Football365

Liverpool star Ryan Gravenberch has revealed the Reds planned before their win over Tottenham to “press the right centre-back” Radu Dragusin, a plan he felt they executed “really well”.

Spurs were put to the sword by Premier League leaders Liverpool on Sunday. Having conceded three goals in victory over Manchester United in the week, it seemed they were there for the taking.

The Reds did just that, smashing in six goals in the 6-3 victory.

Midfield man Gravenberch has revealed that the plan was to attack Dragusin, and that paid off.

“Yeah we had a really good game plan, we wanted to keep them on the right side and press the right centre-back. Sometimes it went well and sometimes they did it good but by the end, I think we did really well,” Granvenberch told LFCTV.

Indeed, with the amount of goals put past Spurs, none of the defence covered themselves in glory, but Dragusin was involved a lot. For the first goal, he saw the ball whipped over his head for Luis Diaz to score.

For the third, he was beaten in the air by Dominik Szoboszlai on the half-way line, who pushed on and finished the goal himself when he reached the box.

For the fourth, Dragusin stepped towards the Liverpool attack at the wrong time, saw the ball slotted past him, before it was knocked across the box and eventually ended up in the net.

MORE ON TOTTENHAM FROM F365:

👉 16 Conclusions from Spurs 3-6 Liverpool: Salah, Diaz, Szoboszlai and Kulusevski dazzle above the shod

👉 Who will be the next manager of Tottenham after Ange Postecoglou?

👉 Spurs play ‘football on acid’ and Ange Postecoglou is ‘out of his depth’

Many sides have been put to the sword by the Reds this season, with the Premier League leaders having scored 37 goals so far.

But that Tottenham’s defence have not played an awful lot together, and Dragusin would likely not be playing if Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven were fit, means they were given an easier task than by some.

It is the most goals Liverpool have scored in a game this season, but was also only the first time Spurs have lost by more than a goal, which says more about the Reds’ attack than their defence.

Tottenham are reportedly weighing up a move for Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford in January, as Fraser Forster is struggling to show he’s worthy of playing consistently in the wake of an injury to Guglielmo Vicario.

Spurs took a hit when Vicario sustained an injury in a 4-0 victory over Manchester City. He had not missed a single Premier League minute for the north Londoners since joining the club before then.

That consistent streak being broken saw Forster – who has played for England on six occasions – elevated to the No.1 spot.

But he has struggled to convince Tottenham he is worthy of staying there. He made a couple of mistakes in the 4-3 League Cup victory over Manchester United, and though it would be harsh to blame him for Spurs’ high line and Liverpool’s persistent attack, he shipped six goals against the Premier League leaders the following game.

Ange Postecoglou stated after Vicario’s injury that Forster would be given the faith, but the Mirror suggests that may no longer be the case, with Burnley’s Trafford on the radar for a January transfer.

It’s believed Tottenham are weighing up a move for the goalkeeper who, in 21 Championship games this season, has conceded just nine goals.

MORE ON TOTTENHAM FROM F365:

👉 16 Conclusions from Spurs 3-6 Liverpool: Salah, Diaz, Szoboszlai and Kulusevski dazzle above the shod

👉 Who will be the next manager of Tottenham after Ange Postecoglou?

👉 Spurs play ‘football on acid’ and Ange Postecoglou is ‘out of his depth’

Trafford is seen as a keeper who could potentially push Vicario for the No.1 spot in the coming seasons, and that suggests he’d already be ahead of Forster in the pecking order, with the keeper only seen as second choice.

It’s believed Trafford could move to north London for £20million, which would make him the most-expensive goalkeeper Tottenham have ever signed, even more than Vicario, who cost them £17.2million when he joined in 2023.

Jamie Carragher reckons Ange Postecoglou was tricked by Arne Slot into persevering with his gung-ho Tottenham approach ahead of their clash with Liverpool on Sunday.

Slot’s side ran out comfortable 6-3 winners over Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Postecoglou stayed true to his attacking style of football that’s been heavily criticised during a run which has seen his side lose three of their last four Premier League games.

But Slot lauded the Tottenham manager’s approach ahead of the clash, rejecting claims that football can ever be “too attacking”.

The Dutchman said: “People talk about trophies, trophies, trophies and that is so important. For me, his brand of football is so much more important. If he can combine it with winning something that would be so good for football in general because then people can stop talking about ‘is it too attacking?’ How on earth can you play too much attacking football?”

“I think it is a privilege to be a season ticket holder at Tottenham and to be a fan of them at the moment because they play such a great style.”

MORE TOTTENHAM COVERAGE ON F365…

👉 16 Conclusions from Spurs 3-6 Liverpool: Salah, Diaz, Szoboszlai and Kulusevski dazzle above the shod

👉 Who will be the next manager of Tottenham after Ange Postecoglou?

