Dejan Kulusevski was Tottenham Hotspur’s best player as they lost 6-3 to Liverpool on Sunday.
Kulusevski scored Spurs’ second goal, latching on to a chipped pass from Dominic Solanke and proceeded not to celebrate as the score was 5-2 at the time.
Throughout the game, the Tottenham midfielder looked like he was trying his level best to get the hosts back into the game.
The Swedish international was taking on players, contesting duels and trying to score and create goals but at the end of the day, Liverpool were simply a class apart.
Jermain Defoe hailed Kulusevski as the Lilywhites’ only player this season who has been up to par. Glenn Hoddle praised Kulusevski as well for being Tottenham’s standout player “by a mile” this campaign.
The former Juventus technician reviewed his side’s latest defeat in the aftermath of the contest.
Dejan Kulusevski admits Tottenham “lacked legs” against Liverpool
Kulusevski admitted that due to Tottenham’s persistent injury problems and the fact that they named the same XI against Manchester United and Liverpool in the space of a few days, they lacked the legs to match the league leaders.
The 24-year-old told NBC Sports: “I don’t think that [Liverpool were too good for Tottenham], I think we wanted to match them in their energy, we want to play at a high intensity and high on energy but with the same players that played two days ago, it’s not that easy.”
“Today, you could see the difference that they were much more fresher and we didn’t have the legs to play our football.”
“That’s facts [that Tottenham’s injuries have hurt them]. We played the same team on Thursday and Sunday and then of course, we should think maybe to play a little bit differently but we want to always play in the same way so you have to live with the result. We went out there, we played our football and we lost.”
James Maddison reviewed Tottenham’s loss to Liverpool and his assessment about his side’s injuries curtailing them against Liverpool was similar to that of Kulusevski’s.
Yet, Peter Schmeichel slammed Ange Postecoglou as he felt the Australian manager’s fearless tactics did not suit his personnel and cost them against Arne Slot’s side.
Kulusevski stats for Tottenham in 6-3 defeat against Liverpool
Despite the result, Kulusevski can be proud of his own performance.
The versatile attacker gave it his all at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and that is all any player can do.
Kulusevski’s statistics indicate that he was a nuisance for Liverpool, both in and out of possession.
Completing four dribbles, playing a key pass and scoring a goal made him Tottenham’s biggest threat.
While winning nine duels and putting in two tackles also indicates that Kulusevski was not prepared to give up despite Liverpool running riot, displaying that he has the mentality of a top player.