The Independent

A turnaround as well as a comeback. This spell may have seen Arsenal all but eliminated from both domestic cups may have still revitalised their title challenge. The worst week of Mikel Arteta’s season so far ends with the best possible result, which was a home win over Tottenham Hotspur.

That was admittedly half a Tottenham Hotspur, given the injuries that Ange Postecoglou has suffered might make even Arteta sympathise. The Spaniard won’t really care, though, given this 2-1 comeback served to cut Liverpool’s lead to a mere four points, albeit with a game more played.

Arteta reasserted his belief, that admittedly never wavered, that this title race is far from over. “There’s so much to play for and we can see how difficult it is for every team to win.”

That’s certainly true for Spurs, as this derby defeat made one win in nine in the Premier League. They are now 13th and just eight points above the relegation zone, with that potentially being 14th by Thursday night.

“It’s not who we are,” Postecoglou said. He could certainly say that about the line-up, since this is almost a case of last men – or really boys – standing, amid so many injuries.

This was the first north London derby in 18 years that featured an 18-year-old, and there were three of them. Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray and especially Myles Lewis-Skelly still happened to be among the best performers on the pitch.

Postecoglou was still unwilling to point to the positives of that, saying “I want them disappointed. Losing so many games in a league season isn't acceptable.”

He went on to say “this needs to stop” but it’s hard to see how. He basically needs more bodies, experience and energy. “There’s no magic formula,” Postecoglou added.

Arteta knows this, as his own beleaguered squad just had to force their way through this period. It was why you can’t caveat Arsenal’s win too much. There were potential complications here other than the opposition.

The team has been surrounded by doubt, especially after the manner of those cup defeats to Newcastle and Manchester United. Combined with the injuries, it is the worst spell Arteta has known since his difficult first two seasons in the job. Things could have tailspun. Leandro Trossard instead rediscovered his scoring touch, even if Arsenal still don’t really have theirs. The need for a forward, especially after a hugely disappointing display from Raheem Sterling, is great.

“We should have put the game to bed much earlier,”admitted Arteta. “We had to suffer. We would have liked the extra goal.”

There is suddenly a wider perspective here, though, especially now the FA Cup elimination means at least two extra weeks of breathing space. If they can marry that with finishing in the top eight of the Champions League as well as a signing, they might even look refreshed for the run-in. Bukayo Saka might return at exactly the right time.

That’s if they can get through this. Saturday’s double of games – Liverpool at Brentford, Arsenal hosting Aston Villa – could be a hinge week in the title race.

They set the right tone here, with some resilience out of frustration, amid an entertainingly chaotic game. They came out in the best manner possible and that wasn’t just because of how they attacked. Given the difficulties and discussions of the last week, it would have been easy for a club that can be surrounded by emotional swings to feel sorry for itself. Arteta’s general attitude in such circumstances has been to radiate a sense of positivity, which can sometimes seem absurd to those outside. That’s sort of the point, though. The idea is to make those inside tunnel-visioned. So it was that, after a week when Arsenal created so many chances and couldn’t score, they just went out and created more of them.

The first 20 minutes were an onslaught, where Arteta’s side could easily have had three.

Spurs initially did superbly to weather the siege, with Antonin Kinsky standing – and jumping – strong to corners in a way many other goalkeepers have struggled with.

The onslaught and the inexperience made it all the more impressive that Spurs got through it and went ahead. Some experience showed as one of the match’s senior pros, Son Heung Min, diverted a ball back towards the goal and past David Raya via a deflection.

Again, it would have been easy for Arsenal to feel sorry for themselves. There was even the warning of how Spurs had done exactly this to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup last week.

Arsenal again kept going. Spurs would fairly argue Arsenal also had a big decision go their way, even if Postecoglou admirably refused to go there post-match. The 40th-minute corner that led to the equaliser shouldn’t have been a corner and it completed a crucial swing of momentum.

Kinsky’s early assurance had been affected by having a pass blocked down, and it gradually seemed to erode his game. By the moment Rice hit that corner, the goalkeeper was flapping. Gabriel was there at the back post to force Dominic Solanke into an own goal.

Spurs had clearly been affected. It only took another four minutes for Arsenal to punish unnecessary errors. Trossard was put through on goal, to fire the ball past an overly casual Radu Dragusin and through Kinsky’s hands.

Against that kind of inaccuracy, though, Martin Odegaard’s precision should be lauded. Although the Spurs half just opened up, the playmaker put through exactly the right ball for Trossard. It’s the kind of touch that has been lacking for Arsenal of late. It also reflected what was arguably Odegaard’s best performance since returning from injury.

