Spurs’ affirm commitment to their set aside of nonsense continues to strike mettlesome novel ground, with the irredeemable Angeballers having now scored 10 goals across their last three house video games yet been soundly beaten in two of those video games and had an alarmingly impressive stab at losing the different.
Liverpool, meanwhile, are galloping gleefully in direction of the title – now four points obvious at the slay of the Premier League table – no matter in direction of the tip allowing themselves to be dragged ever so moderately of down to their opponent’s level.
1) Gary Neville advocate the recommendation in the closing stages here that it should be price merely giving Spurs residency of the 4.30pm Sunday slot for the remainder of the season. Those of us tasked with finding 16 things to assert about that fixture most weeks can surely heartily agree.
But whereas it’s tempting to obtain this all about Spurs – as a result of let’s face it, everything is in truth continually about Spurs – we actually must begin with Liverpool.
It’s easy – and fun, and we’ll catch there, we promise – to catch distracted by the sheer relentless p*ss-take clown-vehicle efforts of Spurs, both in the potential they barely even competed in this match and in the ‘entertaining’ potential they finally bought involved prolonged after it was in every single set aside, but for the first 35 minutes or so here Liverpool were conclude to perfection.
2) Yes, Spurs are now no longer a team against which you need particularly complicated ideas, particularly in their contemporary decreased state. everything it’s good to to know factual by looking at that teamsheet and that manager. No matter how badly they’re continuously playing they’ll pain you; no matter how successfully they’re continuously playing they could be pain.
Liverpool struck a supreme steadiness. The secret agent is naturally drawn to the bustle and zip of the attacking play. Of the patterns of Salah and Alexander-Arnold and Luis Diaz, of the string-pulling of Dominic Szoboszlai, a one that spent 90 minutes here seemingly now no longer fully believing his success in finding himself, as soon as again, 30-irregular yards from goal without a opponent within 10 yards of him.
They scored twice in that blistering 40-minute onslaught and could possess had twice that at least. That they had 10 shots in the first half-hour; Spurs, for all their belated involvement as an attacking threat after the contest was over, managed only nine across the 90.
That Spurs number doubtless points to what was in truth the most impressive thing about Liverpool in that opening spell, the ingredient that has doubtless even extra relevance for future video games against much less proudly and determinedly unserious soccer groups: the potential that Spurs frontline was shut down.
Salah and co. dominating a defence containing one-fifth of its first-selection ingredients and in which the only halfway reassuring presence is equipped by an 18-one year-ancient, playing out of dwelling, who a month ago had now no longer at all began a Premier League game actually isn’t a great surprise.
But the bustle with which Spurs were squeezed out and accelerate over after they did vernture up the pitch was expansive. The ease with which Spurs’ rare attacks in that time weren’t factual halted unfussily but ragged as launchpads for one other swift counter-attack was stunning to watch.
Spurs’ contribution to their very possess despair can now no longer be fully disregarded, but we combat to think of a extra total efficiency front to inspire than Liverpool produced in that duration.
Football being soccer, Spurs being Spurs, Liverpool then proficient them a route inspire into the sport with the Spursiest defending of the lot, but we’ll catch to that later.
3) The first Liverpool goal already felt successfully past due by the point it arrived, and the vogue was largely unsurprising too. It is going to customarily seem futile to even attempt a tactical analysis of Angeball, but they’d set aside up noticeably slim here, with both Pedro Porro and Djed Spence tucking in and no great width additional forward either.
We’re going to file that one below ‘mettlesome strategy’. And it didn’t repay. We negate the thought, such as it was, involved stopping Salah or Alexander-Arnold or Diaz or Robertson occupying the half-spaces and picking Spurs off from there.
But the thing with those gamers is that they’re all somewhat handy in wider locations anyway. In particular Alexander-Arnold, who doesn’t actually prefer acres of situation and hours of time to opt out a world-class immoral but was nonetheless equipped with both for Diaz’s opening goal.
A great contender, too, for the most ‘it factual had to be him’ opening goal of any game ever played given what took dwelling in this fixture last season.
4) The 2d goal was again a combination of slick Liverpool play meeting precious puny resistance, with Alexis Mac Allister nearly apologetically nodding house having glanced around the six-yard box and stumbled on to his expansive surprise that no Spurs defender was to be chanced on in attendance.
It was embarrassingly wretched from Spurs obviously, but one could possess loads of sympathy with the gamers available who’re largely blameless pawns in a mighty broader game, footballers who possess been badly let down by their membership and their manager and likewise very namely lately the gamers in front of them in this team in finding themselves so ruinously exposed.
5) The neutral of the 2 midfields in this match is easy to sideline given the wall-to-wall insanity of what was unfolding in front of every goal. We’ve touched on it above, but it deserves its possess entry; it was key to your entire undertaking. Liverpool won the midfield battle extra compellingly than any different contest on the field. And crucially for Postecoglou and Spurs, there could be much less mitigation to be chanced on here in the form of personnel.
