Postecoglou said before kick-off that his team would play on the front foot but that didn’t turn out to be the case at all. Quite the opposite was true.
Tottenham spent the whole of the first period inside their own half of the pitch. Firstly, as they sought to protect their first leg lead. It was a quite deliberate tactic.
Then, after Liverpool scored in the 34tn minute, Spurs simply could not get out. By the interval Liverpool were a goal up and level in the tie and it was the least they deserved.
There had been a bit of needle early on. The Tottenham striker Richarlison once played for Everton and is therefore not popular in these parts. Within the first ten minutes he fell under a flailing arm from Virgil van Dijk and though the Brazilian made the most of it, there was clearly contact to the throat. The Liverpool captain was lucky to escape sanction.
Not long after, the pair clashed again. This time Van Dijk offered his hand as if to help his opponent up, only to withdraw it as Richarlison reached out. All very childish.
In terms of the football, Liverpool were dominant in every way. Slot had rested some players while Postecoglou fielded a new defender – the Austrian Kevin Danson – and had his exciting teenage loan forward Mathys Tel on the bench.
Mohammed Salah lead Liverpool to a 4-0 victory over Tottenham in their second-leg clash
The Reds will now face Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final after their 4-1 aggregate win
Ange Postecoglou looked lost on the touchline as his Spurs side were ripped to pieces
As it happened, Tel was on just before half time as Richarlison fell victim to a muscle strain. He left the field accompanied by some histrionics.
Liverpool didn’t swarm all over Tottenham. It was more of a probing than a full blown assault. Dominik Szobolszlai saw an early deflected shot saved by Antonin Kinsky and had another shot blocked as did Ryan Gravenberch. Darwin Nunez, meanwhile, had a header saved before Mo Salah played in Szobozslai to score down the right in the 30th minute only for the Hungarian to be flagged half a yard offside.
Spurs’ efforts on the break were negligible. At one stage they broke so cautiously upfield that they were outnumbered seven players to two. By the interval Liverpool had managed 73 per cent possession and eleven shots. Most importantly they had scored a goal by then, too.
It came from a Tottenham error as Yves Bissouma coughed up possession in centre field. When Gravenberch worked the ball to Sala on the right, his cross with the outside of his left foot was missed by Nunez but volleyed in at the far post by Gakpo.
It was a fine finish from the Dutch international. He was moving backwards and it was therefore a challenge to muster power. Even so, Kinksy – diving low to his right with two hands – really should have saved it. It was his mistake.
Salah then struck the top of the bar with a far post volley as Liverpool tried to squeeze the life from the game. Half way through the night and Spurs were already hanging on.
Into the first five minutes of the second period, however, and things looked a whole lot worse.
Liverpool’s start to the half was explosive. Three times they threatened the Spurs goal in 90 seconds, with Kinsky saving the second one, a header from a corner from Szoboszlai.
Salah converted from the penalty spot to double Liverpool’s advantage on the night
The Egyptian wore a big grin on his face afterwards as he was hugged by Virgil van Dijk
Then, from a penalty, they scored. Salah’s ball behind the Tottenham central defenders was stunning. It was inch perfect and as Nunez galloped on to it you could see the penalty coming a mile off. Kinsky duly brought the Liverpool striker down and Salah converted the penalty high to Kinsky’s right at the Kop end.
Now Spurs had to gamble. They had to get in the game. Postecoglou sent two subs on and Spurs suddenly came out to play, pressing their opponents high up the field in a style more associated with their manager.
That left them vulnerable at the back of course and from that Liverpool started to create overloads on the counter. From one, in the 63rd minute, Salah and Curtis Jones fed Gakpo who struck the far post shooting across goal.
The tie was certainly poised with twenty minutes left. A Spurs goal would bring them back in to the picture while another from Liverpool would signal the end.
Tottenham are not the first group of players to stumble blindly from the green acres of Anfield having been stripped of purpose, belief, hope and dignity. Nor will they be the last if Arne Slot and his team continue to play like this.
This was supposed to be a cup tie in the balance, a meeting of minds and styles, a contest. But it was not that. It was an evisceration of white by red. It was a dismantling, a derobing, a humbling. It was four but it could have been five. Tottenham were simply never in it – their hopes of a season-saving cup final torn from them without mercy – as Liverpool produced a performance that was almost perfect.
Maybe it was perfect. Is there such a thing in sport? Maybe not. But this was as good as it needed to be and perhaps almost as good as it ever can be on an occasion like this.
Pressure is growing on Ange Postecoglou now that his side have been knocked out the cup
Mathys Tel made his Spurs debut on the night after coming off the bench in the first-half
Ange Postecoglou’s players did their best. In the first half, they played sensibly as they tried to protect their slender first leg lead and keep Liverpool at arm’s length.
They sat in and they compressed space and they worked hard. And they managed it for 34 minutes only for one goal – from Cody Gakpo – to skewer them and from that point on Liverpool tore them apart like wild dogs.
In the second half, Liverpool were irresistible. A penalty from Mo Salah edged them ahead in the tie and then a goal of almost breathtaking beauty from Dominik Szoboszlai – created by the burgeoning talent of Conor Bradley – meant that Virgil van Dijk’s header from a late corner was garnish and nothing else.
Liverpool will take some stopping when they meet Newcastle at Wembley next month. Tottenham now have an FA Cup tie at Aston Villa on Sunday evening. Lose that and their season will contain nothing but question marks.