👉 Spurs play ‘football on acid’ and Ange Postecoglou is ‘out of his depth’

Carragher, whose less than positive opinion on Tottenham and their devil-may-care approach under Postecoglou has been brought up in Spurs press conferences this week, claims the Australian boss fell right into Slot’s trap.

He believes the Liverpool boss was lavish in his praise of Spurs and Postecoglou in the hope they would continue to play in a manner he knew would lead to an easy victory for his side.

He said on Sky Sports: “That press conference on Friday from Arne Slot was hilarious. People thought he was defending Ange – I don’t believe that for one minute. Slot was desperate for Tottenham to play the same way as they played Man Utd and they did. Liverpool could have scored 10. Everyone I spoke to, Liverpool supporters said it was obvious.”

Postecoglou said after the game that he was tired of being asked the same questions.

“I’ve been really patient the last 18 months, answering the same questions over and over again,” said Postecoglou. “If people want me to change my approach, it’s not going to change.

“We’re doing it for a reason, we’re doing it because we think it’ll help us be successful.

“If people don’t understand the circumstances we’re in, the challenges we have from a team and squad perspective, which are as obvious as I want to make them now – I get the idea that people think I should just flick the switch and change and somehow that would make us a different team.

“But it is what it is, I’m just going to continue staying focused on trying to build this team to be the team we want. In the interim, we’re going to have to accept there’s going to be challenges along the way.”

Peter Schmeichel thinks Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou was “crazy” to play such a high line against Liverpool in their 6-3 defeat on Sunday.

The Reds ran into a two-goal lead early as Luis Diaz and Alexis MacAllister put Arne Slot’s side in command before James Maddison’s curled effort got Spurs back into the match.

But Liverpool ran away with the match from there with a goal from Dominik Szoboszlai and a brace from Mohamed Salah putting the Reds 5-1 up on 61 minutes.

Tottenham duo Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke got a goal back each to set up an interesting last ten minutes but Diaz scored his second of the game late on to make it 6-3 to the visitors, which probably flattered the home side.

Liverpool thrived behind Tottenham’s high line and former Manchester United goalkeeper Schmeichel insists Postecoglou was “crazy” to stubbornly play to his principles against the Premier League leaders.

Schmeichel said on Premier League Productions: “It’s on [Ange Postecoglou]. He’s playing to his principles. Today it was crazy, the high-line, the space they left behind, they’re not playing with a ‘keeper who’s comfortable cleaning up behind. You can’t play a system the players can’t play because of principle. For that they’ve conceded three on Thursday [in the League Cup] and six today.

“When you look at the table, they’re not on the front page, they’re on the second page. Tottenham are not supposed to be on the second page, it’s because of the way they play.

“The stubbornness of wanting to play that way, they got what they deserved and it could have been a lot worse.”

MORE TOTTENHAM COVERAGE ON F365…

👉 16 Conclusions from Spurs 3-6 Liverpool: Salah, Diaz, Szoboszlai and Kulusevski dazzle above the shod

👉 Who will be the next manager of Tottenham after Ange Postecoglou?

👉 Spurs play ‘football on acid’ and Ange Postecoglou is ‘out of his depth’

Turning his attention to Liverpool, Schmeichel reckons this could be the year they “win all the big things” and lift an unprecedented Quadruple.

Schmeichel added: “I think Liverpool in the last couple of years have had goals all over the pitch and that’s been the strength of the team.

“It would be interesting to see exactly what the difference from last year to this year, they look more solid, but they’re still scoring the goals and coming up with the chances like they did last season, but they look more solid.

“We’re at Christmas now, they’re top of the league, they’re in the semi-final for the League Cup, they’re top of the Champions League, that is brilliant, absolutely fantastic, and now you’re looking at them and thinking: ‘Yeah, this might just be that year where they can go on and win all the big things.’

“When you look at the playing material, it’s not really what Manchester City had where they have two teams, but still, it’s working out for them, and it’s absolutely fantastic, I’m starting to think they can go all the way [to win the Quadruple].”

Ange Postecoglou is stubborn and way out of his depth at Spurs, who are playing entertaining but ultimately fruitless football.

Send your views on Spurs and anything else to theeditor@football365.com

Oh Spurs

Never change Spurs, never change.

Oliver, London

…Unconfirmed rumours circulating that if Spurs part ways with Big Ange, they may look to re-hire Ossie Ardiles to bring some improved defensive stability to the side.

Chris (Tottingham) Bridgeman, Kingston upon Thames

…Gary Neville said it on commentary, put Spurs on TV every week. It’s like football on acid.

Luv it!!!

Paul Norris (and yes I am an Arsenal fan)

READ: 16 Conclusions from Spurs 3-6 Liverpool: Salah, Diaz, Szoboszlai and Kulusevski dazzle above the shod

…Great article from the boy Chicken about Slot’s pretty ham fisted mind games.