Szoboszlai operating in front of a Gravenberch-Mac Allister pivot against James Maddison doing likewise sooner than Yves Bissouma and Pape Sarr shouldn’t develop an final result as one-sided as this.
Liverpool’s midfielders were faster in deed and procedure, extra committed, extra energised and additional decisive. No matter the extra obvious horrors occurring in different locations, here is where the contest was made up our minds.
6) Then the most unexpected thing took dwelling. Spurs scored. Shouldn’t in truth be that unexpected an occasion, given nobody in the league does that particular thing extra basically or to much less tangible overall carry out than Spurs. But amassed. It actually didn’t seem take care of it was going to happen here.
But Liverpool went as Spurs as Spurs for a transient 2d. Alexander-Arnold spent many of the first half showcasing his most interesting traits but amassed chanced on time here for his worst with a nasty pass that set Mac Allister below strain. He was ancient in the procedure back against Dejan Kulusevski – a one that would ludicrously prove a genuine man-of-the-match contender in a 6-3 defeat – whereas James Maddison’s shot was made to find extra unstoppably proper than it in truth was by Alisson standing lead-footed to watch it past him.
7) It’s challenging to obtain a distinguished point about this Spurs efficiency and its inherent clown-vehicle f*ckwittery, but if there could be one it’s doubtless this. On an afternoon after they were absolutely taken to varsity by a vastly higher and infinitely much less boring team, they nonetheless chanced on themselves with two scarcely deserved but undeniably accurate alternatives to dwelling that team below vital stress – here at 2-1 and having come what could dragged themselves inspire to 5-3 with 10 minutes to accelerate – and on both those occasions merely donated their opponents one other goal nearly instantly.
8) Okay, ‘merely donated’ could well be harsh. Each and every goals were successfully labored, but take care of every six goals contained at least some extent of fully avoidable self-sabotage. It barely wants highlighting after a 6-3 defeat, but it was as soon as again a game in which absolutely the inability of Tottenham to sustain watch over a game or recognise when its key moments possess arrived was to the fore. It’s been contemporary in both defeat and victory over the last few weeks but rarely ever extra so than here.
Alexander-Arnold possesses a wicked capacity to speak a prolonged pass, but here wished only a prolonged ball and subsequent flick-on to leave Liverpool, in the final added minute of a main half Spurs were about to catch out of with the match come what could alive, with a four-on-two ruin that was duly and expertly rounded out.
There was an obvious gulf in class for thus mighty of this match, but most continuously the most secret agent-catching distinction was one in every of awareness and actually somewhat basic intelligence.
9) Liverpool’s two posthaste-fire goals in the 2d half to take Salah obvious at the slay of the Premier League goalscoring charts were extra of the same actually. Undeniably attractive and slick Liverpool soccer, but an unavoidable sense of that soccer being made to find higher than it was by the sheer befuddled incompetence of the attempts to end it.
Salah’s numbers grow ever extra ridiculous, though. Two goals to take him obvious in the Golden Boot, two assists to true the double-double of 10 goals and 10 assists sooner than the season is halfway performed.
It’s continually that you would imagine to find different reasons and different components and different gamers to reward for Liverpool being where they’re. But whereas it’s prolonged stopped being in any potential a revealing thing to state it amassed does need saying that Salah is the most distinguished ingredient of all of it.
Seven shots and three key passes are wild numbers to be recording away from house against a team who, when the season began, would possess been procedure to be a genuine rival.
10) Wilder amassed, though, is that those Salah numbers were nearly matched by both Luis Diaz (seven shots, two key passes) and Szoboszlai (six, one) as Liverpool carved wretched ancient Spurs apart on the fashioned-or-garden. It did rather leave Cody Gakpo looking moderately take care of the opening batter who nicks off for nought early on in a total of 823/7d. He’s Ollie Pope, is what we’re saying here. At least he bought booked so that there could be at least a tangible reminder that he was involved in a game where somewhat mighty every different forward on both sides bought something out of their afternoon.
11) Salah won’t possess scored many easier goals and at this point of the sport it actually did seem to be a case of factual what number of Liverpool felt take care of scoring.
It had, in truth, a the same feel by this point to Spurs themselves at Southampton last week. Spurs took their foot off the gas and coasted to a 5-0 win with out adding a goal in the 2d half and Liverpool factual moderately of reduced their levels from this point as successfully.
That’s fully understandable, if moderately of disappointing for those of us who would very mighty prefer to seem data despatched tumbling. No rating felt out of reach at this point, and whereas Liverpool deciding to protect energy for the more than a few numerous and greater battles forward made factual as mighty sense here as Spurs’ possess thinking did a week ago, we’re amassed aggravated about it.
