Jake Livermore became well-known amongst Spurs fans when he scored against Barcelona in the Wembley Cup (more highlights here), having been involved with the first-team for much of pre-season.

He has spent the majority of this season on-loan in the Championship. He started off at Derby County, where he made 11 starts, and 5 sub appearances. Towards the end of his spell there, he was finding it difficult to get into their side, so he was brought back and sent to Peterborough United. He impressed their fans in his 9 starts there – some of my previous articles cover updates on his progress (Spurs loanee update 11/02/10, Spurs loanee update 17/01/10).

The last time I personally saw him play (aside from his 10 minute goal-scoring cameo against Barcelona!) was in another pre-season friendly, against Aldershot – here’s what I wrote about his performance:

Livermore – whilst he provided a solid base and tried to get the ball down quickly and keep things simple, he didn’t really excel. He showed some solid defensive positioning, and some responsible tracking back, but he’s playing in the area of the pitch where you’d hope for possession to be kept, and we surrendered the ball far too easily at times. 7/10
This season – he has been heavily involved with the first team during pre-season which could show that he’s highly thought of, or could show that he’s this year’s Pekhart (involved early on, and then swiftly sent to the Czech Republic on loan!). I would imagine that he’ll go out on loan for the first few months of the season. He’s a strong lad, so could cope with the rigours of the Championship if a side wants to take a gamble.

And here was what I wrote about his performance against Arsenal reserves last April:

Livermore © – He shields the ball in a way that reminds me of Jenas. He was not afraid to play simple passes (unlike his midfield partner, who seemed to want to try too much). He positions himself pretty well, and also has a decent engine. Seems to be a solid player, but perhaps lacks the vision or ability in the final third. Having said that, he took his goal very well indeed, pouncing on a defensive error and slotting home. 6/10

Chances of him being at Spurs next season? I think it’s important to remember that injury has totally ruined Jake’s season. He was all set to be at Crewe for the entire season, but broke his leg during pre-season and has only just come back in the last month. I’m left wondering whether he’ll ever recover from that set back. 7/10

As I mentioned above, he had a long spell out of football with a broken leg, which unfortunately cut short his loan spell at Crewe in 2008/9. Prior to that he spent time at MK Dons, where he mde 5 sub appearances.

So will we see him?

With Huddlestone and Jenas out in the medium-term, Palacios is our only fit central midfielder. However, Palacios is currently on nine bookings, and will receive a two-match ban when he receives his tenth yellow card.

If we want to stick with 4-4-2, we have the option of moving Modric into the centre, but on previous showings he tends to get outmuscled and overrun in there, and has certainly shown his best form when playing from the left.

Alternatively, Kaboul could continue where he left off on Sunday; I felt that he did a reasonable job, but he is not ideally-suited to this role. Finally, we still have O’Hara at Portsmouth, but it’s unlcear whether we have a recall option. Regardless of that, given his recent comments about wanting to leave in the summer, it’s unlikely that we’ll see the best of him were he to come back temporarily, and we may be better off leaving him there.

So Livermore is a genuine contender to get some game-time, particularly if Palacios were to pick up his tenth booking on Saturday.

Today’s result was brilliant, and almost makes up for Goodison Park – we rode our luck, though, and it could easily have been a draw or worse. Some of our defending was calamitous (I was one missed tap-in away from another Bassong-related rant), and the goal was no exception.

Yakubu’s goal.

Thankfully, we’ve largely cut out the goals conceded from set pieces, but this is not good, and no doubt the players will be watching it back in training tomorrow. We set up to defend the corner with Modric on the near post, Bale the first screen, but nobody on the back post. Yakubu makes his intentions clear from the start, by positioning himself near to Gomes – who is marking him?

Arteta loops a corner in to the far post, where Rodwell has pulled away from Corluka.

It’s not great defending from Corluka, but in these situations it’s not always easy to get to the ball ahead of an attacker who perhaps knows what’s coming. Rodwell’s header is a decent one, but we are still relatively well set to defend it. Well, we would be were somebody marking Yakubu.