But here’s the thing. I think Ange fell for it.

Friday he has a pop at Carragher for daring to suggest that football shouldn’t be played the same from minute 1 – 90. He thought it was disrespectful.

Ange, get it into your head that this deeply successful export keeps billions of people around the world entertained. It requires a constant stream of content. You’re great content. No one’s being disrespectful. They’re advertising the next show. They knew it was going to be a humdinger.

Then he has a pop at Steve Wilson for asking a really soft question. That focused on whether or not having 10 players out leads to a team shipping more goals.

Steve Wilson is a classy broadcaster. Does a great turn on MOTD. Asks direct but fair questions. And on this instance the question was pretty much a warm bath. Actually the question was a warm bath with a slug of Matey, some Epsom bath salts and a warm towel on the heated towel rail. Ange popped his cork in a very unnecessary fashion.

Mainly because he’s a decent but stubborn, prickly, over-sensitive, out of his depth fella. Who surely can’t last much longer.

In other news, the bewildered looking Korean people coming out of the club shop to a half-hearted ‘Levy Out’ protest whilst rushing into the stadium to see the squid games activation and legs-gone Sonny was quite a sight. A true meeting of revenue-generating fan v legacy fan.

Oh well, as least when you leave after 60 minutes you get home in time for dinner.

Andrew

Dispatch from the cockerel cheese room

Made up to be top of the Prem tree for Christmas on a day Chelsea repeat Arsenal’s scoreless stalemate a week on (against another immaculate row of buses arranged masterfully by the nation’s newest head of public transport, Sean Dyche). Hopefully Mr. Dyche makes glaring missteps for his fleet preparing our game in hand, but that’s for another day isn’t it.

Refocusing on today, the shiny star topping said tree this year is a rousing Bournemouth win at a decrepit ground where soiled stockings hang with little care, and lumps of coal loosely arrange themselves as ineffective back threes.

And, a thank you to family in London who warmly (and sportingly) surprised me with match day tickets away to Tottenham today; they, Spurs supporters, had compromised by having me sat back row and as close to the Liverpool traveling support as possible (in Section 113). Glad to report acoustics in my section were excellent. I thought I was at Anfield such were the decibels as we rang up a tidy half-dozen, like a single set of tennis won convincingly on one service break.

Had a nice brief chat with the nearest steward who became aware I was incognito and marooned in enemy territory; whisper it, but thankfully he wasn’t a Spurs supporter either. Wasn’t as lucky when another steward intervened mid-match to warn me of our antics, so remaining celebrations were muted. Perhaps a timely reminder that nothing’s won at Christmas… but what a festive period it has been thus far.

Eric, Los Angeles CA (To the Scouse gentleman behind ruffling my and my missus’ hair over the glass partition six times this evening (once per Liverpool goal), a Merry Christmas to you and to ours, good sir.)

Pragmatism v Idealism

Was today’s result at Spurs a win for pragmatism over idealism? Liverpool destroyed Spurs by taking the lower-risk options while still being attractive and scoring. While Spurs played the same way, knowing they risked giving away a lot of opportunities.

Slot will change tactics when playing different opponents, even within a game, where it looks like Big Ange will only play the one way.

Liverpool looked fabulous – but how much was that down to Spurs letting them look great?

Paul McDevitt

The Man Utd Mystery

I’m confused. They got Erik out, they’re getting Rashford out, and yet they still look like amateurs who have never kicked a ball let alone tried to defend a corner. How could this be?

Of course, The United Conundrum isn’t “how are they still sh*t”, it’s “how have all involved, from fans to owners, continue to misjudge the situation so grotesquely.”

You say you know there’s a long tough rebuild ahead then offer the likes of Bruno and Harry new contracts. Insanity. Maybe the next new striker fixes everything eh?

Tom, LFC (you don’t even deserve jokes in brackets)

…What the absolute f*ck was that?

No, seriously, what the absolute fu*k was that?

Happy Christmas all!

Garey Vance, MUFC

Man Utd formation not working

Man United’s new Head Coach continues to employ his 3-4-2-1 formation match in and match out with very minuscule success. While the current batch of United players aren’t familiar with this formation, the point must further be made that the said formation will not work in the EPL.

Generally, the 3-4-2-1 formation is vulnerable where the opponents have very fast players, in particular, fast forwards. United are exposed not only in counter attacks but more so when fast players quickly move the ball from one end of the pitch to the other.

Clearly, the United defence is not able to cope with the associated speed and pressure resulting in heavy losses. Amorim should rethink his approach immediately if we are to draw our way back.

Professor (Dr) David Achanfuo Yeboah

Where’s Stewie now?

Please can you give Stewie an ultimatum, if he’s not going to write in after a 5-1 win away at an in-form Palace team, without Bukayo Saka for the most part, then he’s not going to get printed next time we have a disappointing 0-0.

