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Long grass, oppressive heat, Charlie Adam's crunching tackles, Jermaine Jenas and William Gallas. Sadly, these were all things on Saturday when Tottenham Hotspur played Liverpool. A wide variety of factors all conspired to waste everyone's time, as 90 minutes of football produced a 0-0 draw in which very little information was gained by either team.
Tottenham's best chance of the game came late in the first half, interestingly enough on a right-footed chip by Gareth Bale. Aaron Lennon had a tap-in at the back post, but managed to hit the post instead. Bale also set up Harry Kane for a decent headed opportunity, but he put it right into the keeper.
Jenas and Gallas started while Jan Vertonghen and Tom Carroll got limited minutes, for reasons that are very hard to comprehend. The reportedly injured Kyle Walker made an appearance, which is good news, but yet another instance of why attempting to cover this team is absolutely maddening.
Michael Dawson had a good day, Andros Townsend looked lively again, the back line was less of a mess and Tom Huddlestone looked much sharper than he did against LA Galaxy, and sharper than he reportedly looked against Stevenage. The game wasn't an entirely negative exercise, but I'm hoping for a fit team, less heat and less aging fringe players against New York Red Bulls.