Tottenham Hotspur were forced into a late first-half change in its Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Liverpool on Thursday night.

It was a woeful first half from Spurs who managed just one shot throughout the opening 45 minutes and at times struggled to get out of its own half. Liverpool, in contrast, was excellent and created 11 shots before the break.

That included Cody Gakpo’s well-deserved opener when the attacker netted in the 34th minute after a sublime Mohamed Salah pass with the outside of his boot. Gakpo controlled and powerfully struck into the back of the net.

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Salah also set up and scored the second on the night as his well-weighted through ball resulted in Tottenham keeper Antonin Kinsky rushing out of his goal to try and retrieve it, but only succeeded in tripping Darwin Nunez in the box. Salah then converted from the spot to make it 2-0 on the night.

Dominik Szoboszlai finished off a free-flowing move in the latter stages and Virgil van Dijk headed in latter on to remove any doubt as Liverpool cruised into the final against Newcastle United.

But for Tottenham, a bad night was compounded with Richarlison’s withdrawal in the 45th minute at Anfield. The cause of his injury didn’t seem clear, although the ex-Everton man was in the wars against Liverpool and was involved in collisions with Van Dijk and Nunez.

Mathys Tel came on to make his debut and replace Richarlison as Tottenham’s injury list grows. Spurs were without 10 players ahead of the game with Guglielmo Vicario, Radu Dragusin, Destiny Udogie, James Maddison, Wilson Odobert, Timo Werner, Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson all missing at present.

Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero were close to returning to the team but Postecoglou said ahead of the Liverpool game that he was being ‘conservative’ with both players as they have recently returned from injury layoffs.

Meanwhile, the nature of Tottenham’s abject display against Liverpool will do nothing to help the under-fire Postecoglou. The London club sits 14th in the Premier League and is 16 points off the Champions League places.

It’s becoming a season very much defined by the cup competitions - making Thursday’s performance so disappointing. Tottenham also faces Aston Villa in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday and is still competing in the Europa League.