Liverpool help Marine plot upset against Tottenham by giving scouting analysis

Liverpool have tried to help Marine pull off one of the great FA Cup upsets against Tottenham by giving their non-League neighbours vital scouting footage for analysis.

Liverpool, along with Everton, have also stepped in to offer last-minute use of their training grounds.

Eighth-tier Marine welcome Jose Mourinho’s side to Merseyside tomorrow. Spurs’ superstars will have to change in the Marine Travel Arena bar to ensure social distancing but their hosts’ preparations have been disrupted by the coronavirus crisis, too.

Marine have not played since Boxing Day after the Northern Premier League North West Division was suspended. Then their usual training venues closed, too.

But Liverpool and Everton came to the rescue, with the Premier League champions offering access to scouting material.

‘We are as well-prepped as we can be from a part-time perspective,’ said Marine manager Neil Young. ‘I have done a lot of analysis, with the help of Liverpool.

‘They have given us access to games that we can’t get access to. We see a lot of the Premier League games live but unless we record them we haven’t got the scouting network or the software to go back and look at games.

‘They have sent us the recordings so we can do the analysis.’

Defender Josh Solomon-Davies revealed he has been studying Son Heung-min on YouTube.

Marine’s wealthy neighbours have also opened their doors at a time of need.

‘Our pitch where we were due to train yesterday had to be covered due to the frost and then leisure centres that we would normally use to train have been closed because of lockdown,’ said Young.

‘We are very thankful that Everton stepped in to allow us to train last-minute at their training ground and Liverpool have stepped in to allow us to train at theirs tomorrow.’

Those sessions will allow Marine a final chance to prepare for Mourinho’s side, who have appeared vulnerable from set-pieces this season.

‘That has been well advertised,’ said Young. ‘We don’t want to be open like we would in a league game because we’d be 5-0 down after 20 minutes.

‘We have to stay in the game and be structurally right. We will work on set-pieces on Saturday, but our main sessions have been making sure we have a shape that negates them as best we can.’