If the first half swung in a few unexpected ways, the second half played to so many familiar patterns.

Postecoglou threw out his recent caution and made two extremely attacking half-time subs with the introduction of Brennan Johnson and James Maddison. That just meant more chances for Arsenal and more misses. The lack of a finisher became even more obvious.

It almost reached a level of parody when Trossard, having supposedly just remembered his scoring touch in the first half, completely missed the ball for a brilliant chance in the second. It went on like this: so many moments seeing an opportunity inexplicably flash wide.

It still ended with the most familiar element of all: an Arsenal win at home in the north London derby. This will strengthen belief in also winning the title, for the first time in a while. So much so that Arteta was willing to go outright and say it. The race is on.

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Arsenal v Tottenham LIVE: Gunners hold on to win entertaining north London derby

Arsenal 2-1 Tottenham: Son Heung Min put Spurs ahead but the Gunners hit back through an own goal and a Leandro Trossard strike to stay in the Premier League title race

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As Marcus Rashford looks beyond Tottenham Hotspur’s interest and to European clubs, Arsenal have found they can no longer look as far as the summer. Mikel Arteta has been in discussion with the club hierarchy about bringing forward plans for a “project attacker”, with their hands finally forced by Gabriel Jesus’ ACL injury.

Some at the club would have said they should have had such a player in place before this season. Arteta wants a physically imposing forward who can grow, with Sporting’s Viktor Gyokeres, Paris Saint-Germain’s Randal Kolo Muani and Brighton’s Evan Ferguson all raised, and RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko the ideal profile.

The hope is to break the recent block, and maybe break a ceiling. On the latter, there’s a fact that those close to Arteta feel worth reminding people of, especially amid all of the emotive debate that has followed the recent drop in form.

Only eight managers in Premier League history have driven their team to 89 points in a 38-game season. They are Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Antonio Conte, Sir Alex Ferguson, Roberto Mancini, Arsene Wenger and… Arteta. One further fact naturally stands out from that. Arteta is the only one of those managers not to win the Premier League. While that will be held against the Spaniard, it shows how high the threshold has been in the competition's Guardiola era.

The return is all the more impressive given where Arsenal were as a club as recently as 2020-21. Very few clubs get to that level and even the legendary Wenger only did it once. Despite this, Arteta’s inability to add further silverware to his 2019-20 FA Cup has fed a rather hysterical recent debate that he might have taken the club as far as he can; that he himself has a ceiling.

It will sound familiar to some at Spurs, if they can bring themselves to empathise with their closest rivals.

Many of the same things were said about Mauricio Pochettino and his time at White Hart Lane. This was even as he secured 86 points in 2016-17, which is by significant distance the club’s best league performance in 64 years. The modern economy of football means there can be no realistic expectation that Spurs achieve that, based on their expenditure. How the club would love such drastic overperformance now.

There’s actually a persuasive argument that Spurs’ 2016-17 campaign was one of the great Premier League achievements but people don’t see it like that because there was no silverware. Pochettino was instead subjected to old-fashioned criticisms – and some fair ones – that his team had no “bottle”, that he couldn’t get over the line and that he was too wedded to a tactical idea that meant he made poor decisions in the transfer market.

While there is more merit to the last point, such decisions came in a context where over-performing managers constantly have to make compromises. The modern football economy has ensured the sport is now more financially stratified than ever before, with 40 years of research showing a 90 per cent correlation between wage bill and league position. You generally are what you pay, which is why Guardiola’s Manchester City have subjected English football to its most intense period of dominance.

It's also why Wenger infamously described top four as a trophy, a line that shouldn’t be laughed at so much these days. That's how the club hierarchies see things given the commercial value of the Premier League and Champions League and it's why – lamentably – the domestic cups don’t mean as much to them as they do to the fans. Or the critics.

Pochettino and Arteta have instead been part of the 10 per cent in how they outperformed their wage bills and broadly maximised what they’ve got. The problem is that winning the title requires everything to be perfect for anyone that isn’t the wealthiest and that is almost impossible. You will eventually get things wrong, or at least not 100 per cent right, especially over time.

That’s a reality that now frames Wednesday’s north London derby, which comes at a rare moment when both clubs have undergone disappointing regressions, albeit for different reasons and to different scales.