On behalf of the Mailbox’s sanity.

Ben, AFC

APT a Man City coincidence?

Just to put a spin on the City are guilty and so their players have all given up narrative. The downturn actually nearly perfectly aligns with City losing the APT case with the league. Keep in mind they were near the top of the league before that ruling came out.

Maybe losing that case means, even if City are found not guilty on the 130 charges, the club is no longer sustainable. Their fantasy crypto sponsorship worth £5m a year will soon be revalued at £0 (worth googling this utterly brazen move if you don’t know about it). Their Etihad sponsorship gets revalued at half of its current inflated value…repeat across their entire commercial revenue and that record £700m revenue quickly falls to £350m or less.

The club may have already told the players that they will need to sell at least a few prize assets to get things in order financially for next season. Knowing that your top players are all on the way out could also explain the drop in quality with players focussed on avoiding injury and trying to jump the ship before it sinks.

Minty, LFC

Merry Xmas to all but Mark

Xmasfootballdarts day for me.

Have I missed lots or does anyone know what Mark’s moaning about?

I think its Man City related but I’m no longer 100% sure..?

Don’t want to poke the bear / hornets nest etc.. but.. that’s bordering on legal threats?

Wishing the mailbox and all the staff at 365 the very best Christmas/season/festivities and a magic new year.

Thanks for all the hard work.

It gets me and I’m sure very many of us, through bad days and good.

It’s the bit of my day I always look forward too.

Cheers everyone

Happy Times

Spurs’ utter commitment to their brand of nonsense continues to strike brave new ground, with the irredeemable Angeballers having now scored 10 goals across their last three home games yet been soundly beaten in two of those games and had an alarmingly impressive stab at losing the other. Liverpool, meanwhile, are galloping gleefully towards the title despite towards the end allowing themselves to be dragged ever so slightly down to their opponent’s level.

But while it’s tempting to make this all about Spurs – because let’s face it, everything is in fact always about Spurs – we really must start with Liverpool.

It’s easy – and fun, and we’ll get there, we promise – to get distracted by the sheer relentless p*ss-take clown-car efforts of Spurs, both in the way they barely even competed in this match and in the ‘entertaining’ way they finally got involved long after it was all over, but for the first 35 minutes or so here Liverpool were close to perfection.

Liverpool struck a perfect balance. The eye is naturally drawn to the speed 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 man who spent 90 minutes here seemingly not fully believing his luck in finding himself, once again, 30-odd yards from goal with no opponent within 10 yards of him.

They scored twice in that blistering 40-minute onslaught and could have had twice that at least. 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 perhaps points to what was truly the most impressive thing about Liverpool in that opening spell, the element that has perhaps even more relevance for future games against less proudly and determinedly unserious football teams: the way that Spurs frontline was shut down.

Salah and co. dominating a defence containing one-fifth of its first-choice components and in which the only halfway reassuring presence is provided by an 18-year-old, playing out of position, who a month ago had never started a Premier League game really isn’t a great surprise.

But the speed with which Spurs were squeezed out and run over when they did vernture up the pitch was immense. The ease with which Spurs’ rare attacks in that time were not just halted unfussily but used as launchpads for another swift counter-attack was stunning to watch.

Spurs’ contribution to their own despair cannot be entirely ignored, but we struggle to think of a more complete performance front to back than Liverpool produced in that period.

Football being football, Spurs being Spurs, Liverpool then gifted them a route back into the game with the Spursiest defending of the lot, but we’ll get to that later.

We’re going to file that one under ‘bold strategy’. And it didn’t pay off. We suppose the idea, 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 players is that they’re all quite handy in wider places anyway. Especially Alexander-Arnold, who doesn’t really need acres of space and hours of time to pick out a world-class cross but was nevertheless provided with both for Diaz’s opening goal.

A strong contender, too, for the most ‘it just had to be him’ opening goal of any game ever played given what happened in this fixture last season.

It was embarrassingly poor from Spurs of course, but one could have plenty of sympathy with the players out there who are largely blameless pawns in a wider game, footballers who have been badly let down by their club and their manager and also very specifically today the players in front of them in this team in finding themselves so ruinously exposed.

Szoboszlai operating in front of a Gravenberch-Mac Allister pivot against James Maddison doing likewise ahead of Yves Bissouma and Pape Sarr shouldn’t produce an outcome as one-sided as this.

Liverpool’s midfielders were quicker in deed and thought, more committed, more energised and more decisive. Despite the more obvious horrors occurring elsewhere, here is where the contest was decided.

But Liverpool went as Spurs as Spurs for a brief moment. Alexander-Arnold spent most of the first half showcasing his best traits but still found time here for his worst with a nasty pass that put Mac Allister under pressure. He was weak in the challenge against Dejan Kulusevski – a man who would ludicrously end up a genuine man-of-the-match contender in a 6-3 defeat – while James Maddison’s shot was made to look more unstoppably precise than it actually was by Alisson standing lead-footed to watch it past him.

