Tottenham supporters left divided after Liverpool defeat as Mohamed Salah theory emerges
A tired Tottenham squad suffered a 6-3 loss to Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday, with our Spurs player ratings available here. Despite his squad's limited resources, Ange Postecoglou stuck with his starting XI that had secured consecutive victories over Southampton and Manchester United in the Premier League and Carabao Cup respectively. Football London readers have been giving their commentary in our comments section.
Even with 10 first-team players unavailable for each match, Spurs managed to net nine goals across the two games. The weary Tottenham team faced a refreshed Liverpool side at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, who had an extra day of recovery and made numerous changes for their Carabao Cup quarter-final clash at Southampton.
Following the game on Sunday evening, plenty of pundits have had their say on what is going wrong for Postecoglou and his side. And now football.london readers have had their say in our comments section.
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Commenter Marlon1 thinks: “I think this was always coming due to injuries and what happened on Thursday night. At times it bordered on the unprofessional (I hated how easily we conceded before half time after getting to 1-2), but we are seeing something unique here under Ange. This is something we should embrace, because I think we’re set up for trophies. Who could cope with us in a one off game where we’re going 100% for 90 mins? Let’s just put this game/result in isolation (it’s the first time this season we’ve lost by more than 1 goal) and continue to be positive and back what Ange is doing. Don’t listen to the noise!”
Jeffc00p replied saying: “What you now see as 'borderline' unprofessional, Postecoglou sees as the way he wants the team to play. Any other team that had squeaked it back to 1-2 with half-time approaching would have shut up shop and seen out the rest of the half. However Impostercoglou's philosophy is to keep blindly attacking, irrespective of the match situation, and consequently 2 inexperienced centre-halves were left exposed to the best attack currently in the PL.
“Also, I don't want Spurs to become potentially formidable in a one-off game, I want us to become potentially formidable in all PL games, as we were for several seasons under Poch. I've supported this club for 57 years now, in all that time all we've won is a few cups, and it's more than about time that we finally got rid of the 'Spursy' tag and stepped up to become a top PL team!
“Finally there's nothing unique about Postecoglou's attacking philosophy, Ardiles tried it many years ago and, more recently, so did Bielsa at Leeds, both eventually unsuccessfully!”
Chicagohotspur thinks: “Put Son and Johnson on Liverpool's team today and Salah and Diaz on ours and see what the score would be. I think we would probably win.”
Nomisdoow replies: “3 goals against Liverpool is great, but Liverpool were clinical today, no disgrace to lose to the probable champions with most of your defence out and a very sloppy CD/CM performance from Dragusin/Biss. A poor keeper, he was much better than the other night but still conceded 6, so another hard day at the office. If Spurs are serious about being a CL team they need a top class keeper and 3 or 4 other first 11 players for a proper squad.”
JohnGreenwood1 asks: “How about giving the manager a marking out of ten? Maybe a 1?”
Narsil agrees: “We are two things short of a good team, a manager and a defensive coach.”
Wokingspur points out: “The pundits are attacking Spence and perhaps he shouldn't have tried to close down Arnold, but just look at Bissouma in the clip - he could have covered, but did nothing. He's good on the ball, but defensively he wanders around ball watching, doesn't properly track runners and ends up just reacting, but often too late (including when he is fresh).
“I think they did a remarkable job. Everyone loves Archie, but Spence if he keeps this up will be first choice - it seems like the player may have learned to stay switched on for the whole 90 and that aligned to his technical and athletic abilities means I think he "could" be special. Final point on the Ange bashing, I just feel that to be successful playing this high stakes way (and it is so much better to watch) he is going to need a serious squad, because he can't carry passengers and unfortunately I don't think Levi is capable of committing like that fast enough :( We need upgrades in certain positions, but we also need to keep some of the current players as usable squad, however that won't happen unless there is a belief that we can win stuff and that motivates everyone.”
What are your views on the match? Do you agree with the player ratings? Have your say in our comments section.