Spurs have endured this long run of sub-par form and some of that is on Ange Postecoglou. On the whole, though, the club are still suffering from some of the decisions made since reaching the Champions League final in 2018-19. Postecoglou has been tasked with overseeing the club’s belated recommitment to youth.

They do not have a Champions League wage bill. They are almost certain not to have Rashford, either, as they won’t pay most of his wages. Like Arsenal, Spurs have instead had a look at Kolo Muani in order to bring more substance to their attack. Postecoglou has, in the meantime, been mostly attempting to play an intense all-in game when this specific squad might not quite be ready for it and they’re battling injuries. He hasn't compromised much... until now.

The potential criticisms of Arteta’s decisions are much narrower. Last season’s 89 points showed how they are so close to the title but the compromises that were necessary in their summer recruitment haven’t bridged the gap in the short term.

Arteta wanted a forward but he also wanted that specific profile he desires and such a player wasn't immediately gettable. He consequently made a calculation. Arteta decided to commit most of the available budget to Riccardo Calafiori and Mikel Merino, in the medium-term hope that it would give him multiple tactical variations, as he so desperately wants.

Conscious of Profit and Sustainability Rules headroom for bigger future purchases, however, the club made one calculation that has probably cost them now. Because they scored 91 league goals last season, mostly through using five attackers (Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus), they decided to offload Emile Smith-Rowe, Eddie Nketiah and, on a loan, Fabio Vieira. That has cost them. Raheem Sterling was brought in late on a cut-price agreement on wages, but it is fair to say that just hasn’t worked so far. He isn’t the force he was.

The wonder now is whether Arsenal can use the rearranged budget to bring in that forward they need. They so badly need goals, and wins. The last week has probably been Arteta’s worst since the double defeat to Fulham and West Ham in December last season – results that ultimately cost them the title.

You would normally say a fixture against a fragile Tottenham would be perfect, right down to how you can almost see the game panning out. Arsenal can lean on their defence and eventually exploit set-pieces. Except, the recent noises may have changed the tone.

Spurs’ Carabao Cup win over Liverpool emphasised a recent switch from Postecoglou, which is also a response to injuries. His team have been more restrained and canny. The composure of a mere teenager like Archie Gray has been crucial to this. Spurs have been giving up much less space, and it could mean that one of the Premier League’s highest-scoring fixtures actually features few goals.

Postecoglou could do with that. Arteta could do with a release. Both have significant injury problems. Both, consequently, have heard a lot about compromises.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has hit out at the “vile” chants he received from Tamworth fans during his club’s FA Cup win.

Spurs made hard work of last Sunday’s third-round clash at the Vanarama National League outfit before they won 3-0 after extra time.

Postecoglou’s side turn their focus to Wednesday’s trip to rivals Arsenal but asked if he could expect another hostile atmosphere at the Emirates.

Speaking on Tuesday (14 January), Postecoglou said: “The stuff I heard was pretty vile and detestable, and getting things thrown at me, not a great experience, but we’re kind of expected to be the bigger person.”

Tottenham Hotspur are interested in a loan move for Marcus Rashford and have investigated whether a deal may be possible.

There is a growing feeling that the 27-year-old has played his last game for Manchester United, amid increasing market movement, and Ruben Amorim merely saying "we'll see" in response to questions on that on Sunday.

That hasn't yet translated into much interest from Premier League clubs, with only West Ham having previously looked at the possibility, although it is understood that Tottenham have also considered the idea and that there have been informal talks.

Any such deal is nevertheless considered to be highly unlikely, due to the prospective structure of the offer and a current belief that Rashford is far likelier to go abroad.

The player is known to be earning over £300,000 a week, and Spurs’ current wage structure means they will not go to that figure. Any move would only be possible if United contributed a significant part of his salary and that is already seen as unlikely.

The Old Trafford hierarchy are aware that interested clubs will seek to leverage wage negotiations on any loan due to the need for Rashford to move, but the legitimate European interest does mean they have a stronger hand in talks.

Both AC Milan and Juventus are looking at Rashford, but it is Borussia Dortmund who are currently seen as offering one of the most attractive options. The forward is friends with Jadon Sancho, who enjoyed a resurgent period at the Bundesliga club last season, after enduring similar issues at Old Trafford.

Barcelona also have a long-standing interest in Rashford, going back seven years, but the difficulty in getting Dani Olmo registered due to LaLiga's financial controls means any deal is impossible in January.

There is some hope that can change in the summer, and such considerations are also why any move this January is almost certain to be a loan rather than anything permanent.