Alexander-Arnold possesses a wicked ability to deliver a long pass, but here needed only a long ball and subsequent flick-on to leave Liverpool, in the final added minute of a first half Spurs were about to get out of with the match somehow alive, with a four-on-two break that was duly and expertly rounded out.

There was an obvious gulf in class for so much of this match, but frequently the most eye-catching difference was one of awareness and really quite basic intelligence.

Salah’s numbers grow ever more ridiculous, though. Two goals to take him clear in the Golden Boot, two assists to secure the double-double of 10 goals and 10 assists before the season is halfway done.

It’s always possible to find other reasons and other factors and other players to praise for Liverpool being where they are. But while it’s long stopped being in any way a revealing thing to state it still does need saying that Salah is the most critical component of it all.

Seven shots and three key passes are wild numbers to be recording away from home against a team who, when the season began, would have been considered a genuine rival.

It had, in truth, a similar 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 without adding a goal in the second half and Liverpool just slightly lowered their levels from this point as well.

That’s completely understandable, if slightly disappointing for those of us who would very much like to see records sent tumbling. No score felt out of reach at this point, and while Liverpool deciding to preserve energy for the many varied and greater battles ahead made just as much sense here as Spurs’ own thinking did a week ago, we’re still annoyed about it.

For extra irritation value, the two crack-papering goals Spurs scored were excellent. They really are a pack of pricks, this Spurs team. They can’t even get thrashed properly. Kulusevski, who is having a genuinely brilliant season and deserves more than any other Spurs player to be playing for a proper football team rather than this failed experiment, volleyed home superbly before Dominic Solanke showed strength and composure to score against his former side.

What made these goals at least halfway palatable was the deserving nature of the scorers. Solanke’s all-round contribution to this Spurs team is under-rated and under-appreciated; it’s hard to begrudge him a junk piece of stat-paddery in the goals column. And Kulusevski right now is without caveat or question simply one of the best players in the division.

For the second time in the match, when the prospect of genuine mild peril surprisingly re-emerged, Liverpool were able to quell it in a moment. They really could have scored as many goals as they wanted to here, and we are greatly if greedily annoyed with them that they decided six would be sufficient when other sillier and funnier numbers remained so thoroughly available.

There’s mitigation certainly in the defensive injury list, although Ange cannot be excused blame entirely here given his own role in Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven being rushed off and back on to that list just before the busiest time of the season.

But it is also just generally too easier a wriggle off the hook for Postecoglou to be allowed to even attempt to “the-way-we-play-mate” his way out of it. Everton have Dyched their way to goalless draws against Arsenal and Chelsea this week. Liverpool have dropped recent points against both Newcastle and Fulham.

Liverpool are an excellent side but this was not the mission impossible Postecoglou’s team made it look.

Two funny things there, of course. First, what a mortifying day this turned out to be for Manchester United; slapped 3-0 at home by Bournemouth and then forced to watch what a proper team does to the very Spurs team they had lost so cartoonishly against three days earlier. The second is that Postecoglou’s very correct prioritising of the Carabao at the possible expense of a humiliating collapse against Liverpool in the league is that he now gets two more games against them in the cup.

Liverpool will be more inclined to make changes for those games, but we wonder whether Arne Slot might look at this game, at a first leg in the first week of January when Spurs will still be similarly depleted to today, at a second leg in the first week of February when several missing men may have returned and wonder whether his best bet isn’t to just go full strength in the first leg and sort it all out there and then. There just seems no reason to risk allowing the second leg to be of any importance at all when Spurs have shown here – even at something close to their worst – that they remain capable of inflicting damage of their own.

They should absolutely expect to come out on top in that fight. And they’ll probably also do so in the Carabao without even really trying or caring. It might be they just have to settle for 6-3 as only an aggregate score in that one.

Jamie Carragher believes Arne Slot’s high praise for Tottenham counterpart Ange Postecoglou and his brand of attacking football was ‘no accidental’ ahead of Liverpool’s 6-3 victory on Sunday.

Slot had defended Postecoglou against the criticism that his attacking style was costing Tottenham points at his pre-match press conference, saying: “People talk about trophies, trophies, trophies and that is so important. For me, his brand of football is so much more important.

“If he can combine it with winning something that would be so good for football in general because then people can stop talking about ‘is it too attacking?’. How on earth can you play too much attacking football?”

Liverpool promptly went away to Tottenham and absolutely took them to the cleaners, with the scoreline flattering Spurs in the end – and Carragher believes Slot knew exactly what he was doing by baiting Postecoglou into sticking to his guns. We’re honestly not sure he needed much incentive, but there we go.