12) In particular as here that runt drop-off from the champions-in-waiting allowed Spurs to obtain the scoreline a long way extra flattering than it ought possess been. Here we find parallels with the Chelsea game a fortnight ago, in which Spurs suffered the most 4-0 of 4-3 defeats.
For additional irritation phrase, the 2 crack-papering goals Spurs scored were sparkling. They actually are a pack of pricks, this Spurs team. They are able to’t even catch thrashed successfully. Kulusevski, who is having a genuinely shiny season and deserves extra than any different Spurs player to be playing for a lawful soccer team rather than this failed experiment, volleyed house fantastically sooner than Dominic Solanke showed strength and composure to rating against his ancient facet.
What made these goals at least halfway palatable was the deserving nature of the scorers. Solanke’s all-spherical contribution to this Spurs team is below-rated and below-appreciated; it’s challenging to begrudge him a junk fragment of stat-paddery in the goals column. And Kulusevski factual now is with out caveat or set a question to merely one in every of the easiest gamers in the division.
13) For the briefest 2d it was very unlikely to lead clear of the procedure of ‘FFS, what if they obtain this 5-4?’ as a result of it actually did seem that you would imagine for a 2d there. But the alacrity with which Liverpool set out that fire sooner than it could well actually begin only served to remind us all of what was happening: Spurs’ ‘comeback’, such as it was, continually remained in Liverpool’s reward to allow or shut down.
For the 2d time in the match, when the prospect of genuine delicate exertion surprisingly re-emerged, Liverpool were ready to quell it in a 2d. They actually could possess scored as many goals as they wished to here, and we’re greatly if greedily aggravated with them that they made up our minds six could well be adequate when different sillier and funnier numbers remained so completely accessible.
14) The set aside it leaves these groups is interesting. There was a transient and understandable attempt from remaining Ange Postecoglou apologists and loyalists to checklist this all as a largely unavoidable final result of components exterior his sustain watch over. That Liverpool were merely too sincere and Spurs too short in bodies and expertise.
There’s mitigation certainly in the defensive injury listing, although Ange can now no longer be excused blame fully here given his possess neutral in Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven being rushed off and inspire on to that listing factual sooner than the busiest time of the season.
But it surely will be factual basically too easier a wriggle off the hook for Postecoglou to be allowed to even attempt to “the-potential-we-play-mate” his potential out of it. Everton possess Dyched their potential to goalless attracts against Arsenal and Chelsea this week. Liverpool possess dropped contemporary points against both Newcastle and Fulham.
Liverpool are an sparkling facet but this was now no longer the mission very unlikely Postecoglou’s team made it detect.
15) What Postecoglou positively did catch factual, nonetheless, was in looking at this week’s video games and putting all his eggs in the Carabao basket. He’s desperately in need of gamers factual now and what he believes is at indicate his most interesting (least worst?) XI began on Thursday and again lately. That was continually asking loads, but Spurs and Ange – through their very possess obvious strengths and equally glaring weaknesses – carry out detect mighty extra take care of a cup facet than a league one.
Two amusing things there, obviously. First, what a mortifying day this grew to turn out to be out to be for Manchester United; slapped 3-0 at house by Bournemouth and then forced to watch what a lawful team does to the very Spurs team they’d lost so cartoonishly against three days earlier. The 2d is that Postecoglou’s very lawful prioritising of the Carabao at the that you would imagine expense of a humiliating crumple against Liverpool in the league is that he now will get two extra video games against them in the cup.
Liverpool will be extra inclined to obtain adjustments for those video games, but we marvel whether or now no longer Arne Slot could well detect at this game, at a main leg in the first week of January when Spurs will amassed be in an identical arrangement depleted to lately, at a 2d leg in the first week of February when several missing men could additionally unbiased possess returned and charm whether or now no longer his most interesting wager isn’t to factual accelerate corpulent strength in the first leg and kind all of it available and then. There factual seems no reason to threat allowing the 2d leg to be of any importance at all when Spurs possess shown here – even at something conclude to their worst – that they remain able to inflicting hurt of their very possess.
16) But your entire framing of that situation sums up the trajectories of those two golf equipment over the last six years higher than most. For Spurs, the Carabao Cup semi-final already carries outsized importance. For Liverpool, this could barely be in their ideas over a festive duration where they’ll additionally unbiased amassed request to cement their dominance at the slay of the table and steel themselves for a title sprint which now, intoxicatingly, contains absolutely no Manchester Metropolis whatsoever. It is the bountifully proficient but – in comparison with Liverpool – callow and fragile Arsenal and Chelsea with whom they now carry out battle.
They are going to additionally unbiased amassed absolutely request to come out on high in that combat. They most continuously’ll doubtlessly also carry out so in the Carabao with out even actually trying or caring. It is going to be they factual must resolve for six-3 as only an aggregate rating in that one.