Tamworth is not short of lore, having been a royal centre for the Kingdom of Mercia until the Vikings invaded. On Sunday, we came mightily close to another historic chapter in the town’s epic tale.

Tottenham Hotspur didn’t hold back against National League opposition, blooding the best Ange Postecoglou could muster, from the start or off the bench at the Lamb, but the fifth-tier hosts, on the grandest occasion in their history, were anything but put to the slaughter.

Spurs required extra time and the ugliest of own goals to see off David in this Goliath tussle, a goal that would not have been possible in previous seasons when a replay was on offer.

Dejan Kulusevski and Brennan Johnson did put the tie to bed with two well-taken goals, but another evening of mental turmoil awaits for Postecoglou, as he tries to fathom why a team who looked to have turned the corner with their dogged victory over Liverpool in midweek could look so flat, against such inferior opponents.

You pretty much had a full house in the non-league FA Cup third round tie bingo before a ball had even been kicked. The ramshackle Lamb Ground did not even measure taller than Tottenham’s team bus as it made its way past the town’s most famous sporting venue – the Tamworth SnowDome – into the corrugated metal metropolis.

A first glimpse of the modern-day cup leveller then greeted the players as they went for their pre-match amble: the bobbly 3G pitch.

Artificial surfaces of this kind – any average five-a-side player knows the perils of accumulating thousands of black rubber bits in the washing machine – are controversially not permitted in the Football League. In the fifth tier of the pyramid, they are a lifesaver. Against Premier League opposition, they help nullify the best talent around.

People were perched on roofs aplenty, scaffolding erected to house TV crews, with food vendors struggling to cope with unprecedented demand. To cap the pre-match heartwarming experience for the purists, kick-off was delayed as the netting was fixed only with some tape.

Postecoglou seemed to be enjoying the occasion, baiting the crowd who were in spitting distance over his shoulder, but when the match did get underway, the Australian’s demeanour changed as the added bounce stopped Spurs from finding their rhythm, with those “torpedo” long throws from sandwich business owner Tom Tonks causing further unsettlement.

A strong Spurs lineup created little of note in the opening period, with Jasbir Singh in the home goal, Tamworth’s penalty shootout hero in the last round, only forced into one fine save in the opening period.

The hosts in fact had a few half-chances of their own, with the firebrand Beck-Ray Enoru giving Pedro Porro a torrid time down the left flank. Cries of “Premier League, you’re having a laugh” greeted the half-time whistle. The boisterous locals had a point.

As the match wore on, Spurs created more and more chances as elite level fitness told. Singh was forced into several fine stops, with Johnson missing a glorious opening at the far post when left unmarked.

The emergence from the bench of Chris Wreh, son of former Arsenal forward Christopher Wreh and nephew of George Weah, had scriptwriters scrambling for their quills late on, but he could not find a winner in normal time as the cup minnows took the might of Spurs to extra time. “Can we play you every week?” was next on the banter playlist.

On came more star names for Spurs, with Postecoglou fielding arguably his strongest front six for the extra 30 minutes.

No amount of talent was required for the goal that killed the Tamworth dream, as Nathan Tshikuna bundled the ball into his own net. Kulusevski and Johnson almost seemed embarrassed to celebrate their game-clinching strikes. Spurs really had been given an almighty scare.

Non-league Tamworth’s clash with Premier League giants Tottenham has all the makings of a “proper” FA Cup third round tie, and the minnows have a “torpedo” of a weapon that may cause one of the biggest upsets in the competition’s history.

Tamworth are 16th in the National League, the fifth tier of English football, and will host a Spurs side packed with international stars such as Son Heung-min on their sloping astroturf pitch at The Lamb, in a true David vs Goliath encounter.

The visit of the eight-time FA Cup winners is the biggest game in Tamworth’s 91-year history, with a local pub even offering a lifetime supply of beer for a home match-winner.

Tamworth’s journey to the third round included a 1-0 victory over League One outfit Huddersfield, with their winning goal coming from a not-so-secret weapon that opposition players say is “more dangerous than a corner”.

Tom Tonks, a tough-tackling midfielder who runs his own sandwich business, may claim to have English football’s longest throw since Stoke City’s Rory Delap’s trebuchet of a delivery sparked chaos in Premier League defences.

He claims to have discovered his rocket of a long throw when at primary school and keeps himself ready by doing specific exercises in the gym to boost his power, although he says timing is more important than strength.