READ: Another ludicrous Ange Postecoglou-y scoreline flatters Tottenham as Liverpool run riot

The former Reds defender said on Sky Sports after the game: “That press conference from Slot on Friday was hilarious. I mean, people thought he was defending Postecoglou, but I don’t believe that for one minute.

“I actually thought he went too far, it was too obvious. He was desperate for Tottenham to play exactly the same way as they played against Manchester United, and they did – and Liverpool could have scored 10.

“So what he said in that press conference…honestly, everyone I spoke to Liverpool supporters, it was obvious what he was trying to get at.”

Former Spurs striker Les Ferdinand meanwhile believes Tottenham must change if they are serious about rising up the table, saying: “Spurs, at the start of the season, we were talking about them being a top four side. OK, they’ve had their injuries and they’ve had a few problems like a lot of teams this season.

“But if you want be up there challenging the Liverpool and the Man Cities and the Arsenals and the Chelseas…they saw today what that’s all about.

“They’re a long way away from it at the moment, and that’s no disrespect, but Ange has got a lot to do. They have entertained this season at times. We’ve come here and they’ve played some outstanding football when they’ve got their best first XI. When they haven’t got their first XI they’re a pretty average side.”

Ferdinand added: “When we’re sitting here talking about making tweaks, we’re not saying to Postecoglou ‘you’ve got to be more defensive’ – we’re just saying that there’s obvious errors that are occurring week in, week out. At times it was one pass and Liverpool were in. That can’t be right if you’re trying to win games of football. We’re not saying ‘don’t be attacking’, but it’s costing them at the moment.”

Ange Postecoglou has been criticised for presenting the same answer no matter what question was posed of him. For much of this encounter against Liverpool, hopeless Tottenham did not even do that. They were just bad.

Until the result was already beyond any reasonable doubt, there was not even a sponge cake on offer from Postecoglou’s side here – just an empty plate. While their inappropriately gung-ho approach has been vexatious to fans and enormously fun for the rest of us, to be left without even that for so much of the game was far, far worse.

That Liverpool would control the run of play was to be expected, and defensively, Spurs at least have the excuse of playing almost a completely makeshift goalkeeper-and-back-four combo. But it was genuinely shocking how poorly they did regardless. Conceding six goals at home to a divisional rival should set alarm bells ringing anywhere, regardless of the quality of the opposition.

Even more surprising just how little Tottenham’s full complement of midfield and attacking personnel offered in return, Dejan Kulusevski excepted. The only surprising part of the scoreboard on the final whistle was the ‘3’ on Tottenham’s side, not the ‘6’ on Liverpool’s.

READ: Tottenham Hotspur urged to sanction ‘stunning move’ to sign Liverpool star as ‘brilliant’ replacement

Tottenham’s narrow 4-3-3 seemed to scream at Liverpool’s wide men: “cross all you like, we’ll defend the width of the box”. The wisdom of that is extremely questionable when facing Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah in the first place – we hear they’re both quite dangerous from wide areas – but Liverpool gladly accepted their end of that offer; Spurs failed to live up to theirs.

Alexander-Arnold was in excellent form, and his cross for Luis Diaz from acres of space deep on the Liverpool right was inch-perfect, but the Colombian was completely unchallenged as he contorted his body to guide the ball into the far corner.

Liverpool’s second featured a similar build-up: Cody Gakpo found himself blocked off on the left, so simply tapped it back to Andy Robertson to cross instead. Dominik Szoboszlai could only head it straight up in the air, but Alexis Mac Allister was there to run under it and nod into the top corner.

The visitors had had an answer to every bit of what little Spurs did to test them for 41 minutes, but 30 seconds of inattention allowed Tottenham their first two shots on target.

Pape Matar Sarr shot straight at Alisson after Spurs countered off Szoboszlai’s heavy touch, but James Maddison was sufficiently more accurate to find the bottom corner after Kulusevski forced a loose ball out of Mac Allister just outside the Liverpool box. Virgil van Dijk bizarrely seeming to move out of the path to goal and Alisson beaten when it looked as though a better reaction would have made for a straightforward save.

That was as generous as Liverpool got, though, and they restored their two-goal advantage in added time in distressingly straightforward fashion: a lump of a long ball from Alexander-Arnold, flicked on by Szoboszlai for Salah, who slipped it back to the Hungarian as he charged into the box before firing through Fraser Forster’s legs.

Tottenham may have looked slightly more threatening after the break, but – in typical Tottenham fashion – of making them more porous than ever. Salah’s two tap-ins both came at the end of much too simple counter-attacks where Spurs found themselves completely outnumbered.

Szoboszlai and Diaz should each have matched Salah’s brace before Tottenham’s belated fightback, but the former fired wide after a long, straight ball from Alisson sent him clean through to round Forster, while Diaz lobbed onto the roof of the net after Salah had again given the poor Tottenham keeper a one-on-one to deal with.

