Spurs have slipped even further from the benchmark set under Mauricio Pochettino, though under-fire manager is not solely to blame
Under pressure: Even winning the Europa League might not keep Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham this summer
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Your matchday briefing on Tottenham, featuring team news and expert analysis from Dan Kilpatrick
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When Ange Postecoglou arrived at Tottenham in the summer of 2023, he was joining a club which had badly lost its way.
Towards the end of the previous season, Harry Kane claimed the club had allowed "standards around the team" to slip since the Mauricio Pochettino era – a view publicly supported by interim head coach Ryan Mason.
So Postecoglou was appointed with a remit to not just transform Spurs' style of play and develop young players, but perform a full cultural reset and return the club to the high standards of professionalism which characterised Pochettino's tenure.
As Spurs slumped to another defeat at Anfield on Sunday, however, their standards have rarely felt lower - at least not since Daniel Levy's ENIC bought the club in 2001.
Spurs may still win the Europa League this season, turning a miserable campaign into a historic and potentially transformative one, but in the top-flight they have become a team which is accustomed to losing and has capitulated on almost a weekly basis for months.
A 19th loss of the season on Merseyside equalled their previous Premier League record from 1997-98 and there seems little chance that Spurs will avoid setting a new unwanted total in the final four games of the campaign, particularly as everyone at the club is focused solely on Europe.
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Far from raising standards, Postecoglou increasingly appears to have fostered an environment where losing in the league is accepted and the consequences for under-performance are non-existent, provided his side continue to raise their game in Europe.
It is easy to forget that a furious Antonio Conte eviscerated his own squad after a 3-3 draw at Southampton with Spurs fourth in the table, while Jose Mourinho was sacked with his side in seventh and days from a cup final. Today, Spurs are in a three-way scrap to avoid finishing 17th.
Postecoglou is not, of course, alone in setting standards at the club and there is a case that culture is set from the top of an organisation, in this case by Levy, the chairman, and the board.
The head coach has also been failed by senior players, who have consistently been unable to step up when it matters, including on Sunday.
It would be uncharitable to Arne Slot's outstanding Liverpool team, who are deserving champions, to put their 5-1 thrashing of Spurs down to the visitors' shortcomings.
Aside from the three relegated clubs, Liverpool could not, though, have invited more accommodating guests to their coronation party than Postecoglou's Spurs.
For all Liverpool's class, Spurs made it remarkably easy for them to respond to Dominic Solanke's shock 12th-minute opener and the game – and Liverpool's 20th league title – was effectively wrapped up by the interval after goals from Luis Diaz, Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo.
The second half was little more than a procession in a carnival atmosphere, underlined by Mohamed Salah celebrating Liverpool's fourth goal with a selfie in front of the Kop – which might have been iconic if it had not felt so staged.
Destiny Udogie capped a miserable Spurs visit by bundling in their fourth own goal of the season.
Some teams would have relished the chance to spoil the occasion for the Reds and dug in at 1-0, sensing the opportunity to frustrate their opponents and the crowd, and turn the day spectacularly on its head.
Familiar story: Tottenham led against Liverpool for all of four minutes before totally capitulating once more
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Postecoglou's Spurs are not one of those teams, and their lead lasted all of four minutes.
Their latest collapse was riddled with familiar mistakes, from failing to deal with second balls at set-pieces to looking incapable of tracking Liverpool's runners between the gaps in their porous back line.
Postecoglou claimed Spurs "paid the price" for his "necessary" changes to the XI before Thursday's Europa League semi-final first leg against Bodo/Glimt, and they will be back at full strength against the Norwegians; Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven will return to defence, Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski are likely to bolster the midfield and captain Heung-min Son is hopeful of recovering from a foot injury in time to feature from the left wing.
There is every chance that Spurs will be much improved again but even glory in the Europa League may not fully justify such a shambolic league season.
If Postecoglou's system cannot work without his best players, it is not fit for purpose and if Spurs cannot rouse themselves for league matches, the head coach is failing at his job of motivating the squad.
There have been mitigating factors to Spurs' league season, including an unprecedented mid-winter injury crisis, while the club's recruitment looks increasingly questionable. But there is no excuse for them continuing to drift through league games.
Asked about the progress of his cultural reset before the visit to Liverpool, Postecoglou cited the 'stone cutters' creed' – a mantra derived from a quote by 20th century Danish-American thinker Jacob Riis.
A stone cutter, Riis explained, might strike a rock 100 times with no effect and only with the 101st blow will it crack open – a lesson in perseverance which Postecoglou sees as analogous with his project at Spurs.
And perhaps the Australian's rebuild will crack wide open if his side win the Europa League in Bilbao on May 21, proving a hugely significant juncture in the club's modern history and setting a new standard for Spurs.
As it stands, however, under the watch of Levy and Postecoglou, Spurs have slipped even further from the benchmark set by Pochettino this season.
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