The 33-year-old is able to produce a highly unusual trajectory on the ball when chucking it long - generating a flight that goalkeepers find unusual - and he is able to reach the six-yard box from the touchline from as far as midway into the opposition’s half.

Part-timers Tamworth have no objections to getting it launched, either, under manager Andy Peaks.

Against Huddersfield, Tonks sparked panic in the defence when the non-league team piled bodies onto visiting goalkeeper Chris Maxwell and he aimed his throw under the crossbar. Tonks’ throw found the back of the net as Maxwell flapped at his punch.

“It’s difficult to defend because the trajectory of the ball is something you’re not used to,” Tonks told Football Focus.

“We’re lucky at Tamworth because we have four or five six-foot-plus blokes who want to head the ball.

“What kind of preparation can you do for a Premier League team? We know they are all going to be excellent players.

“We actually fancy our chances against anyone at home. It’s different to what they are used to, the portacabins, the artificial pitch. Funnier things have happened in football.”

Liveupdated

Rodrigo Bentancur has posted a positive update from hospital after the Tottenham midfielder was forced off the pitch during the Carabao Cup semi-final with Liverpool with a suspected head injury.

Tottenham won the first corner of the game in the seventh minute and as the ball was swung into the penalty area, Bentancur launched himself at it in the hopes of heading the ball towards goal.

He missed and landed hard on the ground seemingly knocking his head on the turf. The midfielder lay still as the set piece played out before his teammates urgently called for the medical team to intervene.

Bentancur was stretchered off the pitch and taken to hospital with his manager Ange Postecoglou confirming that he was conscious despite the “worrying” incident.

And the Uruguay later confirmed that he was well in a post on his Instagram story, accompanied with a picture of him in hospital, after Tottenham beat Liverpool 1-0.

“All good, guys! Thank you for the messages,” Bentancur wrote on his Instagram story. “Congratulations for the victory boys!!!”

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Postecoglou said: “Obviously I don’t have all the information but my understanding is that he is conscious and was conscious in the dressing room.

“We took him to hospital to get checked over. It is worrying and always a concern but from what I know at this stage hopefully he’ll be okay.

“We’re having to deal with adversity all of the time. We started the game awfully well, almost scoring before that moment and then we lose a key player in those circumstances. This lot are nothing if not resilient, they just keep going and they did today.”

Following the incident the match was halted and a stoppage lasted around eight minutes with the midfielder seemingly able to communicate with the medical professionals whilst on the ground.

A stretcher was brought onto the pitch and Bentancur was covered in a blanket as he was carried off the field in the 15th minute.

He wore a neck brace and was immediately taken into the tunnel after being removed from the pitch to a round of applause from both sets of fans.

The midfielder was treated by doctors in the dressing room at half-time before being taken to hospital for further checks. Tottenham later confirmed that he was “conscious and talking” in a statement.

Bentancur also suffered a head injury in August last year following a clash of heads with Leicester City’s Abdul Fatawu.

Brennan Johnson was brought on to replace him as Spurs defeated Liverpool 1-0 to take the advantage to Anfield in the two-legged semi-final tie.

It’s a bit premature to say this was a night when Tottenham’s young team came of age, but this 1-0 victory over Liverpool was an impressive show of maturity when they most needed it.

An 18-year-old Lucas Bergvall appropriately settled it, crowning the fine work of fellow teenager Archie Gray. Ange Postecoglou couldn’t be more effusive afterwards, and that’s understandable. It might well save Tottenham’s season, just as Liverpool’s has a slight sense of lag. The Premier League leaders were still very energised about the controversial Bergvall goal that won this Carabao Cup semi-final first leg, with complaints that the goalscorer should have had a second booking, eventually seeing Arne Slot unusually lose his cool.

It was symbolic of a display where his Liverpool were nowhere near the smoothness of the opening months of the campaign. Duly, this was the first time this season they went two games without a win, after Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Manchester United.

The night looked like it could be overshadowed by a concerning moment where Rodrigo Bentancur looked like he lost consciousness for an eight-minute stoppage, but Spurs reported he was awake and speaking and was going to hospital for further checks.

Bentancur’s teammates went and won the match for him, all the more impressive given many of them lost 6-3 to the same opposition just weeks ago.

Such results did foster what Postecoglou admitted was “an emotional time”.

“I don’t feel that great that people who work at this club, our supporters, that they don’t have that feeling of victory,” he said. “It weighs heavily on me.”