Somehow, though, Tottenham found a way to make the scoreline extremely Ange-y as Liverpool gave every impression of assuming their job was complete. Kulusevski finished well after a blocked ball into the box fell nicely for him to fire past Alisson, and Dominic Solanke got free of van Dijk to slide home Brennan Johnson’s looping header back across the box.

Sufficiently roused by the prospect of having to defend a two-goal lead for another seven minutes plus stoppages, Liverpool confirmed the prior sense that they could score almost at their own will by restoring their three-goal cushion just three minutes later courtesy of Diaz, who this time made no mistake as he found the bottom corner off another Salah through ball.

For Tottenham to be the top scorers in the Premier League and yet to 11th at Christmas is just the most wonderful nonsense…but it does not speak at all highly of Postecoglou’s ability to rise to the kind of challenge expected of him.

Hosts Tottenham Hotspur come into the biggest Premier League game of the weekend as the underdogs as eight Liverpool stars dominate the combined XI…

(Disclaimer: Only fit and available players for this weekend’s match at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium are considered for this XI, so there’s no Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven or Ibrahima Konate).

GK: Alisson Becker (Liverpool)

The Brazil international – who remains one of the best ‘keepers in the world – would be one of the first names on this teamsheet even if Guglielmo Vicario was fit, but this is especially the case with Fraser Forster – who produced a laughable disasterclass against Man Utd – as his main competitor.

Caoimhin Kelleher is among the best backup goalkeepers in the Premier League and he barely put a foot wrong as Alisson’s stand-in this season, but the wantaway Republic of Ireland international’s transfer fate has been sealed since his superior teammate’s return.

READ: Big Weekend: Tottenham v Liverpool, Pep Guardiola, Southampton, Havertz, Barcelona

RB: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)

Pedro Porro is excellent in his own right, but Alexander-Arnold’s proposed transfer to Real Madrid likely needs to happen for him to ever be included in a Spurs vs Liverpool combined XI.

Porro has been linked with Real Madrid as an alternative, but Alexander-Arnold is perhaps the most likely of Liverpool’s three soon-to-be out of contract stars to leave as a free agent in 2025. The 26-year-old has been less of a threat going forward under Arne Slot but has been much stronger defensively and has contributed to the Premier League leaders’ progression into a complete winning machine.

CB: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

Reports claim Van Dijk (and another of Liverpool’s favourites) are expected to sign new contracts and this will be a major boost for all linked with the Premier League giants.

Van Dijk rightly had his critics since recovering from his horror knee injury as his form fluctuated, though the 33-year-old has rolled back the years in 2024/25 and looks capable of at least a couple more seasons of his relentless brilliance under Slot.

CB: Radu Dragusin (Tottenham Hotspur)

Each side’s injury issues left slim pickings at centre-back as we opted to give the nod to Romania international Dragusin over Joe Gomez.

When Ange Postecoglou has a fully fit squad, Romero and Van de Ven are clearly his standout centre-backs, but Dragusin is the best of the rest and he’s gradually getting better. His batsh*t agent is great, too.

LB: Andy Robertson (Liverpool)

There are few weak links in Slot’s Liverpool side, but Robertson is one as it’s become increasingly clear that he is finished and needs to be replaced sharpish.

It’s been a shame to see, but Robertson – like the bulk of Man City’s squad – looks knackered after running too many miles. Still, he’s included as Destinty Udogie has not been much good either as each team are far stronger at right-back than at the left.

READ: Seven Liverpool options to replace finished Andy Robertson include Newcastle, Milan defenders

CM: Ryan Gravenberch (Liverpool)

After Liverpool missed out on top target Martin Zubimendi in the summer, it was feared that the No.6 position would be a weak area for the club this season; Gravenberch’s extraordinary rise has ensured that’s not been the case.

Gravenberch has been a revelation since moving into a deeper position as he’s made this role his own after an underwhelming debut season at Liverpool. They still could do with signing a midfielder to provide cover, but the Dutchman’s immense form makes this much less of a priority than in the summer.

CM: Dejan Kulusevski (Tottenham Hotspur)

Kulusevski is another player who has flourished after being moved into a deeper position as he’s comfortably been Tottenham’s best performer this season.

Even as a winger, the Sweden international has been one of Spurs’ most consistent players in recent years, but this switch centrally has been genius as the always-dangerous creative spark is often in the middle of anything good that comes from Postecoglou’s side.

CM: Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool)

Before Gravenberch’s resurgence, World Cup winner Mac Allister was comfortably Liverpool’s standout midfielder following the 2023 summer rebuild as he seamlessly settled following his move from Brighton.

Mac Allister struggled in the No.6 role way more than Gravenberch but has profited from being nudged further forward during the latter days of Klopp’s reign and Slot’s first few months in charge.

