Simons was sent off in the first half, with Liverpool then going 2-0 up at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Richarlison pulled one back shortly before Cristian Romero was then also shown a red card, but Slot felt it was still one attack after another from Spurs despite LFC having a two-player advantage.

Arne Slot’s dig at Liverpool players

Slot even said it felt more like his side were down to nine men rather than Tottenham, with the Dutch tactician clearly not happy with his players’ handling of the game…

? "It felt like WE were the ones down to nine men!"

Arne Slot's dig at his Liverpool players as they only just held on against 9-man Tottenham ? pic.twitter.com/KmOgXcmTNN

— CaughtOffside (@caughtoffside) December 20, 2025

“To be honest, I thought against nine we would be able to keep them away from our goal,” Slot said.

“But it looked as if we were down to nine, because it was attack after attack after attack.”

Liverpool dealt injury blow despite win vs Tottenham

One piece of bad news for Liverpool against Spurs was the Alexander Isak injury.

The Sweden international has endured a nightmare since moving to Anfield in the summer, struggling to stay fit and barely making an impact on the pitch.

Slot discussed the Isak injury and it doesn’t sound too promising at the moment, though there’s no concrete medical update yet.

Click here for our Liverpool player ratings and watch the goal highlights here.

The post Arne Slot was not happy with something he noticed towards the end of Liverpool’s win vs Tottenham appeared first on CaughtOffside.

“Really poor” – Gary Neville slams Tottenham star’s “stupidity” after nightmare against Liverpool

20 December 2025 at 23:04

Tottenham attacking midfielder Xavi Simons was singled out for criticism after a poor performance and a reckless challenge that led to his red card.

The Netherlands international was sent off for a strong and late tackle on Reds defender Virgil van Dijk, for which he could surely have no complaints.

Simons had also been pretty poor prior to that, with Neville not holding back with his comments in the video clip below.

Xavi Simons shown red card against Liverpool as Gary Neville slams his “stupidity”

Take a look for yourself as replays showed how bad Simons’ challenge was as Neville tore into him for the incident and for his lack of quality prior to that…

"He's absolutely nowhere near that football!"

Xavi Simons is sent off for a reckless challenge on Virgil van Dijk ? pic.twitter.com/mt3B6SJR6z

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 20, 2025

“He’s absolutely nowhere near that football,” Neville said on commentary for Sky Sports.

“It’s just, I don’t know, malicious, nasty, reckless, whatever you want to call it, and he’s going to get a red card.

“Stupidity. And he’s been really poor on the ball, that’s been the worst thing.”

Xavi Simons is shown a red card for Tottenham against Liverpool
Xavi Simons is shown a red card for Tottenham against Liverpool (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

Tottenham suffering with only ten men as they trail Liverpool

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Tottenham have really suffered as they’ve had to take on Liverpool for so much of this game with only ten men.

Alexander Isak scored to give LFC the lead early in the second half, and at the time of writing, Hugo Ekitike has just headed in a second.

Arne Slot’s side have the clear advantage now and will surely be confident of taking all three points from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Had Simons played a bit better and kept his head then this game surely could have been a lot more of a close contest than it has proven to be.

Liverpool also haven’t been that solid defensively in recent times, having also lost a 2-0 lead to end up drawing away to Leeds United recently, though it looks like it would take something really special for Spurs to come back now.

The post “Really poor” – Gary Neville slams Tottenham star’s “stupidity” after nightmare against Liverpool appeared first on CaughtOffside.

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