Postecoglou and everyone else now has a real lift, as well as the hope of Wembley and maybe a trophy. The Australian’s comments were made in response to a question about his agitated recent media statements, and came after an impassioned discussion of VAR and how he feels it is ruining the game. That was to form something of a theme of the night.

Postecoglou himself would say it should be about Spurs’ victory. Make no mistake: this developing team played for him, and that at a club where there has been a recent history of troubled managers suddenly bottoming out. Spurs may instead be on the brink of one of their best moments in years.

The tie is, of course, far from over given they have to play at Anfield in a month, but it did feel something of a recharge for Postecoglou’s team. He so badly needed this, even as no one outside of Spurs would have expected it.

They have had so many injuries, to the point emergency goalkeeping signing Antonin Kinsky, 21, had to immediately make his debut. They have had worse form, with all the good feeling from Postecoglou’s early reign dissipating to the drudgery of so many defeats, amid debates about the manager’s style.

You wouldn’t have guessed any of that had you just watched this game on its own terms. It was not just one of Spurs’ tightest displays of the season, but also one of their sharpest. They gave little away, while causing Liverpool repeated problems, certainly in the second half.

Postecoglou joked that his “midfield set-up was a bit more conservative” with the punchline that he “only had three midfielders to choose from”.

So many of his younger players stepped up, especially Bergvall and Gray. The latter was so measured, something that was all the more impressive given that he was facing in-form attackers Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah. They could do little, much like their team.

It was actually a continuation of Liverpool’s performance against Manchester United, which may raise a slight concern for Slot.

There were changes, of course, but it was still a strong team. Even Wataru Endo, on as a centre-half sub for Jarell Quansah, has at least played in that position before.

Slot still insisted they were the stronger team, if not at the levels of the 6-3, but that was dubious.

A lack of synchronicity was seen in Salah needlessly taking the ball off Alexis Mac Allister’s foot when a shot was there to be hit, before powering it over the bar. There were otherwise long periods when they didn’t trouble Kinsky, at least in terms of efforts on goal.

On one occasion the impressive debutant was beaten by a superbly speared Trent Alexander-Arnold volley, but Radu Dragusin was there to clear the ball off the line.

Kinsky did have one moment of slight hesitation when he was pressed with the ball at his feet in the first half, but it was nothing like what the much more experienced goalkeeper Alisson endured in the second.

The Brazilian attempted one of his Cruyff turns in the box against Bergvall, only for the midfielder to get up and immediately embarrass Alisson by clipping the ball away from him. Pedro Porro then chipped it over Alisson with impudence… but also a bit too much width. The ball curved just wide.

There was a growing sense of Liverpool asking for a bit more trouble than they usually do, and Spurs increasingly fancying it. They looked like they had it on 80 minutes, Dominic Solanke seemed to finally get the better of their high line, surging in on goal to slide the ball past Alisson.

It was just offside, as Stuart Atwell eventually announced to the crowd in a historic new audio enhancement. When asked about the new “innovation”, Slot quipped: “It would be more interesting for everyone if he explained why there wasn’t a second yellow card.”

The source of his complaint quickly followed the Solanke moment, as Bergvall got a deserved winner, for him and Spurs. Liverpool would insist they were the better side and that shouldn’t have counted in any case. Bergvall had gone in on Kostas Tsimikas in what looked a second yellow.

Atwell didn’t caution him, though, and he was free to benefit from some slack defending. Someone who was almost as impressive, Porro, initially played the searching ball that went right through Liverpool. That saw Solanke collect after physically getting the better of Ibrahima Konate. The ball was played back to Bergvall, who slotted in the neatest of finishes. Alisson had no chance. Liverpool still had some grievances, with Slot’s assistant ultimately getting booked for remonstrating.

Slot, who had by then calmed down, spoke philosophically about how Postecoglou had been complaining about decisions on Saturday and here was one where he was lucky and Liverpool were unlucky. The Dutch coach actually had a sympathetic ear in Postecoglou who spoke at length about how surprised he is that English football culture – “the home of the game” – has allowed itself to be so impacted by VAR, with only “an Aussie from the other side of the world” speaking out.

On the new in-game VAR announcement, Postecoglou asked: “Did everyone really enjoy the announcement, did it give you a buzz?”

Postecoglou has said this kind of thing before, but this went further, and he probably felt a moment of victory was a better time to do it. It also goes down well, revitalising his man-of-the-people image.

He will certainly have got a buzz from victory, and what it meant. Spurs have a toe in the final, although with a daunting leg at Anfield to come.

It may define their season. Liverpool need a slight recharge in theirs.