Mohamed Salah was one of the senior architects behind Liverpool’s stunning attacking performance against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday evening.
Ange Postecoglou was once again without several Tottenham players, meaning a centre-back partnership of Archie Gray and Radu Dragusin were tasked to stop Liverpool.
Put bluntly, the pair were never equipped to deal with the likes of Salah, Luis Diaz and Dominik Szoboszlai who were bypassing Spurs’ midfield in front of that centre-back pairing with ease.
Of course, Postecoglou once again refused to change the way Spurs approached the game despite how many players he was missing, particularly at the back.
The result? Spurs were torn defensively, and never stopped conceding chances until the full-time whistle blew.
Mohamed Salah discusses Tottenham’s ‘intense’ approach after Liverpool defeat
After scoring and assisting twice, Salah spoke to Sky Sports after the game and made some interesting comments about Tottenham’s approach.
The Egyptian wasn’t talking negatively about Spurs at all, but noted that their approach never changes – something that might be frustrating fans in N17 at this point.
In fairness, Salah noted that Manchester City struggled on their visit to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, even if his side didn’t.
Salah said: “We were quite good up front but defensively we need to improve as a team. Conceding three goals is quite hard. It’s a good result, hopefully we just keep going.
“We expected that [a chaotic game], the way they play, they open the game, they enjoy their football, physically tough and mentally we always have to be in the game.
“They don’t change much the way they play, it’s intense. City came here and struggled, other teams too. I’m happy we won because they play an intense game.”
Ange Postecoglou goes on the defensive after Liverpool loss
As mentioned, Tottenham were missing several key players at the back, even if that won’t spare them from any criticism.
Spurs will have to face a few more difficult fixtures over the festive period without their main centre-backs, and they can’t keep shipping goals like they have.
However, when speaking to BBC Sport after the game, Postecoglou was asked if there were any other factors other than injuries behind Spurs’ poor display at the back, a question that seemed to frustrate the manager.
He replied: “I’m just going to stop answering these questions. If people can’t see the obvious I‘m not going to point it out. Make of it what you want, yes we’re conceding goals.
“If you want to discount the fact we’re missing a goalkeeper, two centre-backs and left-back and that hasn’t coincided with what we’re doing… I don’t know what to say anymore.”