Pavlyuchenko, Dawson and Gomes – you’d be looking for one of them to deal with this ball before it can find a way to the unmarked player in the 6-yard box.

Alas, no. Pavluchenko reacts too late, and misses his kick. Dawson, presumably expects the goalkeeper to deal with it, and doesn’t react. Gomes… well, he just kind of falls over.

A better angle shows that Gomes has got himself into a poor position, and hasn’t got a great view. When he dives, therefore, he just misses the ball completely.

And Yakubu prods home, under limited pressure from Dawson and Modric.

A really, really disappointing goal to give away. But we were asking for it for much of the game – Gomes looked nervous on crosses, and had already fumbled a simple catch (fortunately Dawson rescued him with a superb block).

EDIT: After comments of a potential foul on Gomes, I’ve watched the highlights (5:30 in) many times, and still can’t see the supposed foul. Make your own mind up:

Massive result today, and a wonderful first half performance – possibly our best half of football in 2010.

At the heart of that was Modric – he has struggled to get back to his earlier form since returning from the broken leg inflicted by Lee Bowyer, but today he was magical at times. What I like about him most is that he seems to make the right decisions 90% of the time – whether it’s to pass early, to wriggle out of a tight situation, or to go on a mazy dribble.

And that goal. Wow. I think that was probably the only way that he could have scored from there, and he executed it perfectly.

One thing that will certainly help Modric get back to his best is Gareth Bale’s incredible form. I don’t think there’s another player in England that has his pace and power when pushing on from left-back, and his final ball is consistently dangerous. Modric and Bale are starting to form a great little partnership there – the one thing we need to watch, however, is who fills in at left-back when Modric is drifting, and Bale is caught upfield.

I was delighted to see Kaboul dropping in there on 91 minutes today, and making a vital challenge to win the ball. We need more of this type of responsibility from our regular midfield players.

All in all, we rode our luck today (the Donovan chance was a one in a hundred miss), but it makes up for the points that we were denied at Goodison Park.

Analysis of the goal conceded to follow later.

Edit: Luka’s goal, for anyone who hasn’t seen it.

I wrote yesterday regarding our mental strength, and I was pleased to see us fight back in the second half today – we could and should have actually won the game, but a draw wasn’t a bad result given the bullying Bolton gave us in the first half.

However, Bolton aren’t just a team of bullies – they have some gifted players too. We know that they are capable of good one and two touch football, as they scored two excellent goals against us back in October.

Davies’ goal.

Kevin Davies’ goal starts with some neat midfield triangles – Defoe chases between Gardner and Muamba, but eventually Gardner feeds Elmander, who has dropped off, and dragged Dawson out of position. Elmander did this all game – his movement, close control and dribbling were consistently good (although his finishing was lacking).
NB: our two central midfield players are watching this passage of play unfold – Palacios is nearest the referee.

Elmander turns and looks to drive in between our players, knowing that he has Lee for back-up.

He is able to play the one-two with the technical winger, Lee, knowing that the ball will be returned quickly, and will be well-weighted.

This move has carved us apart – Dawson and Bale may as well not have been there. Our defenders at this point, from left to right, are Corluka, King, Dawson, Bale, with Modric outside the box. King is well positioned to deal with the onrushing Taylor.

Once Elmander hits the by-line, Taylor has got ahead of King, and Davies has dropped off Corluka. Palacios and Huddlestone, remember, have watched this move unfold, and haven’t considered getting involved.

A very neat cut back from Elmander. It’s slightly behind Davies, but because Corluka is nowhere near tight enough, he has time to take a touch.

Note from this angle how far away Palacios is from the action. For me, it’s unacceptable for him not to have reacted. That Corluka has given so Davies so much space is suicidal.

A decent finish from Davies – it’s past Gomes before he can move.

Nice interplay from Bolton, but poor defending from Spurs. I am a big fan of Corluka, but this, coupled with the Birmingham goal, are certainly blots on his copybook. I am also really disappointed that Palacios didn’t anticipate the danger and try to effect play.