MORE PREMIER LEAGUE FEATURES ON F365…

👉 Chelsea dominate top ten most improved PL players thanks to manager of the season Enzo Maresca

👉 Guardiola next? Resignation reasons include health, daddy issues, signing Ignacio Gonzalez and Tim Sherwood

👉 Arsenal bottled Arteta, Slot rejected two Liverpool rivals – the clubs each first-time manager could have joined

RW: Mo Salah (Liverpool)

As excellent as the aforementioned Liverpool players have been this season, Salah’s been leading their charge for the Premier League and Champions League.

Last season, it felt like we were nearing the end of Salah’s time at Liverpool, but the confidence boost of a noticeably successful hair transplant – which put Wayne Rooney’s to shame – has seen the 32-year-old return to the peak of his powers.

He’s doing everything he can to make Liverpool give him the contract he wants and his 29-goal involvement (and counting) campaign appears to have forced FSG’s hand with an ‘agreement’ supposedly reached.

ST: Dominic Solanke (Tottenham Hotspur)

Tottenham’s £65m long-term Harry Kane replacement was backed to fail and thrive in equal measure as pre-season predictions flooded in, but he’s very much trending towards being a great addition.

The England international’s finishing isn’t always the best, but his hold-up play and ability to bring others into the game has been priceless as he’s a player the club sorely lacked last season following Kane’s exit.

With Darwin Nunez flattering to deceive and Diogo Jota gradually returning from injury, we felt Solanke – especially after his midweek brace against Man Utd – deserved to be given his flowers as he’s proven to be one of the signings of the season in the Premier League.

LW: Luis Diaz (Liverpool)

If reports in Spain are to be believed (they are not, obviously), Diaz is still leaning towards a move to a European giant as he stalls on a new Liverpool contract.

It remains to be seen if this goes anywhere, but Diaz’s form this season has solidified his status at Liverpool after he was heavily linked with an exit in the summer. He’s no Salah, but the electric winger’s performances have vastly improved under Slot as this season looks certain to be his best yet for the Premier League giants.

Tottenham Hotspur have been urged to sign the Republic of Ireland international Caoimhin Kelleher from Liverpool as a pundit has rejected two alternatives.

On Thursday night, Spurs overcame Man Utd, winning 4-3 to book their place in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.

Dejan Kulusevski found the net between Dominic Solanke’s brace as Ange Postecoglou’s side led their Big Six rivals 3-0, but they were at risk of an embarrassing collapse as they made the end of the match unnecessarily difficult.

Stand-in goalkeeper Fraser Forster has been heavily criticised as he was at fault for Man Utd’s first two goals.

The 36-year-old started as No.1 Guglielmo Vicario has been ruled out for months after undergoing surgery on his ankle.

In January, Tottenham could look to sign a replacement for Forster and former Spurs star Paul Robinson has encouraged them to sign Kelleher.

READ: Man United and Spurs send in the clowns for some riotously stupid Carabao slapstick

The 26-year-old performed brilliantly when he recently filled in for Alisson, but he’s returned to the bench and could leave in the summer following the arrival of Giorgi Mamardashvili.

In an interview with Football Insider, Robinson backed Spurs to make a ‘stunning move’ to sign ‘axed’ Kelleher, who should be targeted over two alternatives.

“There’s nobody out there at the moment, which is why I disagree, I don’t think there’s a huge rush,” Robinson told Football Insider.

MORE SPURS COVERAGE ON F365…

👉 Big Weekend: Tottenham v Liverpool, Pep Guardiola, Southampton, Havertz, Barcelona

👉 ‘Are you not entertained?’: Spurs boss Postecoglou giddy after chaotic win over ‘better team’ Man Utd

👉 Man Utd, Tottenham players condemned as ‘clowns’ with ‘no blame’ on Forster over two errors

“Fraser Forster’s done okay, he’s a good goalkeeper. You look at him, you look at the experience that he’s got, I don’t think for what you’re going to get on loan or as an emergency signing now for what you’re going to buy now, you need to buy better than what you’ve got.

“I’m not so sure you do when you look at the options out there, January is always typically, it’s a difficult month to do business.

“They’re linked with John Victor, aren’t they? Remember where he plays his football now, he’s on loan at Botafogo, he’s on loan at Valladolid last year, I think.

“He’s got a little bit of experience but you’re paying five or six million for a goalkeeper that’s untried and untested at that level.

“[They’re] linked with Anthony Patterson at Sunderland, 24 years old. He’s a good goalkeeper, not so sure he goes in ahead of Fraser Forster, not sure you trust the goalkeeper that you bring in at that age.

“Don’t bring somebody in who’s not better than what you’ve already got, [I] just don’t think there’s anybody out there in January that would fit the bill.

“Kelleher’s time at Liverpool with Marmadashvili coming in, that would be a brilliant option if we were talking in the summer.”